Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 25

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 25.

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 25 article, see Talk:December 25 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 25, 2024

Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 25, 2024

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Picture of the day for December 25, 2024

The Kefermarkt altarpiece is a richly decorated wooden altarpiece in the Late Gothic style in the parish church of Kefermarkt in Upper Austria. Commissioned by the knight Christoph von Zelking, it was completed around 1497. Saints Peter, Wolfgang and Christopher are depicted in the central section. The wing panels depict scenes from the life of Mary, and the altarpiece also has an intricate superstructure and two side figures of Saints George and Florian. The identity of its maker, known by the notname Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece, is unknown, but at least two skilled sculptors appear to have created the main statuary. Throughout the centuries, it has been altered and lost its original paint and gilding; a major restoration was undertaken in the 19th century under the direction of Adalbert Stifter. The altarpiece has been described as "one of the greatest achievements in late-medieval sculpture in the German-speaking area". This image shows the upper-left wing panel of the Kefermarkt altarpiece, depicting the birth of Christ. Mary is portrayed kneeling in devotion in front of the infant Christ, who is placed before her on a fold of her dress. On the other side, Joseph is also kneeling in front of the child. Above Mary, on the roof of the building behind them, are two angels playing a mandolin and a lute. The annunciation to the shepherds can be seen in the background.

Sculpture credit: Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece; photographed by Uoaei1

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 24 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 26 →

The song title "Silent Night" should be in quotes, not italicized. Italics are reserved for long-form works (i.e. albums); songs are rendered in quotes. --FuriousFreddy 14:03, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Most definitely Phoenix2 02:42, 23 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think the birth of Jesus should be on here, I'm not really big on religion, but a lot more people are going to care about that than the Republic of Ezo. Coocooforcocopuffs 23:05, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

"Christmas" is there already. The birth of Jesus on the 25 of December is a tradition and most scholars agree it's not an accurate date, it's just a celebration. Besides, we don't even know the year that Jesus is born in. Aran|heru|nar 05:24, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Probably the year 0 or 1 A.D., seeing as B.C. is before he was born. --Coocooforcocopuffs 01:22, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Again, no one knows but it's not generally believed to be 1 A.D. (there's no such thing as year 0). Check out Christmas and Nativity of Jesus for more details Nil Einne (talk) 13:40, 7 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"the West"[edit]

"800 - Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, a title that had been out of use in the West since the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in 476. "

"the West", I believe, means "the Western Roman Empire" in this context. It should therefore link there. I have explained here. Aran|heru|nar 05:24, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A title to be used in the "Western Roman Empire" in the year 800 ? That empire was done centuries earlier. I'm not sure if the current link is right, but I don't know how to fix it. --PFHLai 21:59, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mistake[edit]

Silent Night was first performed on 24th, not 25th, see [1] or [2]. --Japo (talk) 16:47, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hessians[edit]

Could someone please link to Hessian (soldiers) instead to the disambiguation page Hessian. Thanks a lot in advance. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 05:06, 25 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done. --BorgQueen (talk) 05:07, 25 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That was fast ;-) Thanks a lot! --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 05:10, 25 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2011 notes[edit]

Removed: St Paul's Cathedral (appears on October 20)
Moved to Ineligible: Charlemagne, Hirohito, Beagle 2
Swapped out: William the Conqueror, Christmas Island, Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, Nicolae Ceaușescu, National Anthem of Russia
Swapped in: Washington's crossing of the Delaware River (6th appearance, last in 2009), Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (3rd appearance, last in 2009), Stone of Scone (2nd appearance, last in 2007), San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks (first appearance), St Mel's Cathedral (first appearance)

--howcheng {chat} 00:54, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Formatting issue[edit]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I'm using the selected anniversaries as part of Portal:History, and somebody put a spare into the page (bottom of notes), messing up the formatting. Do fix. ResMar 23:03, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Does it always take this long to get back on these? ResMar 15:02, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done Sometimes, yes, especially when you don't specify clearly what the requested edit is. Anomie ⚔ 16:22, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well I thought saying "spare div" is pretty clear. ResMar 19:14, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OTOH, since you didn't use <nowiki>...</nowiki> or {{tag}} or the like to escape your "</div>", it renders in the page as "somebody put a spare into the page (bottom of notes)". And since the page does have a section called 'Notes' inside the 'Staging area', that just added to the confusion.

FYI, the ideal request would copy the page text into a sandbox somewhere, make the fix, and then link to the resulting diff showing exactly what needs to be changed. Anomie ⚔ 21:11, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

All for an extra </div> tag? That seems wildly excessive. ResMar 21:24, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you want the fastest response, you have to make it as easy as possible for any passing admin. Anomie ⚔ 01:09, 27 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, just noticed that. ResMar 21:24, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes[edit]

Omitted: Battle of Trenton; Japanese occupation of Hong Kong; Stone of Scone (ineligible—maintenance); San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks; St Mel's Cathedral
Included: Christmas Island (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Handel and Haydn Society (first appearance); Hirohito (4th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible; moved from November 10); Nicolae Ceaușescu (4th appearance, last in 2010); Northwest Airlines Flight 253/Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 08:08, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes[edit]

