To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding March 16 article, see Talk:March 16 instead.
Frequently asked questions
Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?
A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.
As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.
Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.
Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.
Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?
Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?
A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.
Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?
A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.
Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?
A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.
Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?
A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:
Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.
Today's featured article for March 16, 2025
Royal Opera House, where Flight Pattern premiered
Flight Pattern is a contemporary ballet choreographed by Crystal Pite, set to the first movement of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3. It premiered at the Royal Opera House(pictured) in London on 16 March 2017, making Pite the first woman to choreograph for the Royal Ballet's main stage in 18 years. The ballet won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2018. Flight Pattern examines the plight of refugees, drawing inspiration from 20th and 21st-century events, particularly the refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war. The ballet starts with 36 dancers performing on stage and transitions to a series of duets and solos originated by the dancers Marcelino Sambé and Kristen McNally. The piece was mostly positively reviewed by critics, with many praising the performance of the two soloists and the choreography of the ensemble. In 2022, Pite expanded the ballet into Light of Passage, with Flight Pattern becoming the first part of the ballet. (Full article...)
The Phaistos Disc, is a disc of fired clay from the Greek island of Crete, possibly from the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC). It bears a text in an unknown script and language and its purpose and original place of manufacture remain disputed. Discovered in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier, the disc is made of fine-grained clay, intentionally and properly fired, and is approximately cylindrical with a diameter of around 16 cm and thickness of almost 2 cm, with rounded edges. The disc is an early example of movable-type printing, with the embossed signs that comprise its inscription resulting from separate stamps, pressed into the soft clay before firing. The Phaistos Disc is now on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The two sides of the disc are shown here.
Disc credit: unknown Bronze Age civilisation; photographed by C messier
The FA Cup Thank you for the suggestion. I think this is a good topic to feature on the MainPage. For next year, please add the date to FA Cup or expand Wanderers F.C.. The featured page (bolded) needs to have the date mentioned in the text and must not be a stub. The Oval has the date, but I'd rather feature either FA Cup or Wanderers F.C. Thanks. -- PFHLai 21:02, 2005 Mar 17 (UTC)
P.S. Is there a better image of the FA Cup available -- without the beer logos at the back ?
Regarding the Milltown Cemetery attack – The current wording is "an Ulster Defence Association man attacked the funeral of three Provisional IRA volunteers". For the sake of neutrality, I think we should use the same term for each of them, preferably member(s). Or we could just say that "loyalistMichael Stone attacked the funeral…"
It must be an Irish thing because I don't see how the original wording is not neutral. However, I have nothing against the proposed rewording either, so I put that in. —howcheng {chat}02:57, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
