December 26

December 26 is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are five days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1135 – Coronation of King Stephen of England.
• 1481 – Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian mercenaries.
• 1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
• 1793 – Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeat Austria.
• 1793 – The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
• 1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
• 1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
• 1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
• 1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
• 1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist revolt in Saint Petersburg.
• 1846 – Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
• 1860 – The first ever inter-club association football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England, United Kingdom.
• 1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
• 1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
• 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
• 1870 – The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
• 1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
• 1883 – The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
• 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
• 1900 – A relief crew arrives at the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, UK, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace.
• 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
• 1925 – Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
• 1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
• 1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
• 1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
• 1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.
• 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
• 1976 – The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) is founded.
• 1982 – Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
• 1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
• 1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
• 1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
• 1996 – Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
• 1997 – The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
• 1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
• 1999 – The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
• 2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
• 2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.
• 2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
• 2006 – An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260.

Births

• 1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
• 1532 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar (d. 1576)
• 1536 – Yi I, Korean scholar (d. 1584)
• 1646 – Robert Bolling, English-American merchant (d. 1709)
• 1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German violinist and composer (d. 1755)
• 1716 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French military officer and poet (d. 1803)
• 1716 – Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (d. 1771)
• 1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German author (d. 1807)
• 1737 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1815)
• 1751 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian missionary, priest, and saint (d. 1820)
• 1771 – Julie Clary, French wife of Joseph Bonaparte (d. 1845)
• 1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish polymath and author (d. 1872)
• 1785 – Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, Belgian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1871)
• 1782 – Philaret Drozdov, Russian bishop (d. 1867)
• 1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871)
• 1803 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian writer and physician (d. 1882)
• 1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author (d. 1899)
• 1820 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
• 1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American politician, 54th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1922)
• 1837 – George Dewey, American admiral (d. 1917)
• 1853 – René Bazin, French author (d. 1932)
• 1859 – William Stephens, American politician, 24th Governor of California (d. 1944)
• 1863 – Charles Pathé, French film and record producer, co-founded Pathé and Pathé Records (d. 1957)
• 1867 – Phan Boi Chau, Vietnamese activist (d. 1940)
• 1872 – Norman Angell, English journalist, author, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• 1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
• 1874 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi educator, litterateur, Islamic theologist and social reformer (d. 1965)
• 1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French painter (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Arthur Percival, English army officer (d. 1966)
• 1888 – Marius Canard, French orientalist and historian (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (d. 1992)
• 1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)
• 1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
• 1894 – Jean Toomer, American author and poet (d. 1967)
• 1899 – Udham Singh, Indian activist (d. 1940)
• 1901 – Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist (d. 1941)
• 1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
• 1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
• 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban author (d. 1980)
• 1905 – William Loeb III, American publisher (d. 1981)
• 1906 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2003)
• 1907 – Albert Gore, Sr., American politician (d. 1998)
• 1911 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician (d. 1962)
• 1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
• 1914 – Annemarie Wendl, German actress (d. 2006)
• 1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1918 – Georgios Rallis, Greek politician, 173rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, comedian, and singer (d. 2000)
• 1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
• 1923 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Frank Broyles, American football player and coach
• 1926 – Earle Brown, American composer (d. 2002)
• 1926 – Gina Pellón, Cuban-French painter
• 1927 – Denis Gifford, English journalist and historian (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Alan King, American comedian and actor (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Stu Miller, American baseball player
• 1927 – Denis Quilley, English actor (d. 2003)
• 1929 – Régine Zylberberg, French singer
• 1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
• 1930 – Donald Moffat, English actor
• 1933 – Ugly Dave Gray, English-Australian comedian and actor
• 1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and voice actor
• 1935 – Abdul "Duke" Fakir, American singer (Four Tops)
• 1935 – Norm Ullman, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1936 – Peep Jänes, Estonian architect
• 1936 – Trevor Taylor, English Formula One racing driver (d. 2010)
