Past year · United States
The year a computer won at chess, a rover reached Mars and Titanic filled theaters
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| 5 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
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| 8 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 9 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
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| 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
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| 12 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 13 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 14 | 30 | 31 |
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| 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
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| 17 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 18 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
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| 18 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
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| 21 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 22 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
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| 23 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 24 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 25 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 26 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 27 | 29 | 30 |
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| 27 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 28 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 29 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 30 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 31 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
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| 31 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| 32 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 33 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 34 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 35 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 36 | 31 |
| Wk | S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
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| 36 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 37 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 38 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 39 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 40 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
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| 40 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 41 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 42 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 43 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 44 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
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| 44 | 1 | ||||||
| 45 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 46 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 47 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 48 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 49 | 30 |
| Wk | S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
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| 49 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 50 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 51 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 52 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 53 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Free printable 1997 calendars: the Year PDF fits all twelve months on one US Letter page, and the Monthly PDF gives each month its own page with holidays written in the day boxes. Both are landscape and print well on A4 with "fit to page".
1997 had 10 federal holidays plus Inauguration Day on January 20 for federal workers around Washington, DC. The list below also includes 31 widely observed religious, cultural and civic dates, the start of each season and the daylight saving time changes. Federal holidays are shaded red on the calendar.
Every federal holiday in 1997 fell on a weekday, so no substitute "observed" days were needed.
| Date | Holiday or observance | Type |
|---|---|---|
| January | ||
| 1 Wed | New Year's Day | Federal holiday |
| 10 Fri | Ramadan begins Date follows the Umm al-Qura calculation. Many US communities rely on moon sighting, so the day observed can differ by one day. | Religious |
| 20 Mon | Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Federal holiday |
| 20 Mon | Inauguration Day Holiday for federal employees in the Washington, DC area only. | Federal holiday |
| February | ||
| 2 Sun | Groundhog Day | Observance |
| 7 Fri | Lunar New Year | Cultural |
| 9 Sun | Eid al-Fitr Date follows the Umm al-Qura calculation. Many US communities rely on moon sighting, so the day observed can differ by one day. | Religious |
| 11 Tue | Mardi Gras | Cultural |
| 12 Wed | Ash Wednesday | Religious |
| 14 Fri | Valentine's Day | Observance |
| 17 Mon | Presidents' Day The official federal name is Washington's Birthday. | Federal holiday |
| March | ||
| 17 Mon | St. Patrick's Day | Observance |
| 20 Thu | March Equinox (Spring begins) At 8:55 a.m. ET. | Season |
| 28 Fri | Good Friday | Religious |
| 30 Sun | Easter Sunday | Religious |
| April | ||
| 1 Tue | April Fools' Day | Observance |
| 6 Sun | Daylight Saving Time begins Clocks move forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time (except Arizona and Hawaii). | Clock change |
| 18 Fri | Eid al-Adha Date follows the Umm al-Qura calculation. Many US communities rely on moon sighting, so the day observed can differ by one day. | Religious |
| 22 Tue | Passover (first day) Begins at sundown on Monday, April 21, 1997. | Religious |
| 22 Tue | Earth Day | Observance |
| May | ||
| 5 Mon | Cinco de Mayo | Cultural |
| 11 Sun | Mother's Day | Observance |
| 26 Mon | Memorial Day | Federal holiday |
| June | ||
| 14 Sat | Flag Day | Observance |
| 15 Sun | Father's Day | Observance |
| 19 Thu | Juneteenth Recognized by many states at the time. It became a federal holiday in 2021. | Observance |
| 21 Sat | June Solstice (Summer begins) At 4:20 a.m. ET. | Season |
| July | ||
| 4 Fri | Independence Day | Federal holiday |
| September | ||
| 1 Mon | Labor Day | Federal holiday |
| 7 Sun | National Grandparents Day | Observance |
| 22 Mon | September Equinox (Fall begins) At 7:55 p.m. ET. | Season |
| October | ||
| 2 Thu | Rosh Hashanah Begins at sundown on Wednesday, October 1, 1997. | Religious |
| 11 Sat | Yom Kippur Begins at sundown on Friday, October 10, 1997. | Religious |
| 13 Mon | Columbus Day Many states and cities observe Indigenous Peoples' Day on this date. | Federal holiday |
| 26 Sun | Daylight Saving Time ends Clocks move back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time. | Clock change |
| 31 Fri | Halloween | Observance |
| November | ||
| 11 Tue | Veterans Day | Federal holiday |
| 27 Thu | Thanksgiving Day | Federal holiday |
| 28 Fri | Black Friday | Observance |
| December | ||
| 21 Sun | December Solstice (Winter begins) At 3:07 p.m. ET. | Season |
| 24 Wed | Hanukkah (first day) Begins at sundown on Tuesday, December 23, 1997. | Religious |
| 24 Wed | Christmas Eve | Observance |
| 25 Thu | Christmas Day | Federal holiday |
| 26 Fri | Kwanzaa begins | Cultural |
| 31 Wed | Ramadan begins Date follows the Umm al-Qura calculation. Many US communities rely on moon sighting, so the day observed can differ by one day. | Religious |
| 31 Wed | New Year's Eve | Observance |
History
The United States began 1997 with President Bill Clinton taking the oath for a second term and ended it with a balanced-budget agreement beginning to reshape federal finances. Between those political landmarks, a fifteen-day UPS strike interrupted package delivery across the country and showed the leverage of organized labor in an economy increasingly dependent on rapid distribution. Technology stories suggested that machines and networks were moving into a new phase: IBM's Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match, and the google.com domain was registered while its founders were still Stanford graduate students.
