December
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceDecember is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days.
December begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Sagittarius and ends in the sign of Capricorn. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Ophiuchus, which is the only zodiacal constellation that is not counted as an astrological sign, and ends in the constellation of Sagittarius.
In Latin, decem means "ten". December was also the tenth month in the Roman calendar until a monthless winter period was divided between January and February. December's flower is the narcissus or holly. December's birthstones are turquoise, lapis lazuli, zircon, topaz (blue), or tanzanite. It is Seasonal Depression Awareness Month. December is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.
Events in December
- Independence Day of Romania (1 December)
- World AIDS Day (December 1)
- National Day of United Arab Emirates (December 2)
- Sinterklaas in The Netherlands (December 5)
- Father's Day (King's Birthday) in Thailand (December 5)
- Independence Day in Finland (December 6)
- Constitution Day in Spain (December 6)
- Pearl Harbor Day in the United States (December 7)
- Fukuoka Marathon is held on first Sunday in December.
- Día de la Madre en Panamá (Mother's Day) in Panama. (December 8)
- Day of the Mary Immaculate Conception. (December 8)
- In the Ásatrú religion, Egil Skallagrimsson's Day (December 9) is a day of remembrance for the Viking hero.
- Human Rights Day (December 10)
- Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, or Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico (December 12)
- Independence Day (Jamhuri Day) in Kenya (December 12)
- Saint Lucy (December 13)
- Honolulu Marathon is held on second Sunday in December.
- Zamenhof Day (December 15)
- The solstice called the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere occurs on dates varying from December 20 to December 22 (in UTC).
- In the pagan wheel of the year the summer solstice is the time of Litha and the winter solstice is that of Yule.
- The Emperor's Birthday, a national holiday in Japan (December 23)
- Fictional holiday, Festivus (December 23)
- Christmas Eve (December 24)
- Christmas (December 25)
- Crimbo (Kingdom of loathing December 1st through December 26th)
- Boxing Day (December 26)
- Kwanzaa (December 26 to January 1)
- Romi's Birthday Dec.16
- Philippines - Rizal Day (December 30)
- New Year's Eve (December 31)
Other names
- In Albanian, December is called Dhjetor
- In the Anishinaabe language, December is known as Manidoo-giizisoons, meaning "little spirit-moon".
- In Asturian, December is called Avientu
- In Finnish, December is called joulukuu, meaning "month of Christmas" (or literally "Yule moon"), since about the 18th century. Earlier it was called talvikuu, meaning "month of winter".
- In Georgian, December is called დეკემბერი.
- In Irish, December is called Mí na Nollaig (or simply Nollaig if context makes clear that the month is in question), meaning "month of Christmas".
- In Italian, it's called Dicembre.
- In the old Japanese calendar, the month is called Shiwasu meaning "priests run"; it is named so because priests are busy making end of the year prayers and blessings.
- In Polish, December is known as "grudzień", meaning month of frozen ground.
- In Turkish, December is known as Aralık.
- In Xhosa, December is known as ngeyomNga, meaning "month of the mimosa thorn tree".
- In Arabic,December is known as كنون ال أول or "Kenoun Al Awal".
See also
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Last updated on Wednesday March 05, 2008 at 13:52:13 PST (GMT -0800)
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