Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 21

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 21.

To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding December 21 article, see Talk:December 21 instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?: A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.

As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.

Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.

Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.

Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?

A2: The short, basic reason is the systemic bias of Wikipedia. There are not enough good, well-written articles on 19th-century and earlier events for all 365 days in the year. Currently, a majority of users seem to be generally more interested in writing articles about recent events. If you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?

A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?

A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.

Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?

A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.

Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?

A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:

Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.

Today's featured article for December 21, 2024
"Chitty Bang Bang 1", a model for the car in the book. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car is a children's story written by Ian Fleming and illustrated by John Burningham. It was initially published in three volumes, the first of which was released on 22 October 1964, before being published as one book. The story concerns the exploits of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang—a car with hidden powers and abilities—and its owners, the Pott family. Fleming, better known as the creator of James Bond, took his inspiration for the subject from a series of aero-engined racing cars called "Chitty Bang Bang" (shown), built by Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s. Fleming wrote the book while convalescing after having had a major heart attack; he had created the story as a bedtime story for his son, Caspar. Fleming did not live to see Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang published; he died of a heart attack on 11 August 1964. The story was loosely adapted as a 1968 film of the same name and the film was later adapted as a stage musical. (Full article...) Recently featured: Battle of the Bagradas River (240 BC) SMS Niobe American Writers Archive By email More featured articles About view – talk – edit – history – watch
Picture of the day for December 21, 2024
The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. create

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 20 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 22 →

2011 notes

Removed: Richard Nixon's meeting with Elvis Presley (was put in last year for the 40th anniversary; could conceivably make another appearance in 2021)
Swapped out: Challenger expedition (ineligible), The Royal Canadian Regiment and Royal Canadian Dragoons (both ineligible), Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 (ineligible)
Swapped in: Fredonian Rebellion (first appearance), Emma Goldman (first appearance), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) (5th appearance, last in 2009), Apollo 8 (3rd appearance, last in 2008)
Also moved to Ineligible: Rondane National Park, Crossword
Note: All five items are about the United States, but there are unfortunately no other eligible articles (and I went through 70+ pages of Google search results)

--howcheng {chat} 21:12, 20 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Omitted: Plymouth Colony; Fredonian Rebellion; Emma Goldman; Apollo 8
Included: Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (2nd appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); A Doll's House (first appearance); Pretoria Pit Disaster (first appearance); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (first appearance)
Repeats: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:36, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2012 phenomenon

Should we mention anything about the 2012 phenomenon or not? ;D - The Egyptian Liberal (talk) 22:41, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's TFA on December 20. —howcheng {chat} 05:39, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere

It is midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere so I would appreciate a mention of the summer solstice festivals here as well as the winter solstice festivals up north. It is very frustrating being wished a happy Yule in midsummer! HelenOnline (talk) 09:58, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I sympathize with your request, but there are a few issues here.

Summer solstice is tagged as needing expert attention.
Midsummer does not mention any countries in the Southern Hemisphere, and it's also tagged for reference cleanup.

If you can find me an appropriate article, I will be glad to stick it in. —howcheng {chat} 17:34, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How about Wheel of the Year? HelenOnline (talk) 18:33, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also Paganism in South Africa (which I created). HelenOnline (talk) 18:50, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wheel of the Year is tagged as needing more references, so that's ineligible. Paganism in South Africa barely mentions the summer solstice and also is too localized to a single country to be listed as a general summer solstice article. Sorry. —howcheng {chat} 19:25, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your polite response, I understand. HelenOnline (talk) 09:48, 21 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yule is Dec. 25

Yule was placed on December 25 in the 10th century, and it has been celebrated in conjunction with Christmas since that time.[1] See

Merriam Webster, "Yule" ("the feast of the nativity of Jesus Christ : christmas") and "Christmas", ("a Christian feast on December 25").

Oxford, "Yule", ("archaic term for Christmas.")
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, "Yule", ("Christmas, or the Christmas season.") Kauffner (talk) 15:30, 1 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

100th Anniversary

Please be sure to mention the modern crossword created on 21 December 1913. Thanks, 98.203.73.49 (talk) 00:14, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but that article is ineligible. Please see the rules. —howcheng {chat} 06:32, 20 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers; Pretoria Pit Disaster; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Included: Plymouth Colony (6th appearance, last in 2011); Emma Goldman (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 (first appearance; 90th anniversary); Pan Am Flight 103 (5th appearance, last in 2007; blurb previously featured Pan Am Flight 103 bombing investigation, which is currently ineligible, and is making its 9th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible; 25th anniversary)
Repeats: A Doll's House (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:05, 20 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Plymouth Colony; A Doll's House; Emma Goldman; Pan Am Flight 103
Included: Fredonian Rebellion (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers/History of the cooperative movement (Society: 3rd appearance; History: first appearance; blurb last appeared in 2012); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Popocatépetl (first appearance; 20th anniversary)
Repeats: Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 (2nd appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:02, 19 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Fredonian Rebellion; Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers/History of the cooperative movement; Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923; Popocatépetl
Included: Plymouth Colony (7th appearance, last in 2013); A Doll's House (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Pretoria Pit disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Pan Am Flight 103 (6th appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 50th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:28, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Omitted: Plymouth Colony; A Doll's House (ineligible—maintenance); Pretoria Pit disaster; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Pan Am Flight 103
Included: Pope Honorius II (first appearance); Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (4th appearance, last in 2014); Emma Goldman (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Bethlehem (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 22:52, 20 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Howcheng. This entry is missing some bold syntax:

