Anniversaries, Holidays, & Observances for December 11, 2021

Many days there are far too many anniversaries, holidays, and observances to post about individually on social media, so in an effort to have more of them available, LLPHP is going to experiment with posting them daily. If there are other items you feel should be included, please email contact@llphp.org and share!


Please note all holidays and observances listed as “National” days are American holidays and observances unless it is stated otherwise.

On This Day

• 1395: John “Eleanor” Rykener, a male cross-dressing prostitute, was brought to court in London in late medieval England’s only recorded case regarding same-sex intercourse (verdict unknown)
• 1917: German-occupied Lithuania proclaimed independence from Russia
• 1931: The Statute of Westminster gave complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland
• 1956: Anti-Russian demonstrations were held in Stettin and Wroclaw, Poland
• 1958: Upper Volta (now Bourkina Faso) gained autonomy from France
• 1967: A 6.5 earthquake in Western India killed 170 people
• 1971: The Libertarian Party of the United States was formed
• 1973: West German chancellor Willy Brandt normalized trade with Czechoslovakia
• 1977: Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, leaders of the group ‘Peace People’, an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of ‘the Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, received the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1986: South Africa censored the press
• 2013: 20 people were killed by the bubonic plague in a small Madagascan village
• 2014: CIA Director John Brennan defended interrogation methods used after 9/11 but admitted some methods were “abhorrent”
• 2017: Six wildfires in Southern California covered an area larger than New York City and Boston combined
• 2018: A report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared the Arctic was experiencing “unprecedented warmth” caused by human-caused climate change
• 2019: India passed a controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill clearing the way for citizenship for immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan but only if they are not Muslim
• 2019: Bougainville voted in a referendum to become independent of Papua New Guinea
• 2020: The first same-sex civil union was registered in Bolivia after a two-year legal battle by activists
  
  

Weekly Holidays and Observances including December 11, 2021

• National Hand Washing Awareness Week (December 5-11)
• Human Rights Week (December 10-17)
  
  

December Monthly Holidays and Observances

• National Drink and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
• National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
• National Write A Business Plan Month
• Seasonal Depression Awareness Month
• Spiritual Literacy Month
• Universal Human Rights Month