page_title: December
section_title: Fixed dates
hierarchical_section_title: December / Holidays and Festivals / Fixed dates
caption_attribution_description: English: Fireworks over Edinburgh on New Year's Eve
context_page_description: December is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 31 days, coming between November and January. With the name of the month coming from the Latin decem for "ten", it was the tenth month of the year before January and February were added to the Roman calendar.
  December always begins on the same day of the week as September, and ends on the same day of the week as April.
  December's flower is the Narcissus. Its birthstone is the turquoise. The meaning of the turquoise is prosperity.
  Some of the holidays celebrated in December are Christmas, New Year's Eve, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah.
context_section_description: December 1 - World AIDS Day
  December 1 - National Day of Romania
  December 1 - Self-government Day (Iceland)
  December 1 - Day of Restoration of Independence (Portugal)
  December 1 - First Day of Summer (Australia)
  December 2 - National Day of Laos
  December 2 - National Day of the United Arab Emirates
  December 2 - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
  December 4 - Navy Day in India and Italy
  December 4 - Miners' Day (Poland)
  December 4 - Tupou I Day (Tonga)
  December 5 - Sinterklaas (Netherlands, Belgium)
  December 5 - Birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
  December 6 - Saint Nicholas Day
  December 6 - Independence Day (Finland)
  December 6 - Constitution Day (Spain)
  December 7 - Pearl Harbor Day (United States)
  December 8 - Constitution Day in Romania and Uzbekistan
  December 8 - Day of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholicism)
  December 9 - National Day of Tanzania
  December 10 - Nobel Prize Day
  December 10 - Constitution Day (Thailand)
  December 10 - Human Rights Day
  December 11 - Republic Day (Burkina Faso)
  December 11 - Indiana Day
  December 11 - International Mountain Day
  December 12 - Independence Day (Kenya)
  December 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe (Roman Catholicism)
  December 13 - St. Lucia Day
  December 14 - Alabama Day
  December 15 - Homecoming Day (Alderney)
  December 15 - Kingdom Day (Netherlands)
  December 15 - Zamenhof Day (Esperanto supporters)
  December 16 - Independence Day (Kazakhstan)
  December 16 - Day of Reconciliation (South Africa)
  December 16 - Victory Day in India and Bangladesh
  December 17 - National Day of Bhutan
  December 18 - National Day of Qatar
  December 18 - New Jersey Day
  December 18 - Republic Day (Niger)
  December 18 - International Migrants Day
  December 18 - United Nations Day of the Arabic language
  December 21/22 - Northern Winter Solstice and Southern Summer Solstice
  December 22 - Dongzhi Festival (East Asia)
  December 22 - Mother's Day (Indonesia)
  December 23 - Birthday of Emperor Akihito (Japan)
  December 23 - Thorlaksmessa/St. Thorlak's Day (Iceland)
  December 23 - HumanLight (Secular Humanism)
  December 24 - Independence Day (Libya)
  December 24 - Christmas Eve in Western Christianity
  December 25 - Christmas Day in Western Christianity
  December 25 - Birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Pakistan)
  December 26 - Boxing Day (UK)
  December 26 - St. Stephen's Day (Republic of Ireland)
  December 26 - First Day of Kwanzaa
  December 27 - Constitution Day (North Korea)
  December 27 - St. Stephen's Day (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  December 28 - Proclamation Day (South Australia)
  December 28 - Day of the Holy Innocents, celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries in a similar way to April Fools' Day
  December 29 - Independence Day (Mongolia)
  December 31 - New Year's Eve/ St. Silvester's Day - known as Hogmanay in Scotland and Calennig in Wales
caption: Eleven hours after Sydney, Edinburgh in Scotland welcomes the new year with its famous Hogmanay fireworks
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