* [[1124]] – Lamberto Scannabecchi was elected Pope and took the name '''[[Pope Honorius II|{{nowrap|Honorius II}}]].

More importantly, this entry has two bold terms:

* [[1844]] – The '''[[Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers|Rochdale Pioneers]]''', usually considered the first successful [[cooperative|co-operative]] enterprise, opened their store in [[Rochdale]], England, and formed the basis for the modern '''[[History of the cooperative movement|co-operative movement]]'''.

I think it's highly unusual to have two bold terms for a single entry. This may be the reason daily-article-l didn't post for December 21, 2016. --MZMcBride (talk) 06:31, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed the syntax, but it's not uncommon at all for multiple articles to be bold in OTD. Admittedly, this is the first occurrence in December, but November 1, November 5, November 14, and November 27 all had blurbs with multiple bold articles. —howcheng {chat} 08:17, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Huh, all right, fair enough. Thanks for the tweak!

I wonder if it was the syntax that tripped up the bot or if it was something else. When I re-ran the script just now, it worked fine.

Looking at older e-mails such as November 1, 2016, I'm a bit surprised nobody has ever complained (to me, anyway) that we only output one link per selected anniversaries entry even when there are multiple bold links. --MZMcBride (talk) 14:33, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

New articles (unused): Iris Cummings; Louis Washkansky
Omitted: Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (blurb also previously featured History of the cooperative movement, which is now ineligible); Emma Goldman; Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923; Bethlehem
Included: Fredonian Rebellion (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Antonov An-225 Mriya (first appearance); 2012 phenomenon (first appearance); Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany (first appearance); Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton (first appearance); Jane Fonda (first appearance; 80th birthday)
Repeats: Pope Honorius II (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total; 80th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 17:28, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Omitted: Pope Honorius II; Fredonian Rebellion; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film); Antonov An-225 Mriya; 2012 phenomenon; Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany; Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton; Jane Fonda (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Plymouth Colony (8th appearance, last in 2015); HMS Challenger (1858)/Challenger expedition (ship: first appearance; expedition: 4th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Apollo 8 (4th appearance, last in 2011; 50th anniversary); Pan Am Flight 103 (7th appearance, last in 2015; 30th anniversary); Popocatépetl (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Maud Gonne (first appearance); Iris Cummings (first appearance); Louis Washkansky (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:41, 21 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Jane Fonda
Omitted: Plymouth Colony; HMS Challenger (1858)/Challenger expedition; Apollo 8; Pan Am Flight 103; Popocatépetl; Maud Gonne; Iris Cummings; Louis Washkansky
Included: Pope Honorius II (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (5th appearance, last in 2016); Emma Goldman (2nd appearance, last in 2016; 100th anniversary); Bloody Christmas (1963) (first appearance); Bethlehem (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Sun Sheng (Southern Tang) (first appearance); Joseph Carruthers (first appearance); Henry Reuterdahl (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 22:23, 23 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Pretoria Pit disaster (maintenance); Louis Washkansky (maintenance)
Omitted: 1124 papal election/Pope Honorius II; Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers; Emma Goldman; Bloody Christmas (1963); Sun Sheng (Southern Tang); Joseph Carruthers; Henry Reuterdahl
Included: Plymouth Colony (9th appearance, last in 2018; 400th anniversary); HMS Challenger (1858) (2nd appearance, last in 2018; blurb also previously featured Challenger expedition, which is now ineligible); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) (9th appearance, last in 2017); Grumman F-14 Tomcat (first appearance; 50th anniversary); Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid (first appearance); Maud Gonne (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Iris Cummings (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 100th birthday)
Repeats: Bethlehem (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 04:09, 23 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

New articles (unused): Hu Jintao
Omitted: Plymouth Colony; HMS Challenger (1858); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film); Grumman F-14 Tomcat; Bethlehem; Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid; Maud Gonne; Iris Cummings
Included: Fredonian Rebellion (4th appearance, last in 2017); Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (6th appearance, last in 2019); Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 (4th appearance, last in 2016); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (4th appearance, last in 2015); Antonov An-225 Mriya (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany (2nd appearance, last in 2017); William H. Osborn (first appearance); Adele Goldstine (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 04:29, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]