February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the shortest month and the only month with fewer than 30 days. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 days in leap years.
February symbols: Its birth flower is the violet (Viola) and the common primrose (Primula vulgaris). Its birthstone is the amethyst. It symbolizes piety, humility, spiritual wisdom, and sincerity. Its Zodiac signs are Aquarius (until February 18) and Pisces (February 19 onwards).
Historical Events for February, 1974
Day of Week 1st » Joelma fire named A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
1st » Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory (Malaysia) named Federal Territory.
Day of Week 2nd » The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
Day of Week 4th » The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
4th » M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
Day of Week 7th » Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
Day of Week 8th » After 84 days in outer space named space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit United States or American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
8th » Military coup in Burkina Faso or Upper Volta.
Day of Week 12th » Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
Day of Week 17th » Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
Day of Week 21st » The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
Day of Week 22nd » The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
22nd » Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.
Day of Week 23rd » The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.