The Battle of the Boyne (Irish: Cath na Bóinne, IPA: [ˈkah n̪ˠə ˈb 36;oːn̪ʲə]) was fought in 1690 between two r ival claimants of the English, Scottish, and Irish thrones – the Catholic King James and the Protestant K ing William (who had deposed James in 1688) &ndash ; across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland. The battle, won by W illiam, was a turning point in James' unsuccessful at tempt to regain the crown and ultimately helped ensure the continuation of Protestant supremacy in Ireland. Ironically, some c ontemporary historians have speculated that William's campaign may have bee n funded, at least in part, by Pope Alexander VIII as part of a shared hostility with William to Louis XIV of France, who at the time was attempting to establish dominance in Europe and to whom James was an ally.[1 ]
The battle took place on 1 July 1690 in the "old style" (Julian) calendar. This w as equivalent to 11 July in the "new style< /a>" (Gregorian) calendar, although today its commemoration i s held on 12 July.[2] William's forces defeated James' army of mostly raw recru its. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-kno wn battles in British–I rish history and it is a key part of the folklore for the Orange Order. Its commemoration today is principally by the Orange Institution.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260613T173733Z 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:20260613T173733Z 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:20260613T173733Z CATEGORIES:Days Until CLASS:PUBLIC ORGANIZER:DaysUntil.com SUMMARY:Saint Patrick's Day (March 17th, 2027 at midnight) URL:http://www.DaysUntil.com/Saint-Patricks-Day DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270317 DURATION:P1D TRANSP:TRANSPARENT UID:DaysUntil.com-Saint-Patricks-Day-00002027 DESCRIPTION:X-WR-CALDESC:Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cult ural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, an d the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[2]
It is o
bserved by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Ea
stern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made
an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and
has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in genera
l.
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 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:20260613T173733Z 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:20260613T173733Z 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=0.14773488044739, timeDelta1=-1, timeDelta2=-1, timeDelta3=-1, timeDelta4=-1 WHERE (logID=2945259);