Space exploration produced one of the year's most watched live events. Mars Pathfinder landed on July 4 using airbags, then deployed Sojourner, the first wheeled vehicle to operate on another planet. Its images reached an enormous online audience and demonstrated cheaper ways to deliver science instruments to Mars. Researchers also announced Dolly the sheep, born the previous July as the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The news opened serious public debates about genetics, animal welfare and whether similar techniques should ever be used with humans.
International events frequently became American front-page news. Britain returned Hong Kong to China on July 1, Princess Diana died after a car crash in Paris on August 31, and delegates adopted the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in December. At home, television audiences followed the trial and conviction of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, while music mourned the killings of the Notorious B.I.G. and other performers. Movie theaters supplied a different kind of common experience: James Cameron's Titanic opened on December 19 and grew from a risky, expensive production into a worldwide phenomenon that later won eleven Academy Awards.
Bill Clinton took the presidential oath from Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the US Capitol, beginning his second term with Vice President Al Gore. The ceremony followed a reelection victory in which Clinton won 379 electoral votes.
Researchers at the Roslin Institute announced Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. Born in July 1996, she showed that a specialized adult cell could be reprogrammed to direct development, prompting scientific excitement and an immediate ethics debate.
Christopher Wallace, known as the Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was fatally shot after leaving a music-industry party in Los Angeles. His death at age 24 came six months after Tupac Shakur's killing and remains officially unsolved.
Hale-Bopp reached perihelion after months of naked-eye visibility. Its bright dust and ion tails made it one of the most widely observed comets of the twentieth century, while its long lead time gave professional and amateur astronomers unusual opportunities to study it.
Deep Blue won the deciding sixth game against reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov in New York, taking the rematch 3½–2½. It was the first computer to defeat a reigning champion in a match under standard tournament conditions.
Read the full storySovereignty over Hong Kong passed from Britain to China at midnight after more than 150 years of colonial rule. The territory became a special administrative region under the “one country, two systems” framework set out in earlier agreements.
NASA's Mars Pathfinder bounced to a safe landing in Ares Vallis using a cocoon of airbags. The lander soon deployed Sojourner, the first rover to operate on Mars, and returned images, weather observations and chemical measurements of rocks and soil.
Read the full storyAbout 185,000 Teamsters members walked off the job at United Parcel Service in a dispute centered on part-time work, wages and pensions. The fifteen-day strike disrupted deliveries nationwide and ended with an agreement that included commitments to create more full-time jobs.
Diana died from injuries after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. Her death at age 36 prompted widespread public mourning; her funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 6 was watched by a vast international television audience.
Read the full storyLarry Page registered google.com after he and Sergey Brin renamed their Stanford search project, BackRub. The name played on the mathematical word “googol,” and the domain became an early marker on the path to Google's incorporation the following September.
Read the full storyCountries meeting in Kyoto, Japan, adopted a treaty that set binding greenhouse-gas targets for industrialized nations and economies in transition. The protocol required a lengthy ratification process and entered into force in February 2005.
Titanic opened after a costly production and a delayed release. The three-hour historical romance became a global box-office phenomenon, tied the record with eleven Academy Awards and held the worldwide box-office record until Cameron's Avatar surpassed it.
