Today is Wednesday, December 25: day 360 of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. The year will end in 6 days.
The sun will rise at 9:00 Moscow time, and at 16:01 it will go below the horizon. At 12:30 the luminary will be at its zenith.
Daylight hours will last 7 hours, and darkness will last 17 hours.
Church holidays
Week 27 after Pentecost. Nativity Fast. Memorial Day of Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythous, the Wonderworker.
Name days: Alexander, Spiridon, Ferapont.
Secular holidays
Taiwan celebrates Constitution Day today, while Mozambique celebrates Family Day.
Events of December 25
In 1492, the Spaniards, led by Christopher Columbus, founded the first settlement in the New World. Today, it is the village of Caracol in Haiti.
In 1759, in St. Petersburg, Academician Joseph Braun first obtained solid mercury.
In 1917, Soviet power was proclaimed on the territory of Ukraine.
In 1946, the first nuclear reactor in Europe was launched in the USSR under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov.
In 1949, the Khabarovsk Trial (similar to the Nuremberg Trials) began against Japanese war criminals (lasted until December 30).
In 1979, the USSR began sending troops into Afghanistan.
In 1989, during the revolution in Romania, President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were shot.
In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as head of the USSR.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021.
Who was born on December 25th
In 1887, entrepreneur Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton hotel chain, was born.
In 1925, the writer Carlos Castaneda was born.
In 1958, the leader of the rock group "Alisa" Konstantin Kinchev was born.
In 1965, actor Igor Lifanov was born.
In 1971, Honored Artist of Russia, actor Vladislav Galkin was born.
Folk omens
A clear and sunny morning hints at steady, but not severe frosts.
A strong wind foretells a change in the weather.
Cloudy skies with light drizzle promise a wet and snowy January.
