The Queen's Official Birthday (King's Official Bi rthday in the reign of a male monarch) is the selected day on which the birthday of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms (currentl y Queen Elizabeth II) is officially celebrated in those countries and in Fiji, which is now a rep ublic. The date varies as adopted by each Commonwealth country, but is generally around the end of May to the start of June, to coincide with a hi gh probability of fine weather in the Northern Hemisphere f or outdoor ceremonies.
The sovereign's birthday was first officially marked in the United Kingdom in 1748. Since then, the date of the king or q ueen's birthday has been determined throughout the British Empire and later the Commonwealth according to either different royal proclamations i ssued by the sovereign or governor or by statute laws passed by the local p arliament. The exact date of the celebration today varies from country to c ountry and except by coincidence does not fall on the day of the monarch's actual bir thday (that of the present monarch being 21 April[1]). In some cases, it is an official public holiday, sometimes coinciding with the celebration of other events. Most Commonwealth realms release a Birthday Honours List at this time.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Summer Bank Holiday (August 31st, 2026 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Summer-Bank-Holiday-Aug-LM DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260831 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Summer-Bank-Holiday-Aug-LM-00002026 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:A bank holiday is a public holiday in the Unit ed Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no au tomatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the popul ation is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depe nding on their contract.[1]< /span> The first official bank holidays were the four days named in the Bank Holidays Act 1871, but today the term is colloquially (albeit incorrectly) used for public holidays which are not of ficially bank holidays, for example Good Friday and Chr istmas Day.
Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed a bout thirty-three saints' days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834, this was reduced to just four: 1 May (May Day), 1 November (All Saints Day), Good Friday, and Christmas Da y. In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Liberal politician and banker Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871, which specified the days in the table set out below.[2] The English people were so thankful that they called the first Bank Holidays St Lubbock's Days for a while.[3] Scotland was treated separatel y because of its separate traditions; for example, New Year is a more impor tant holiday there.[ citation needed]
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:National Day (Gibraltar) (September 10th, 2026 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/National-Day-GI DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260910 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-National-Day-GI-00002026 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:Coordinates: 36°08′27″N 5°21′15″W< span class="geo-multi-punct"> / 36.140827°N 5.354123°W / 36.140827; -5.354123< /a>
Gibraltar National Day, celebrated an nually on 10 September, is the official national day of the British overseas t erritory of Gibraltar. The day commemorates Gibraltar's first sovereignty referendum of 1967, in which Gibraltarian voters were asked whether they wished t o either pass under Spanish sovereignty, or remain under British sovereignty, wit h institutions of self-government.[1]
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Christmas Eve (December 24th, 2026 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Christmas-Eve DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261224 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Christmas-Eve-00002026 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:Christmas Eve refers to the evening preceding Christmas Day, a < a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_worldwide" title="Christmas worldwide">widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of N azareth that takes place on December 25.[4] It is a culturally significant celebration for most of the Western world and i s widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day.
One reason celebrations occur on Christmas Eve is because the t
raditional Christian liturgical day starts at sunset,[5] an inheritance from Jewish tradition,[6] which in tur
n is based in the story of creation in Genesis: "And there was evening, and
there was morning – the first day."[7] This liturgical day i
s followed for all days in the Eastern rite[8] and the cu
stom of beginning Christmas celebration (as well as Sunday and the other ma
jor festivals) in the preceding evening is preserved in western Churches th
at have altered the liturgical day to start at midnight, for example the Ro
man Catholic Church.[9] Many churches still ring
their church bells and hold prayers in the evening before holidays; for exa
mple the Nordic Lutheran churches.
Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Cr
9;stesmæsse, literally "Christ's mass") is an annual commemora
tion of the birth of Jesus Christ,[5][6
] celebrated generally on December 25[2][3][4] a
s a religious and cultural holiday by billions of peopl
e around the world. A feast central to the
Ch
ristian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide.[7]<
/a> Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations,[8][9][10] is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians,[1][11][12] and is an integral part
of the Christmas and holiday season.
The precise year of Jesus' birth, which some histo
rians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown.[13]
Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christma s when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a g ift to their servants.[1] Today, Boxing Day is bette r known as a bank or public holiday that occurs on December 26, or the firs t or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other Commonwealth nations.
