Public Holidays on August 15

• 🌍 Assumption Day (Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal)
• 🌍 Asunción de la Virgen (Chile, Spain)
• 🌍 Assomption (France)
• 🌍 Assumption (Spain)
• 🌍 Assumption of Mary (Chile)
• 🌍 Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Switzerland)
• 🌍 Assunção de Nossa Senhora (Portugal)
• 🌍 Assunzione della Beata Vergine Maria (Italy)
• 🌍 Independence Day (India)
• 🌍 Liberation Day (South Korea)
• 🌍 Mariä Himmelfahrt (Austria)
• 🌍 O. L. V. Hemelvaart (Belgium)
• 🌍 Wniebowzięcie Najświętszej Marii Panny (Poland)
• 🌍 Κοίμηση της Θεοτόκου (Greece)
• 🌍 জাতীয় শোক দিবস (Bangladesh)
• 🌍 광복절 (South Korea)

All public holidays for August 15 →

Religious Observances on August 15

• Christian: Assumption of Mary

Browse religious observances →

On This Day in History — August 15

• 2015 — North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 8½ hours ahead of UTC.
• 2013 — At least 27 people are killed and 226 injured in an explosion in southern Beirut near a complex used by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. A previously unknown Syrian Sunni group claims responsibility in...
• 2013 — The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.
• 2007 — An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
• 2005 — Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
• 2005 — The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.

More about history on this day →

Notable Births on August 15

• 1994 — Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer
• 1994 — Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer
• 1993 — Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer
• 1993 — Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer
• 1992 — Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player
• 1991 — Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder

Notable Deaths on August 15

• 2017 — Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (b. 1925)
• 2015 — Julian Bond, American academic and politician (b. 1940)
• 2015 — Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (b. 1936)
• 2014 — Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (b. 1909)
• 2013 — Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (b. 1944)
• 2013 — Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (b. 1930)

Religious Observances on August 16

• Islamic: Urs of Shaykh Bahaʾuddin Shah Naqshband ق

Browse religious observances →

On This Day in History — August 16

• 2017 — Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force.
• 2015 — More than 96 people are killed and hundreds injured following a series of air-raids by the Syrian Arab Air Force on the rebel-held market town of Douma.
• 2013 — The ferry St. Thomas Aquinas collides with a cargo ship and sinks at Cebu, Philippines, killing 61 people with 59 others missing.
• 2012 — South African police fatally shoot 34 miners and wound 78 more during an industrial dispute at Marikana near Rustenburg.
• 2008 — The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level.
• 1989 — A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.

More about history on this day →

Notable Births on August 16

• 1999 — Karen Chen, American figure skater
• 1997 — Greyson Chance, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1996 — Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer
• 1994 — Jesika Malečková, Czech tennis player
• 1992 — Diego Schwartzman, Argentinian tennis player
• 1991 — José Eduardo de Araújo, Brazilian footballer

Notable Deaths on August 16

• 2016 — João Havelange, Brazilian water polo player, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1916)
• 2016 — John McLaughlin, American television personality (b. 1927)
• 2015 — Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican-American physicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1947)
• 2015 — Anna Kashfi, British actress (b. 1934)
• 2015 — Shuja Khanzada, Pakistani colonel and politician (b. 1943)
• 2015 — Mile Mrkšić, Serb general (b. 1947)