• 1937 – John Horton Conway, English-American mathematician
• 1937 – Jay Heimowitz, American poker player
• 1938 – Bahram Bayzai, Iranian director, screenwriter, and producer
• 1938 – Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, scholar, and author (d. 2013)
• 1938 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director (d. 1989)
• 1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian director and screenwriter
• 1939 – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Teddy Bears)
• 1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1940 – Ray Sadecki, American baseball player
• 1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss director (d. 2006)
• 1942 – Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemalan politician, 28th President of Guatemala
• 1942 – Catherine Coulter, American author
• 1942 – Gray Davis, American politician, 37th Governor of California
• 1942 – Dan Massey, American activist and author (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Jane Lapotaire, English actress
• 1945 – John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America's Most Wanted
• 1946 – Alan Frumin, American politician
• 1946 – Tiit Rosenberg, Estonian historian
• 1947 – James T. Conway, American general
• 1947 – Jean Echenoz, French author
• 1947 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
• 1947 – Josef Janíček, Czech singer-songwriter and musician (The Plastic People of the Universe)
• 1947 – Richard Levis McCormick, American historian and academic
• 1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
• 1949 – Mikhail Boyarsky, Russian actor and singer
• 1949 – Bob Hartman, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Petra)
• 1949 – José Ramos-Horta, East Timorese politician, President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1950 – Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Pakistani politician, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1951 – John Scofield, American guitarist and composer (Trio Beyond)
• 1951 – Richard Skinner, English television and radio host
• 1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Dominican Republic
• 1953 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Swedish-Estonian journalist and politician, 4th President of Estonia
• 1953 – Henning Schmitz, German drummer (Kraftwerk)
• 1954 – Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer
• 1954 – Tony Rosato, Italian-Canadian actor
• 1954 – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player
• 1954 – Steve Steen, English actor
• 1955 – Evan Bayh, American politician, 46th Governor of Indiana
• 1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host
• 1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, English journalist
• 1957 – Mike South, American porn actor and director
• 1958 – Adrian Newey, English engineer
• 1959 – Wang Lijun, Chinese police officer
• 1959 – Kōji Morimoto, Japanese animator and director
• 1959 – Hans Nielsen, Danish Speedway rider, Four times world Individual Champion
• 1960 – Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
• 1960 – Christian Müller, German footballer
• 1960 – Jim Toomey, American cartoonist
• 1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer
• 1961 – John Lynch, Irish actor
• 1962 – Mark Starr, American wrestler (d. 2013)
• 1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer (Metallica)
• 1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
• 1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
• 1966 – Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, and Gob Iron)
• 1966 – Tim Legler, American basketball player
• 1966 – Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
• 1966 – Jay Yuenger, American guitarist and producer (White Zombie)
• 1968 – Tricia Leigh Fisher, American actress and singer
• 1968 – Dennis Knight, American wrestler
• 1970 – Krissada Sukosol Clapp, Thai actor and singer
• 1970 – James Mercer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Shins and Broken Bells)
• 1971 – Jared Leto, American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and director (Thirty Seconds to Mars)
• 1971 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
• 1971 – Jonathan M. Parisen, American director
• 1971 – Tatiana Sorokko, Russian model, fashion journalist and haute couture collector
• 1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer
• 1972 – Shane Meadows, English director, producer, and actor
• 1972 – Robert Muchamore, English author
• 1973 – Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 – Zach Blair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Hagfish, Gwar, Rise Against, and Only Crime)
• 1973 – Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player
• 1973 – Reichen Lehmkuhl, American model and actor
• 1973 – Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Japanese baseball player
• 1973 – Steve Prescott, English rugby player (d. 2013)
• 1974 – Tiffany Brissette, American actress
• 1974 – Josie Ho, Hong Kong singer and actress
• 1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor
• 1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
• 1976 – Lea De Mae, Czech porn actress and model (d. 2004)
• 1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian rules footballer
• 1976 – Nadia Litz, Canadian actress and director
• 1977 – Sofia Bekatorou, Greek sailor
• 1977 – Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player
• 1978 – Karel Rüütli, Estonian politician
• 1978 – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
• 1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
• 1979 – Chris Daughtry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Daughtry)
• 1979 – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
• 1979 – Craig Wing, Australian rugby league and union footballer
• 1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
• 1981 – Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-Italian rugby union footballer
• 1982 – Kenneth Darby, American football player
• 1982 – Shun Oguri, Japanese actor and model
• 1982 – Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier
• 1984 – Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer
• 1984 – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby union footballer
• 1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
• 1985 – Beth Behrs, American actress
• 1985 – Yu Shirota, Japanese-Spanish actor and singer (D-Boys)
• 1986 – Hugo Lloris, French footballer
• 1987 – Adam Walker, English flute player
• 1989 – Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter
• 1989 – Jennica Garcia, Filipino actress
• 1989 – Lecabela Quaresma, São Toméan runner
• 1989 – Ben Schumann, Australian actor
• 1990 – Andy Biersack, American singer-songwriter (Black Veil Brides)
• 1990 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
• 1990 – Denis Cheryshev, Russian footballer
• 1991 – Eden Sher American Actress
• 1992 – Kätlin Aas, Estonian model
• 1992 – Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player
• 1992 – Jade Thirlwall, English singer (Little Mix)
• 1994 – Samantha Boscarino, American actress
• 1994 – Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
• 1995 – Zach Mills, American actor
• 2000 – Samuel Sevian, American chess player

