Presidents Day - Why we celebrate it
Presidents Day is the name of the federal holiday which was officially named for Washington’s Birthday. It is always celebrated on the third Monday of February. Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12 and the two days were merged into one of celebration, honor and remembrance.
In most American schools, the days which lead up to Presidents Day are used to educate the students on the history of the leaders in the United States, with special focus on Lincoln and Washington. Up until the late 1980’s, most businesses were closed on this date. Since then, more businesses have decided to remain open and most delivery services, other than the Post Office are running business as usual. There are even some public transit systems which are now on regular schedules at that time. There are many speculations for why this is. The one that is widely accepted is the one it is needed to make up for the trend of businesses which close for Martin Luther King’s celebration. Unfortunately, as with many other federal holidays, very few Americans actually celebrate Presidents Day. Presidents Day is best known for being extra time at home off of work or school.
George Washington was born on February 11, 1732 of the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar was in use before the reformation of England’s calendar in September 1752. Since his birthday was equivalent to February 22 of the Gregorian calendar (which is the calendar that was used since 1752), he considered the 22nd to be he official birthday.
Presidents Day observance on the third Monday of February became effective in 1971 after the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed in 1968. A draft of that bill called for a Presidents Day which was to honor both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln but when the final version of the bill was passed, it only moved George Washington’s birthday from February 22nd to the third Monday without changing it’s actual name. An urban legend had it that in 1971, Richard Nixon, who was president at the time, issued a proclamation which called for a Presidents Day on the third Monday of February to honor all United States leaders of the country, but to date, no evidence of this exists. As of recent times, the federal government and many state and local officials still designate the holiday as “Washington’s Birthday” but most private employers and calendars call it Presidents Day and decorate in red white and blue color.
Typically, the third Monday in a month almost always falls between the 15th and the 21st days so observance of the holiday Presidents Day today never occurs on the 11th, the 22nd or on Lincoln’s birthday for that matter. .
If you haven’t found enough information on this page, you can do a search online and find many links with tons of info.