The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. Often the National Day will be a national holiday.

The National Day is often taken as the date on which a state or territory achieved independence or the introduction of a democratic constitution. Other dates such as the country's patron saint day, or a significant historic date are sometimes used. Most countries have a single National Day per year, though a few, for example, India^[1] and Pakistan, have more than one. Besides that, each of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, namely Hong Kong and Macao, celebrate the day of the establishment of the special administrative region, as well as the National Day of the People's Republic of China.

(... from Wikipedia on 2009-01-01 01:00:00 )