What are the important events that happened on December 24? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
December 24: Facts & Myths About This Day
December 24 is the 359th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 7 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 11, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,734,998,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectapentacontaenneagon’ day.
Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 36 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,386 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 24 Historical Events
- 1777 –Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
- 1826 –The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.
- 1865 –The Ku Klux Klan is formed.
- 1924 –Albania becomes a republic.
- 1941 –World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
- 1951 –Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1966 –A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
- 1973 –District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
- 2000 –The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is murdered during the robbery.
- 2003 –The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid’s busy Chamartín Station.
Who were born on December 24?
- 1508 –Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
- 1879 –Émile Nelligan, Quebec poet (d. 1941)
- 1893 –Ruth Chatterton, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1932 –On Kawara, Japanese conceptual artist
- 1944 –Daniel Johnson, Jr., Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec
- 1945 –Nicholas Meyer, American author
- 1958 –Paul Pressey, American basketball player
- 1961 –Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
- 1971 –Giorgos Alkaios, Greek singer
- 1992 –Melissa Suffield, English actress
Who died on December 24?
- 738 –Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad prince and general
- 1707 –Noël Coypel, French painter (b. 1628)
- 1813 –Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
- 1914 –John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist (b. 1838)
- 1982 –Louis Aragon, French writer (b. 1897)
- 1984 –Peter Lawford, British actor (b. 1923)
- 1985 –Camille Tourville, Professional wrestler (b. 1927)
- 1999 –Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician, Prime minister of France (b. 1907)
- 2007 –Akbar Radi, Iranian dramatist and playwright (b. 1939)
- 2010 –Elisabeth Beresford, British author and creator of The Wombles (b. 1926)
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