Deaths

• 268 – Pope Dionysius
• 418 – Pope Zosimus
• 1350 – Jean de Marigny, French bishop
• 1458 – Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
• 1476 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Italian husband of Bona of Savoy (b. 1444)
• 1530 – Babur, Mongolian emperor (b. 1483)
• 1574 – Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1524)
• 1624 – Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
• 1731 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (b. 1672)
• 1771 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
• 1780 – John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
• 1784 – Seth Warner, American soldier (b. 1743)
• 1786 – Gasparo Gozzi, Italian playwright and critic (b. 1713)
• 1869 – Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
• 1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
• 1909 – Frederic Remington, American painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
• 1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German journalist and politician (b. 1868)
• 1925 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (b. 1880)
• 1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (b. 1851)
• 1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (b. 1875)
• 1933 – Henry Watson Fowler, English educator and lexicographer (b. 1858)
• 1933 – Eduard Vilde, Estonian author and diplomat (b. 1865)
• 1959 – Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager (b. 1890)
• 1960 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
• 1963 – George Wagner, American wrestler (b. 1915)
• 1966 – Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
• 1970 – Lillian Board, South African-English runner (b. 1948)
• 1972 – Harry S. Truman, American army officer and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1973 – Harold B. Lee, American religious leader, 11th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
• 1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian-Egyptian singer-songwriter, oud player, and actor (b. 1915)
• 1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian and actor (b. 1894)
• 1974 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish navy officer (b. 1890)
• 1975 – Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (b. 1885)
• 1976 – Yashpal,Indian Hindi Author (b.1903)
• 1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
• 1980 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
• 1981 – Savitri, Indian actress, director, and producer (b. 1937)
• 1981 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (b. 1887)
• 1983 – Violet Carson, English actress (b. 1898)
• 1984 – Sheila Andrews, American country music singer (b. 1953)
• 1985 – Margarete Schön, German actress (b. 1895)
• 1986 – Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress (b. 1902)
• 1988 – Glenn McCarthy, American businessman, founded the Shamrock Hotel (b. 1907)
• 1988 – Pablo Sorozábal, Basque-Spanish composer (b. 1897)
• 1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
• 1990 – Gene Callahan, American production designer (b. 1923)
• 1992 – Nikita Magaloff, Georgian-Russian pianist (b. 1912)
• 1994 – Parveen Shakir, Pakistani civil servant and poet (b. 1952)
• 1996 – Kostas Palios, Greek actor (b. 1926)
• 1997 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (b. 1922)
• 1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Impressions) (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Shankar Dayal Sharma, Indian politician, 9th President of India (b. 1918)
• 2000 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
• 2002 – Herb Ritts, American photographer (b. 1952)
• 2002 – Armand Zildjian, American businessman, founded the Avedis Zildjian Company (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Troy Broadbridge, Australian footballer (b. 1980)
• 2004 – Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African surgeon (b. 1959)
• 2004 – Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian diplomat (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Poom Jensen, American son of Ubolratana Rajakanya (b. 1983)
• 2004 – Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian saxophonist and composer (b. 1959)
• 2004 – Angus Ogilvy, English businessman (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish singer (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Nasum and Genocide Superstars) (b. 1974)
• 2004 – Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
• 2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American soprano (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (b. 1939)
• 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2005 – Erich Topp, German commander (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Ted Ditchburn, English footballer (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Gerald Ford, American politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier (b. 1951)
• 2006 – Munir Niazi, Pakistani poet (b. 1928)
• 2007 – Joe Dolan, Irish singer (b. 1943)
• 2007 – John A. Garraty, American author (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Stu Nahan, American sportscaster (b. 1926)
• 2008 – Gösta Krantz, Swedish actor (b. 1925)
• 2009 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (b. 1958)
• 2010 – Edward Bhengu, South African activist (b. 1934)
• 2010 – Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1956)
• 2011 – Houston Antwine, American football player (b. 1939)
• 2011 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican actor (b. 1940)
• 2011 – Sarekoppa Bangarappa, Indian politician, 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka (b. 1932)
• 2011 – Joe Bodolai, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1948)
• 2011 – Fred Fono, Solomon politician, 9th Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands (b. 1962)
• 2011 – Sam Rivers, American flute player and composer (b. 1923)
• 2011 – James Rizzi, American painter (b. 1950)
• 2012 – Abdul Ghafoor Ahmed, Pakistani politician (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Fontella Bass, American singer (b. 1940)
• 2012 – Paul T. Bateman, American theorist (b. 1919)
• 2012 – E. Porter Hatcher Jr., American politician (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Gerald McDermott, American filmmaker and author (b. 1941)
• 2012 – Jean Perrot, French archaeologist (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Ibrahim Tannous, Lebanese military commander (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Rebecca Tarbotton, Canadian-American activist (b. 1973)

Holidays and observances

• Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances:
  • Day of Good Will (South Africa and Namibia)
  • Family Day (Vanuatu)
  • Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)
  • Earliest day on which Feast of the Holy Family can fall, celebrated on Sunday after Christmas or 30 if Christmas falls on a Sunday.
  • James the Just (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Stephen (Western Church)
  • Synaxis of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • December 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Independence and Unity Day (Slovenia)
• Mauro Hamza Day (Houston, Texas)
• Mummer's Day (Padstow, Cornwall)
• St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland), and its related observances:
  • Father's Day (Bulgaria)
• The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1 (United States)
• The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day (The Bahamas)
• The first of Twelve Holy Days (Esoteric Christianity)
• The second day of Christmas (Western Christianity)
• Wren Day (Ireland and the Isle of Man)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to December 26.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada