December 18 Holidays

International Migrants Day was established by the UN General Assembly to mark December 18, 1990, when the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was adopted — raising awareness for the 281 million international migrants worldwide. Arabic Language Day was established by UNESCO to mark December 18, 1973, when Arabic became the sixth official language of the UN — celebrating Arabic as one of the world’s oldest continuously used languages, spoken natively by approximately 420 million people. Bake Cookies Day celebrates the December tradition of baking cookies — whose chemistry of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour produces the most universally comforting domestic aroma of the holiday season. National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is observed on the third Friday of December to celebrate the intentionally garish festive knitwear that has evolved from office party joke to a $1 billion global retail category.