In 2024, Presidents’ Day will be celebrated on Monday, February 19. It’s third Monday of February Month in every year.
Presidents’ Day: A celebration of legacy
I was reading up about some of the public holidays in the US and one day in particular piqued my interest. It was the Presidents’ Day. And it truly is as interesting as it sounds. I’ll take you through the history of how this public holiday came to be and what significance does it hold amongst all the other holidays.
First off, what is Presidents’ Day really?
If you are a US resident and are familiar with the public holiday “Presidents’ Day” you might have asked the question to yourself at some point that what this day is really celebrating. But don’t worry; I’m here with the facts! Well quite simply, this day primarily celebrates George Washington’s Birthday on the third Monday of February. But wait, isn’t that even more confusing, since it doesn’t coincide with the actual birthday anniversary of George Washington. To understand that we need to first check the history of this day, and why was it even proposed as a holiday in the first place.
The holiday was first observed in 1885 in the recognition of George Washington and his legacy. Until then it was still observed as an important day in remembering G. Washington, but not as a public holiday. At that time it was observed on the 22nd of February, and still continued to do so until 1971, when the introduction of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968 officially took effect.
Interestingly enough, this was also seen as an attempt at the joint commemoration of the two most influential US presidents of all time, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln since the new proposed day always fell in between the birthdays of the two. While a few people did raise some concerns over this with the argument that this might make the holiday less meaningful, but it soon got an overwhelmingly positive reception from the private sector and public labor union as they saw it as big win to have one three week holiday rather than one holiday in the middle of the week. So in 1971, the date of the holiday was moved from 22nd of February to the third Monday of the month, and also got the name Presidents’ Day for the first time.
Another interesting thing about this holiday is that during the early years of the Presidents’ Day, the holiday was believed to be a joint commemoration of both Lincoln and Washington since the observed holiday now fell in between the two days. The idea of this being celebrated as a 3 day holiday soon flared and the marketing and PR organizing soon jumped in on the tide. As the years went by, the public started recognizing this holiday as a celebration of all the US presidents in general and it has been the case ever since.
There are a lot of cool things to learn about this holiday. Presidents’ Day 2024 is soon approaching and I think it is high time we look back upon the history of this day and appreciate it more.
Other Significance and how is Presidents’ Day celebrated?
You know, now that you think about it, we never really give it a thought as to how organizations and people celebrate Presidents’ Day. For most of us, this day just a public holiday that makes up a long weekend which we spend by doing completely unrelated stuff. But there is more to Presidents’ Day celebration that we give it credit for.
First off, as mentioned, it is a public holiday for everyone including schools, banks and workplaces & you can use printable calendars to mention all the Feb month dates. The NY Stock Exchange and NASDAQ is closed for the day, post offices get the day off and even many federal workers get the chance to relax off work.
In the very early day, when the holiday was known as the George Washington day, the holiday was seen holding a special place in the hearts of the people during the Great Depression, when newspapers and magazines used to put out portraits of George Washington on the front pages as to boost the morale of the public. Then, around the time in 1932, Purple Heart, which was created by George Washington himself as a way to honor the soldiers who lost their lives or in general served in the armed forces, got reinstated. Patriotic groups all around the country held different kinds of celebration in honor of Washington.
In modern day, the holiday is observed just like the Independence Day, in its full glory relating to patriotism and history. Now that you know about the holiday, are you excited and waiting for Presidents’ Day 2024 to go out all guns blazing in true American colors of freedom and patriotism?
