July

July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between June and August. It has 31 days. July was named after Julius Caesar. The mid-way point of the year is either on July 2 or in the night of July 1-2.

July always begins on the same day of the week as April, and additionally, January in leap years. July doesn't end on the same day of the week as any other month in common years, but ends on the same day of the week as January in leap years.

The Month 

In each hemisphere, it is the seasonal equivalent of January in the other hemisphere. In the North, it is summer and in the South it is winter.

In the Northern Hemisphere, July is often the warmest month of the year, and major sporting events and music festivals are held around this time. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is a winter month, with the coldest-recorded temperature having been measured in Antarctica in this month.

July begins on the same day of the week as April every year and on the same day of the week as January in leap years. No other month in common years ends on the same day of the week as July, but July ends on the same day of the week as January in leap years.

In common years, July starts on the same day of the week as October of the previous year, and in leap years, May of the previous year. In common years, July finishes on the same day of the week as February and October of the previous year, and in leap years, May of the previous year. In common years immediately after other common years, July both starts and finishes on the same day of the week as January of the previous year.

In years immediately before common years, July starts on the same day of the week as September and December of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, June of the following year. In years immediately before common years, July finishes on the same day of the week as April and December of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, September of the following year.

July's flower is a variety of the water lily. Its birthstone is the ruby. The meaning for the birthstone ruby is contented mind. Astrological signs for July are Cancer (June 21 - July 21) and Leo (July 22 - August 21).

In the old Roman calendar, July was called Quintilis, meaning Fifth Month, because, in the old calendar, the year began in March. Augustus later renamed it July in honor of Julius Caesar, whose birthday was in this month. Augustus later also named the following month, August, after himself.

Holidays

Fixed Events 

 July 1  Canada Day, National Day of Canada
 July 1  Independence Day in Somalia
 July 1  Independence Day in Burundi
 July 1  Independence Day in Rwanda
 July 1  Keti Koti (Suriname)
 July 1  Republic Day (Ghana)
 July 1  Doctor's Day (India)
 July 2  Canada Day, observed on this date if July 1 is a Sunday
 July 2  Bahia Independence Day (Brazil)
 July 3  Independence Day in Belarus
 July 3  Emancipation Day (US Virgin Islands)
 July 4  Independence Day in the United States, commemorating the Declaration of Independence.
 July 4  Filipino-American Friendship Day
 July 4  Liberation Day (Rwanda)
 July 5  Independence Day in Venezuela
 July 5  Independence Day in Algeria
 July 5  Independence Day in Cape Verde
 July 6  Independence Day in Malawi
 July 6  Independence Day in the Comoros
 July 6-14  San Fermin festival and bull run in Pamplona, Spain.
 July 7  Independence Day in the Solomon Islands
 July 7  Tanabata in Japan, traditional 'Make a Wish' celebration
 July 9  Independence Day (Argentina)
 July 9  Independence Day (South Sudan)
 July 10  Independence Day in the Bahamas
 July 10  Silence Day
 July 10  Statehood Day (Wyoming)
 July 11  Day of the Flemish Community (Belgium)
 July 11  World Population Day
 July 11  National Day of Commemoration (Ireland)
 July 11 to 13  Naadam (Mongolia)
 July 12  Battle of the Boyne/Orangeman's Day (Northern Ireland)
 July 12  Independence Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
 July 12  Independence Day in Kiribati
 July 13  Statehood Day (Montenegro)
 July 14  Bastille Day, national holiday of France
 July 14  Republic Day (Iraq)
 July 15  St. Swithun's Day in UK weather lore
 July 18  Mandela Day
 July 18  Constitution Day (Uruguay)
 July 19  Sandinista Day (Nicaragua)
 July 20  Independence Day (Colombia)
 July 21  National Day of Belgium
 July 21  Liberation Day (Guam)
 July 22  Saint Mary Magdalene Day (Roman Catholicism)
 July 23  Birthday of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
 July 23  Revolution Day in Egypt
 July 24  Pioneer Day (Utah)
 July 24  Simon Bolivar Day (Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela)
 July 25  Constitution Day (Occupation Day) in Puerto Rico
 July 25  Christian feast day of Saint James, includes regional holiday in Galicia
 July 26  Independence Day in Liberia
 July 26  Independence Day in the Maldives
 July 27  Victory Day (North Korea)
 July 28  Independence Day in Peru
 July 28  Liberation Day (San Marino)
 July 29  Feast Day of St. Olav, celebrated in the Faroe Islands
 July 29  International Tiger Day
 July 29  World Hepatitis Day
 July 30  Independence Day (Vanuatu)
 July 30  Throne Day (Morocco)
 July 31  Ka Hae Hawaii Day

Moveable events 
 Wimbledon tennis tournament, held in late June and early July
 FIFA World Cup, often held in June and/or July
 Summer Olympics, often held in July and/or August
 Tour de France cycling race
 In Northern Hemisphere countries, many Sports events and Music Festivals take place in July
 National Ice Cream month in the United States
 Presidents' Day (Botswana) on the 3rd Monday or Tuesday
 So-called "Dog Days" in some Northern Hemisphere countries, referring to the hot summer weather
 Marathon Races:
Gold Coast, Australia
Recife, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
San Francisco, California, United States

