What holiday falls on December 16: all about this day

On December 16, Orthodox believers honor the memory of the prophet Haggai and the blessed Queen Theophania. Oleksandr, Danylo, Denys, Ivan, Mykyta, and Mykola celebrate their name days.

The world celebrates National Chocolate Day in the United States, Victory Day in India, Independence Day of Kazakhstan, National Day of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Silly Toy Day. OBOZ.UA tells about the holidays and significant events of this day.

What holidays are celebrated on December 16

The New Julian calendar honors the memory of the blessed Queen Theophania of Byzantium. Theophania was the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise. She was born in 863 in Constantinople into the royal family of the Martynakos family. Theophania received a Christian education, and her family was known for its piety and piety.

Believers also honor the memory of St. Agaeus. They turn to him with prayers to help them find the right path and not to betray Christian values. There is a belief that if you make a promise on this day, you must fulfill it at any cost - then all troubles will be in the past.

There are many folk signs of this day. The weather was used to predict what the harvest would be like in the summer and whether we should expect a harsh winter.

• If it snows and the wind blows strongly, a poor grain harvest is likely.
• In general, bad weather and cold weather indicate a frosty, long winter.
• If it is frosty, the frost will last until Epiphany.
• If the trees are covered with frost, the holidays will be warm and snowless.

There was a belief that the weather on this day would determine what April would be like.

Other countries around the world also celebrate December 16:

• Independence Day of Kazakhstan;
• National Day of the Kingdom of Bahrain;
• Victory Day in India;
• Day of everything covered in chocolate;
• Reconciliation Day in South Africa.

Notable historical events on December 16

• 1497 - Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first European to sail into the Indian Ocean.

• 1631 - a strong eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
• 1637 - the battle of the rebels led by Pavlo Booth (Pavliuk) near Kumeiki with the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• 1773 - the so-called "Boston Tea Party" (Bostonians threw a cargo of tea from an English ship into the sea in protest against the British customs policy); this event led to the American War of Independence
• 1880 - the beginning of the First Boer War.
• 1970 - the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (The Hague Convention of 1970) is adopted.
• 1979 - For the first time, a human being breaks the sound barrier while traveling on the Earth's surface (American race car driver Stan Barrett).
• 1989 - anti-communist protests began in Romania, which led to the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship.
• 2014 - Russia terminated the 1991 bilateral agreement with the United States on cooperation in nuclear waste control.

Who was born on December 16

• 1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer.
• 1775 - Jane Austen, English writer.
• 1836 - Ernst von Bergmann, German surgeon, founder of asepsis, author of some of the first classical guidelines on neurosurgery and military field surgery.
• 1857 - Edward Emerson Barnard, American astronomer who took numerous pictures of the Milky Way, galaxies and star clusters. He discovered Jupiter's moon Amalthea and several comets. He also studied dark nebulae.
• 1917 - Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer, futurist, inventor.
• 1928 - Philip K. Dick, American science fiction writer.
• 1946 - Benny Andersson, Swedish composer, musician, producer and singer. Best known as a member of the band ABBA.
• 1952 - Myroslav Mamchak, Ukrainian naval officer, public figure, publicist, journalist, researcher of the history of the Ukrainian fleet.

• 1958 - Yaroslav Muka, actor of the Lviv Drama Theater named after Maria Zankovetska, People's Artist of Ukraine.
• 1961 - Shane Black, American director, screenwriter and actor.

Died on this day:

• 1583 - Ivan Fedorov, printer.
• 1866 - Vasyl Tarnovskyi (senior), Ukrainian ethnographer, legal historian, public figure.
• 1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist and playwright.
• 1965 - Somerset Maugham, English writer, playwright, critic.
• 1979 - Max Helman, Ukrainian sculptor and teacher.

Subscribe to OBOZ.UA channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events.