What holiday is December 18: events of this day

On December 18, Orthodox believers honor the memory of the Martyr Sebastian and his soldiers: Nicostratus, his wife Zoe, Castorius, Tranquillinus (presbyter), his sons Markelin and Mark, and St. Michael the Confessor. Name days are celebrated by Vira, Viktor, Volodymyr, Zoya, Ivan, Illya, Mark and Mykhaylo.

The world celebrates the World Arabic Language Day, International Migrants Day, Snowflake Day, and in Ukraine - the Day of Civil Registry Officers. OBOZ.UA tells about the holidays and significant events of this day.

What holidays are celebrated on December 18

According to the New Julian calendar, December 18 is the day of remembrance of the Martyr Sebastian and his soldiers: Nicostratus, his wife Zoe, Castorius, Tranquillinus (presbyter), his sons Marcelinus and Mark, and St. Michael the Confessor.

Sebastian was born in the city of Narbonne, in Gaul (modern France). He lived under the co-emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284-305) and served as chief of the court guard. Those were the times of persecution of Christians. St. Sebastian was a man of courage, full of wisdom, truthful in his words, and just in his judgment. He did not betray his faith and did not worship idols.

The professional holiday in Ukraine on December 18 is celebrated by employees of civil registry offices. Civil registry offices are part of the executive branch. The history of their creation dates back to 1917, when the decree "On Civil Marriage, Children and the Keeping of Civil Status Records" was issued on December 18. This established a new centralized system of accounting and record keeping.

The functions of the civil registry offices include making records of births and deaths, marriage and divorce, name change and paternity, as well as foster care and adoption, and issuing and restoring key civil documents.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day. On this day in 1990, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was adopted.

Also, countries around the world celebrate December 18 :

• Day of the Proclamation of the Republic of Niger;
• National Day of Qatar;
• National Multiple Sclerosis Day in Spain;
• New Jersey State Day in the United States;
• Day of the Twins;
• Police Day in Moldova.

Notable historical events on December 18

• 1865 - after being ratified by the required three-quarters of the states, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting slavery was officially proclaimed part of the country's basic law.
• 1890 - The world's first underground electrified railroad (Underground) is opened in London.
• 1917 - the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts is opened in Kyiv.
• 1920 - The Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a resolution "On the Accounting of Musical Instruments," one of the regulations that persecuted kobzars.

• 1940 - Directive 21 (the "Barbarossa Plan" - the code name for Germany's plan to attack the USSR) was approved in the Third Reich.
• 1958 - the Americans conducted the first voice transmission session via satellite.
• 1972 - US President Richard Nixon ordered the bombing of North Vietnam. The operation lasted 11 days.
• 1998 - For the first time in 130 years, the U.S. House of Representatives began impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton.
• 2016 - The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to nationalize Privatbank.

Who was born on December 18

• 1892 - Mykola Kulish, Ukrainian writer, director, playwright.
• 1878 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet military and political leader.
• 1879 - Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter.
• 1931 - Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska, Ukrainian philologist and literary critic, active participant in the Sixties movement.

• 1935 - Viktor Skopenko, Ukrainian inorganic chemist, rector of Kyiv University (1985-2008), academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine.
• 1946 - Steven Spielberg, American film director, producer, Oscar winner (Schindler's List, Men in Black, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Jaws).
• 1963 - Brad Pitt, American film actor (The Devil's Own Backyard, Interview with the Vampire, Troy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), producer.
• 1978 - Katie Holmes, American film, theater and television actress, director and producer.
• 1980 - Christina Aguilera, American pop singer, winner of five Grammy Awards.
• 2001 - Billie Eilish, American singer and songwriter.

Died on this day:

• 1724 - Pavlo Polubotok, Ukrainian hetman, dies in the Peter and Paul casemate, where he was imprisoned for seeking independence for Ukraine.

• 1737 - Antonio Stradivari, famous Italian bowed instrument maker.
• 1918 - Oleksandra Efymenko, Ukrainian historian and ethnographer.
• 1920 - Matthias Jókumsson, national poet of Iceland and author of the Icelandic national anthem.
• 1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian and American biologist-geneticist, professor at Columbia University.
• 1999 - Robert Bresson, French film director and screenwriter.
• 2011 - Vaclav Havel, Czech playwright and the last president of Czechoslovakia.

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