July 12 Holidays

Malala Day was established by the UN to mark July 12, 1997, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai — the Pakistani activist for girls’ education who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 and became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014. Battle of the Boyne is a public holiday in Northern Ireland marking July 12 (old style: July 1), 1690, when William III defeated the deposed James II at the Battle of the Boyne — a victory commemorated annually by Orange Order parades that remain a source of sectarian tension. National Eat Your Jello Day celebrates the flavored gelatin dessert whose commercial history traces to Pearle Wait’s 1897 invention in LeRoy, New York, popularized by the Jell-O brand whose advertising budget turned a niche product into a national institution. Kiribati Independence Day marks July 12, 1979, when the Gilbert Islands became the independent nation of Kiribati — straddling the International Date Line and the equator, making it the first country to see both the first sunrise and the last sunset of any given day. A Nobel laureate, an orange march, a jiggly dessert, and an island that touches two hemispheres.