December Holidays Around the World

December Holidays & Celebrations

December holidays around the world. These are holidays, festivals, observances, national days, food days, and celebrations in December.

Holidays are broken down into when the occur monthly. Some dates change year to year.

To see a listing, click the Holidays by Occurrence. Please see the individual observance for more information.

December Highlights
Opiconsivia

August 25: Opiconsivia: December 19: Opalia

Opiconsivia and Opalia were Ancient Roman festivals that honored Ops, also...
Peppermint Latte Day

December 03: National Peppermint Latte Day

December 3 is National Peppermint Latte Day. Peppermint-flavored coffee...
National Cookie Day

December 04: National Cookie Day

December 4 is National Cookie Day. It was created in 1987 by the Blue Chip...
Wear Brown Shoes Day

December 04: Wear Brown Shoes Day

December 4 is Wear Brown Shoes Day. This odd celebration is for donning...
World Wildlife Conservation Day

December 04: World Wildlife Conservation Day

December 4 is World Wildlife Conservation Day. In 2012, US Secretary of...

December 05-06: St. Nicholas Eve | Sinterklaas Day

St. Nicholas Day is December 6th, but celebrations start the day before...
National Sachertorte Day

December 05: National Sachertorte Day

December 5 is National Sachertorte Day. Sachertorte or Sacher Torte is a...
National Cotton Candy Day

December 07: National Cotton Candy Day

National Cotton Candy Day is celebrated on December 7. Cotton candy, also...

December 08: Bodhi Day

Bodhi Day is celebrated on December 8th in Japan. The Chinese version is...

December 09: National Pastry Day

December 9 is National Pastry Day. We pay tribute to the pastry today, both...
National Lager Day

December 10: National Lager Day

December 10 is National Lager Day. Lager is a type of beer that is...

December 12-24: Yuletide Lads | Jólasveinar

The Yuletide Lads visit Icelandic homes from December 12-24. Iceland has...
Santa Lucia Day

December 13: Santa Lucia Day | Little Yule

Santa Lucia Day or Little Yule is celebrated on December 13. Santa Lucia...

December 14: National Screwdriver Day

December 14 is National Screwdriver Day. Not the tool but the cocktail is...
Las Posadas

December 16-24: Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a nine-day Latin American celebration commemorating the...
National Maple Syrup Day

December 17: National Maple Syrup Day

December 17 is National Maple Syrup Day. Poured over pancakes, waffles, and...

December 20: National Sangria Day

December 20th is National Sangria Day. Sangria is an alcoholic beverage...
Yule

December 21: Yule

Yule has been celebrated since the 4th century. This midwinter festival...
christmas

December 25: Christmas

Christmas is celebrated all over the world and in many different ways...
Kwanzaa

December 26-January 01: Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday celebrating black heritage. It was...
Boxing Day

December 26: Boxing Day

Boxing Day is on December 26. It originated in the United Kingdom back in...
National Fruitcake Day

December 27: National Fruitcake Day

December 27 is National Fruitcake Day. Fruitcake (or fruit cake) is cake...
eat vegetarian day

December 28: Eat Vegetarian Day

December 28 is Eat Vegetarian Day. Eat Vegetarian Day is an odd title...

December 29: National Get on the Scales Day

National Get on the Scales Day seems cruel to have right after all the food...
bacon day

December 30: Bacon Day

December 30 is Bacon Day. Created in 1997 by two Jewish gals, Danya “D”...

December 31, January 13: Silvesterchlausen

Silvesterchlausen is celebrated in Appenzell, Switzerland. It actually...

December 31: Hogmanay

Hogmanay, “Moon of the Hag,” is celebrated in Scotland as the last day of...
white narcissus

December Facts and Trivia

December is the twelfth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian...
National Fruitcake Month

December: National Fruitcake Month

December is National Fruitcake Month. A whole month to celebrate a dense...
new years

January 01: New Year’s Day

December 31st is New Year’s Eve and January 1st is New Year’s...
pie day

January 23 & December 01: National Pie Days

January 23 and December 1 are both National Pie Days. The...
Klöpfleinsnächte | Knocking Nights

Last 3 Thursdays before Christmas: Klöpfleinsnächte | Knocking Nights

In Germany, the three Thursday’s before Christmas are known as...

Some holidays follow the lunar or other non-Georgian calendars and therefore fall in different months different years. Those events are listed in each month they may occur.

⇴ image based on purchased image from vecteezy

Share It:
Skip to content