Read the full storyGold dots on the calendar above mark these dates. Articles are researched from primary and authoritative sources listed on each page.
At a glance
Quick facts about 1997 — from key dates and calendar statistics to major events and achievements.
Important dates in 1997
Fire Ox
Notable winners and milestones in 1997
How many of each weekday 1997 had.
How many of each weekday 1997 had. A common year has 52 of every weekday plus one extra—the weekday it starts on; a leap year gets two extras.
Sky calendar
All times are US Eastern Time, calculated with standard astronomical algorithms (Meeus). Dates can differ by a day in other time zones.
Thursday, March 20, 1997
8:55 a.m. ET
Saturday, June 21, 1997
4:20 a.m. ET
Monday, September 22, 1997
7:55 p.m. ET
Sunday, December 21, 1997
3:07 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 6, 1997. Clocks move forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time (except Arizona and Hawaii).
Clock changeSunday, October 26, 1997. Clocks move back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time.
| Month | New Moon | First Quarter | Full Moon | Last Quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8 11:25 p.m. | 15 3:01 p.m. | 23 10:10 a.m. | 1 8:44 p.m. 31 2:40 p.m. |
| February | 7 10:06 a.m. | 14 3:58 a.m. | 22 5:26 a.m. | — |
| March | 8 8:14 p.m. | 15 7:06 p.m. | 23 11:45 p.m. | 2 4:38 a.m. 31 2:38 p.m. |
| April | 7 7:01 a.m. | 14 12:59 p.m. | 22 4:33 p.m. | 29 10:36 p.m. |
| May | 6 4:46 p.m. | 14 6:54 a.m. | 22 5:13 a.m. | 29 3:50 a.m. |
| June | 5 3:03 a.m. | 13 12:51 a.m. | 20 3:08 p.m. | 27 8:42 a.m. |
| July | 4 2:39 p.m. | 12 5:44 p.m. | 19 11:20 p.m. | 26 2:28 p.m. |
| August | 3 4:14 a.m. | 11 8:42 a.m. | 18 6:55 a.m. | 24 10:23 p.m. |
| September | 1 7:51 p.m. | 9 9:31 p.m. | 16 2:50 p.m. | 23 9:34 a.m. |
| October | 1 12:51 p.m. 31 5:01 a.m. | 9 8:21 a.m. | 15 11:45 p.m. | 23 12:48 a.m. |
| November | 29 9:14 p.m. | 7 4:43 p.m. | 14 9:11 a.m. | 21 6:58 p.m. |
| December | 29 11:56 a.m. | 7 1:09 a.m. | 13 9:37 p.m. | 21 4:43 p.m. |
Reuse your calendar
Every year that starts on a Wednesday and is a common (non-leap) year has exactly the same dates and weekdays as 1997. That means a printed 1997 calendar works again in 2003, 2014, 2025.Holidays tied to the moon, such as Easter, will still move.
Why calendars repeatFAQ
1997 started on a Wednesday (January 1, 1997) and ended on a Wednesday (December 31, 1997). It had 365 days, 52 ISO weeks and 251 working days once federal holidays are excluded.
No. 1997 was a common year with 365 days, so February had 28 days. The nearest leap years were 1996 and 2000. See leap years explained.
1975, 1986, 2003, 2014, 2025 share the exact same calendar as 1997: they start on a Wednesday and are common years. A 1997 calendar can be reused in 2003, 2014, 2025. Use the same calendar year finder for any other year.
Thanksgiving Day 1997 was on Thursday, November 27, 1997. Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday in November, so it can fall between November 22 and November 28. Read more about Thanksgiving.
Easter Sunday 1997 was on Sunday, March 30, 1997, with Good Friday on Friday, March 28, 1997. Western Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25. See how the date of Easter is calculated.
1997 is the Year of the Fire Ox, which began with Lunar New Year on Friday, February 7, 1997. Anyone born between January 1 and February 6, 1997 belongs to the previous zodiac year, the Fire Rat.
Bill Clinton (Democratic) was the 42nd president throughout 1997, with Al Gore as vice president.
There were 10 federal holidays in 1997, plus Inauguration Day for federal workers in the Washington, DC area. When a holiday lands on a Saturday, federal employees get the Friday before off; a Sunday holiday moves to Monday. See how federal holidays work.