Selection of Historical Events 

 July 1  1863: American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburg is fought until July 3.
 July 1  1867: The Canadian Confederation is founded.
 July 1  1937: The 999 emergency dialing service begins in the UK.
 July 1  1997: The United Kingdom hands control of Hong Kong back to China.
 July 1  1999: The new Scottish Parliament is opened in Edinburgh.
 July 1  2013: Croatia joins the European Union.
 July 2  1937: Amelia Earhart goes missing.
 July 3  1844: The Great Auk becomes extinct, after the last group were killed in Iceland.
 July 4  1776: 13 colonies on the East coast of North America issue the Declaration of Independence, now celebrated on this date in the United States.
 July 4  1826: US Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson die on the same day as each other.
 July 4  2012: Scientists at CERN announce the discovery of a particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson, after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.
 July 5  1811: Venezuela declares independence.
 July 5  1962: Algeria becomes independent.
 July 5  1975: Cape Verde becomes independent.
 July 6  1964: Malawi becomes independent.
 July 6  1975: The Comoros become independent.
 July 7  1937: The Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
 July 7  1978: The Solomon Islands become independent.
 July 7  2005: Islamic extremists detonate explosives at tube stations around London and on a bus, killing 52 people.
 July 9  1816: The United Provinces of Rio de la Plata declare independence, as the predecessor state of present-day Argentina.
 July 9  2011: South Sudan becomes independent from Sudan, after a referendum six months earlier.
 July 10  1913: At nearly 57 degrees Celsius, the hottest-recorded temperature on Earth, is measured in Death Valley, California.
 July 10  1973: The Bahamas become independent from the UK.
 July 10  1985: French agents torpedo the Rainbow Warrior vessel docked in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, where activists on board were protesting against French nuclear tests.
 July 11  1960: The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.
 July 11  1995: The worst massacre in post-World War II Europe occurs at Srebrenica, at the height of the Balkan War.
 July 11  2010: Spain wins the 2010 FIFA World Cup against the Netherlands after a bad-tempered match.
 July 12 or 13  100 BC: Julius Caesar is born.
 July 12  1561: St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is consecrated.
 July 13  1930: The 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay begins.
 July 14  1789: The Bastille prison is stormed in Paris, starting the French Revolution.
 July 16  1950: Uruguay wins its second FIFA World Cup, defeating host nation Brazil in the final.
 July 17  1918: The family of Tsar Nicholas II is executed by the Bolsheviks in Russia.
 July 17  1936: The Spanish Civil War begins.
 July 19  1903: Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
 July 20  1810: Bogota, New Granada (now Colombia) declares independence from Spain.
 July 20  1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed shortly after by Buzz Aldrin.
 July 21  1983: At -89.2 degrees Celsius, the coldest-ever recorded temperature is measured in Antarctica.
 July 21  2011: End of the Space Shuttle programme.
 July 22  2009: Solar eclipse over Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
 July 22  2011: The 2011 Norway attacks occur, as Anders Behring Breivik kills a total of 77 people in two separate attacks.
 July 23  1952: The Egyptian monarchy is removed from power in a coup.
 July 24  1911: Explorer Hiram Bingham re-discovers the remains of Machu Picchu in Peru.
 July 25  1978: Louise Brown, the first 'test-tube baby', is born in the UK.
 July 26  1847: Liberia declares independence.
 July 26  1965: The Maldives declare independence.
 July 27  1940: Cartoon character Bugs Bunny makes his first appearance.
 July 27  1953: The Korean War ends, though an official state of war still exists between North Korea and South Korea.
 July 28  1821: Peru declares independence.
 July 28  1914: World War I - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
 July 28  1976: Tangshan, China, is struck by a huge earthquake, killing many thousands of people.
 July 29  1900: King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Gaetano Bresci.
 July 30  1930: Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup, defeating Argentina in the final in Montevideo.
 July 30  1980: The New Hebrides, changing their name to Vanuatu, become independent.
 July 30  2012: A massive power blackout affects around 620 million people in Northern India.
 July 31  1790: The first US patent is given to Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

Trivia 

 July is often the hottest month in the Northern Hemisphere
 The hottest and coldest-ever recorded temperatures on Earth were both recorded in July. 
 The months of June and July both start with the "Ju" letter combination in the English language and in some languages have only one letter's difference between their names.
 July and August are the only months named after people who really lived (Julius Caesar and Augustus respectively).
 January and July are the only 31-day months that are exactly six months apart. In the English language, they are also the only pair of months to both begin and end with the same letters (J and Y respectively)
 July 1 is the only day in July that is entirely within the first half of the calendar year.
 Canada, the United States and France are among the countries that celebrate their national holidays in July.
 The astrological signs for July are Cancer (June 21 to July 21) and Leo (July 22 to August 21).