Omitted: Christmas Island (ineligible—maintenance); Handel and Haydn Society; Hirohito; Nicolae Ceaușescu; Northwest Airlines Flight 253/Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Included: William the Conqueror (3rd appearance, last in 2010); Ephraim McDowell (first appearance; moved from December 13); Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Mikhail Gorbachev (6th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); St Mel's cathedral, Longford (2nd appearance, last in 2011)

—howcheng {chat} 07:21, 24 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes[edit]

Thinking we should put Christmas Truce of for this year. Currently a Good Article and it is the 100th anniversary — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.203.88.210 (talk) 16:58, 6 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The article normally appears on December 24, but it's featured as POTD for today, so that makes it ineligible for inclusion. —howcheng {chat} 06:36, 23 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes[edit]

Omitted: Ephraim McDowell; Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng; Mikhail Gorbachev; St Mel's cathedral, Longford
Included: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River/Battle of Trenton (Crossing: 7th appearance; Battle: 2nd appearance; both last in 2011); Hirohito (5th appearance, last in 2012); Nicolae Ceaușescu (5th appearance, last in 2012; 25th anniversary); San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks
Repeats: William the Conqueror (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 19:22, 23 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes[edit]

Omitted: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River; Hirohito; Nicolae Ceaușescu; San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks
Included: Handel and Haydn Society (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 200th anniversary); Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (4th appearance, last in 2011); Kilvenmani massacre (first appearance); National Anthem of Russia (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
Repeats: William the Conqueror (3rd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:21, 23 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes[edit]

Deleted: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River/Battle of Trenton (moved to December 26)
Omitted: Handel and Haydn Society; Kilvenmani massacre; National anthem of Russia
Included: Ephraim McDowell (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Hirohito (6th appearance, last in 2014; 90th anniversary); Mikhail Gorbachev (7th appearance, last in 2013; 25th anniversary)
Repeats: William the Conqueror (4th consecutive appearance, 6 total; 950th anniversary); Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 01:09, 25 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes[edit]

Omitted: William the Conqueror; Ephraim McDowell; Hirohito (ineligible—maintenance); Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (ineligible—maintenance); Mikhail Gorbachev (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Baldwin I of Jerusalem (3rd appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Baptist War (first appearance); Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 90th anniversary); Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (first appearance; blurb previously featured Nicolae Ceaușescu and is making its 6th appearance, last in 2014); San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 10th anniversary); Makan ibn Kaki (first appearance); Nina E. Allender (first appearance); Sadiq al-Mahdi (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 01:26, 25 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes[edit]

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Removal of the Stone of Scone in 1950 (blurb previously featured Stone of Scone, which remains ineligible)
New articles (unused): Chengjia; 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash
Omitted: Baldwin I of Jerusalem; Baptist War; Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng; Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu; San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks; Makan ibn Kaki; Nina E. Allender; Sadiq al-Mahdi
Included: Halley's Comet (3rd appearance, last in 2016; moved from May 25); Handel and Haydn Society (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (6th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Kilvenmani massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2015; 50th anniversary); St Mel's cathedral, Longford (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Zhang Jingda (first appearance); Otto Frederick Hunziker (first appearance); Atal Bihari Vajpayee (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 21:32, 25 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 request[edit]

@Howcheng: - On 25 December 1819, Thelnetham Windmill was first set to work. Can it be featured on OTD, with photograph please? Mjroots (talk) 13:04, 15 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Sadiq al-Mahdi (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Mikhail Gorbachev
Omitted: Halley's Comet; Handel and Haydn Society; Japanese occupation of Hong Kong; Kilvenmani massacre; Zhang Jingda; Otto Frederick Hunziker; Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Included: William the Conqueror (7th appearance, last in 2016); Ephraim McDowell (4th appearance, last in 2016); Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 30th anniversary); Sverker I of Sweden (first appearance); Lady Grizel Baillie (first appearance); Joan Miró (first appearance)
Repeats: St Mel's Cathedral (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 21:14, 26 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Handel and Haydn Society (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Dorothy Wordsworth; Fatima Massaquoi; Sadiq al-Mahdi
Omitted: William the Conqueror; Ephraim McDowell; Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu; St Mel's Cathedral; Sverker I of Sweden; Lady Grizel Baillie; Joan Miró
Included: Chengjia (first appearance); Baldwin I of Jerusalem (4th appearance, last in 2017); 1950 removal of the Stone of Scone (first appearance; 70th anniversary); WorldWideWeb (7th appearance, last in 2016; moved from February 26; 30th anniversary); National anthem of Russia (3rd appearance, last in 2015; 20th anniversary); Peter the Venerable (first appearance); Nina E. Allender (2nd appearance, last in 2017); China Machado (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 19:24, 26 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes[edit]

Omitted: Chengjia; Baldwin I of Jerusalem; 1950 removal of the Stone of Scone; WorldWideWeb; National anthem of Russia; Peter the Venerable; Nina E. Allender; China Machado
Included: Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (5th appearance, last in 2010; 975th anniversary; previously appeared on June 4); Baptist War (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (5th appearance, last in 2020; also appeared on February 10); Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (7th appearance, last in 2018; 80th anniversary); Mikhail Gorbachev (8th appearance, last in 2016; 30th anniversary); Dorothy Wordsworth (first appearance; 250th birthday); Young Tom Morris (first appearance); Sadiq al-Mahdi (2nd appearance, last in 2017)

—howcheng {chat} 05:48, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]