Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 24
This is a list of selected December 24 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears 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.
- 1294 – Boniface VIII began his papacy, replacing St. Celestine V, who had declared it was permissible for a Pope to resign, and then promptly did so.
- 1814 – The Treaty of Ghent was signed in Ghent, in present-day Belgium, ending the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom and the United States.
- 1818 – "Silent Night", a Christmas carol by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber, was first performed in a church in Austria.
- 1914 – British and German soldiers interrupted World War I to celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce.
- 1964 – The Viet Cong bombed the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, killing two US Army officers, raising fears of an escalation in the Vietnam War.
- 1979 – Ariane 1 (pictured), the first launch vehicle to be developed by the European Space Agency, had its first launch.