December

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December is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days.

December begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Sagittarius and ends in the sign of Capricorn. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Ophiuchus, which is the only zodiacal constellation that is not counted as an astrological sign, and ends in the constellation of Sagittarius.

The name is from the Latin decem for "ten". December was the tenth month in the Roman calendar until a monthless winter period was divided between January and February.

1 Events in December
2 Trivia
3 Other names
4 See also
5 External links

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Events in December

Hanukkah
World AIDS Day (December 1)
Saint Lucy (December 13)
Pearl Harbor Day in the United States (December 7)
Día de la Madre en Panamá, Mother's day in Panama. (December 8)
Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, or Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico (December 12)
The solstice called the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 20 December to 22 December (in UTC). In the pagan wheel of the year the summer solstice is the time of Litha and the winter solstice is that of Yule.
Christmas Eve (December 24)
Christmas (December 25)
Boxing Day (December 26)
Kwanzaa (December 26 to January 1)
New Years Eve (December 31)

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Trivia

December always begins with the same day of the week as September.
December's flower is the holly.
December's birthstones are turquoise and tanzanite.
December in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Southern Hemisphere and vise versa.

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Other names

In Finnish, December is called joulukuu, meaning "month of Christmas", since about the 18th century. Earlier it was called talvikuu, meaning "month of winter".
In Irish, December is called Mí na Nollaig, meaning "month of Christmas".
In the old Japanese calendar, the month is called Shiwasu meaning "priests run"; it is named so because priests are busy making end of the year prayers and blessings.
In Xhosa, December is known as ngeyomNga, meaning "month of the mimosa thorn tree".