December
December 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". The origin of the name may also be attributed to Vedic culture. In Sanskrit,
Dasa means "
ten" and
Ambar means "
sky". "Dasa-Ambar" referred to the tenth sky or month in the Vedic culture. December was also the tenth month in the
Roman calendar until a monthless winter period was divided between
January and
February.
*
Hanukkah*
World AIDS Day December 1*
Saint Lucy December 13*
Pearl Harbor Day in the
United States (
December 7)
* Día de la Madre en Panamá, Mother's day in Panama. (
December 8)
* Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, or Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico (
December 12)
* The
solstice called the
winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and the
summer solstice in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from
20 December to
22 December (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.
*
Abaswanô (
December 9)
*
Avonej (
December 15)
*
Christmas Eve (
December 24)
*
Jajakna (
December 24)
*
Christmas (
December 25)
*
Boxing Day (
December 26)
*
Kwanzaa (
December 26 to
January 1)
*
New Year's Eve (
December 31)
*
Festivus (
December 23)
*December always begins with the same day of the week as
September.
*December's
flower is the
narcissus or
holly.
*December's
birthstones are
turquoise,
lapis lazuli,
zircon,
topaz (blue), or
tanzanite.
*December in the
Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to
June in the
Southern Hemisphere and vise versa.
*In
Albanian, December is called
Dhjetor*In
Finnish, December is called
joulukuu, meaning "month of Christmas", since about the 18th century. Earlier it was called
talvikuu, meaning "month of winter".
*In
Irish, December is called
Mí na Nollaig, meaning "month of Christmas".
*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
Xhosa, December is known as
ngeyomNga, meaning "month of the mimosa thorn tree".
*
Historical anniversaries*
Astronomy Answers article on the seasonsnds-nl:Decemberzh-yue:12月
