About December 21
December 21, 2023 is the 355th day of the year 2023 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 10 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
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Sagittarius is the sun 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 51 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
December 21: More About This Day
This is a frequent day for the winter solstice to occur in the northern hemisphere and summer solstice to occur in the southern hemisphere.
What Happened On December 21
- 69 –The Roman Senate declares Vespasian as Roman emperor, the last in the Year of Four Emperors.
- 1598 –Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile.
- 1620 –Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
- 1826 –American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.
- 1844 –The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
- 1861 –Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
- 1872 –Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth.
- 1883 –The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army are formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment.
- 1907 –The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in in Iquique, Chile.
- 1910 –An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.
- 1937 –Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater.
- 1946 –An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kill over 1,300 people and destroy over 38,000 homes.
- 1962 –Rondane National Park is established as Norway’s first national park.
- 1967 –Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days after the transplant.
- 1968 –Apollo program: Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
- 1973 –The Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict opens.
- 1979 –Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
- 1988 –A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
- 1999 –The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
- 2004 –Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.
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