Celebrate the Day!

Celebrate holidays, birthdays of famous people, anniversaries, and other important historical events for calendar year 2007 and beyond. Use our perpetual calendar to find Federal Holidays, religious observances, or any other celebration for any year in the future.

What are Holidays?

Holidays, a contraction of holy and day, originally represented special religious days. Over the years, this word has evolved in general usage to mean any special day of rest (as opposed to regular days of rest such as the weekend). In all of the English-speaking world, a holiday can be a day set aside by a nation or culture (in some cases, multiple nations and cultures) typically for celebration but sometimes for some other kind of special culture-wide (or national) observance or activity. A holiday can also be a special day on which school and/or offices are closed, such as Labor Day. When translated from/to other languages, the meanings of the word "holiday" may be conflated with these of "observance" and "celebration".

Celebrate Friday, May 9, 2008

Monthly Holidays & Celebrations:

This Week's Holidays & Celebrations:

Today's Holidays:

Historical Events:

Famous Birthdays:

1740 - Giovanni Paisiello - Composer

1860 - J. M. Barrie - Author

1882 - Henry J. Kaiser - Business

1883 - Jose Ortega y Gasset - Philosopher

1914 - Hank Snow - Country Musician

1914 - Carlo Maria Giulini - Conductor

1927 - Manfred Eigen - Physicist

1934 - Alan Bennett - Actor

1936 - Glenda Jackson - Actor

1938 - Charles Simic - Poet

1946 - Candice Bergen - Actor

1949 - Billy Joel - Singer/Songwriter

1955 - Anne-Sofie von Otter - Singer

Deaths of Famous People:

1707 - Dietrich Buxtehude - Composer

1791 - Francis Hopkinson - Author

1805 - Friedrich Schiller - Playwright

1860 - Samuel Griswold Goodrich - Writer

1892 - Ezio Pinza - Singer

1903 - Paul Gaugin - Painter

1911 - Thomas Wentworth Higginson - Author

1952 - Canada Lee - Actor

1968 - Marion Lorne - Actor

1970 - Walter Reuther - Labor Leader

1977 - James Jones - Author

1978 - Aldo Moro - Head of State

1981 - Nelson Algren - Writer

1985 - Edmond O'Brien - Actor

1986 - Tenzing Norgay - Explorer

1993 - Penelope Gilliatt - Writer

1999 - Dana Plato - Actor

2004 - Alan King - Comic

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