In South Africa, Boxing Day w as renamed Day of Goodwill in 1994. In Ireland it is recogn ized as St. Stephen's Day (Irish: Lá Fh&eacut e;ile Stiofáin) or the Day of the Wren (Irish: Lá an Dreoilín). In the Netherla nds, Latvi a, L ithuania, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia and Poland, December 26 is celebrated as the Second Ch ristmas Day.[2]
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:New Years Day (January 1st, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/New-Years-Day DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270101 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-New-Years-Day-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first d ay of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as th e Julian calendar used in ancient Rome. With most countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year's Day is the close st thing to being the world's only truly global public holiday, often celebrated wi th firew orks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January 1 on the J ulian calendar currently corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian c alendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year. New Year's Day is a postal holiday in the United States.[1]
The Romans dedicated this day to Jan us, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. After Julius Caesar reform ed the calendar in 46 BC and was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate vo ted to deify him on the 1st January 42 BC < span>[2] in honor of his life and his institu tion of the new rationalized calendar.[3] The month originally owes its name to th e deity Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward. This suggests that New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls (after whose names the years were identified) entered into off ice on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter.[4] Dates in March, coin ciding with the spring equinox, or commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns runni ng from January to December.[citation needed]
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Commonwealth Day (March 8th, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Commonwealth-Day DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270308 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Commonwealth-Day-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations held on the second Monday in March, and marked by a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey , normally attended by HM Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Common wealth High Commissioners in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, broadcast throughout the world. [1]
In the year before the qu adrennial Commonwealth Games, the Queen starts the Queen's Baton Relay on Commonwealth Day at Buckingham Palac e, handing the baton to the first relay runner to start a journey that will end at the Opening Ceremony of the upcoming Games.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Good Friday (March 26th, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Good-Friday DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270326 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Good-Friday-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:April 6 (Western)
Good Frida
y (from the senses pious, holy of the word "good"),[1] is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is ob
served during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday pr
eceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Je
wish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Fri
day, Black Friday,[2
Easter (Old Englis
h: Ēostre) or Pas
cha (Greek: Πάσχ&
alpha;, Paskha; Aramaic: פֶּסחא Pasḥa
; from Hebrew: פ&
#1462;ּסַח Pesa
717;)[1
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in rel ation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox.[8] Ecclesiastically, th e equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (even though the equinox occurs, as tronomically speaking, on 20 March in most years), and the "Full Moon" is n ot necessarily the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefor e varies between 22 March and 25 April. Eastern Christianity< /a> bases its calculations on the Julian calendar whose 21 March co rresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian c alendar, in which the celebration of Easter therefore varies between 4 April and 8 May.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Easter Monday (Western) (March 29th, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Easter-Monday DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270329 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Easter-Monday-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:Easter Monday (also known as Egg Nyte) is the day after Eas ter Sunday and is celebrated as a holiday in some largely Christian cultures, especially Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox cultures. Easter Monday in the R oman Catholic liturgical calendar is th e second day of the octave of Easter Week and analogously i n the Eastern Orthodox Church is the second day of Bright Week.
Forme rly, the post-Easter festivities involved a week of secular cel ebration, but in many places this was reduced to one day in the 19th centur y. Events include egg rolling competitions and, in predominantly Roman Catholic countries, dousing other peopl e with water which traditionally had been blessed with holy water the day bef ore at Easter Sunday Mass and carried home to bless the house and food.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:May Day (May 1st, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/May-Day DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270501 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-May-Day-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring fe stival and usually a public holiday; [1] it is also a traditional spring holiday i n many cultures.
May Day is related to the Celtic festival of < a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane" title="Beltane">Beltane a nd the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. May Day fall s exactly half a year from November 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with various northern Europe an pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain. May Day marks the en d of the unfarmable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebr ations. As Europe became Christianized the pagan holidays lost their religious ch aracter and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with May D ay, or were merged with or replaced by new Christian holiday s as with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and All Saint's Day. In the twentieth century, many neopagans began reconstruct ing the old traditions and celebrating May Day as a pagan religious festiva l again.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260614T185754Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Spring Bank Holiday (May 31st, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Spring-Bank-Holiday DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270531 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Spring-Bank-Holiday-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:A bank holiday is a public holiday in the Unit ed Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no au tomatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the popul ation is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depe nding on their contract.[1]< /span> The first official bank holidays were the four days named in the Bank Holidays Act 1871, but today the term is colloquially (albeit incorrectly) used for public holidays which are not of ficially bank holidays, for example Good Friday and Chr istmas Day.
Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed a bout thirty-three saints' days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834, this was reduced to just four: 1 May (May Day), 1 November (All Saints Day), Good Friday, and Christmas Da y. In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Liberal politician and banker Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871, which specified the days in the table set out below.[2] The English people were so thankful that they called the first Bank Holidays St Lubbock's Days for a while.[3] Scotland was treated separatel y because of its separate traditions; for example, New Year is a more impor tant holiday there.[ citation needed]
END:VEVENT END:VCALENDARWARNING: [512:1] SQL error=Unknown column 'logID' in 'where clause' query=UPDATE Log SET timeTotal=0.15597701072693, timeDelta1=-1, timeDelta2=-1, timeDelta3=-1, timeDelta4=-1 WHERE (logID=2957921);