The United States does not have national holidays (i.e., days where all employees in the U.S. receive a day free from work and all business is halted). The U.S. Federal government can only recognize national holidays that pertain to its own employees; it is at the discretion of each state or local jurisdiction to determine official holiday schedules. There are eleven such "Federal holidays", ten annual and one quadrennial holiday. The annual Federal holidays are widely observed by state and local governments; however, they may alter the dates of observance or add or subtract holidays according to local custom. Pursuant to the Uniform Holidays Bill of 1968 (taking effect in 1971), official holidays are observed on a Monday, except for New Year's Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. There are also U.S. state holidays particular to individual U.S. states.
Most retail businesses close on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but remain open on all other holidays. Private businesses often observe only the "big six" holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). Some also add the Friday after Thanksgiving, or one or more of the other federal holidays.
Federal holidays are designated by Congress in Title V of the United States Code (5 U.S.C. § 6103).[1] If a holiday falls on a Saturday it is celebrated the preceding Friday; if a holiday falls on a Sunday it is celebrated the following Monday. Most, but not all, states and most private businesses also observe a Sunday holiday on the following Monday. It is less common, however, for a state or private business to observe a Saturday holiday on the preceding Friday. Some states and private businesses may observe it then, a few may observe it on Monday, and some may not observe the holiday at all in those years. In particular, banks that close on Saturdays do not observe a holiday when it falls on Saturday.
| Date | Official Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Celebrates beginning of the Gregorian calendar year. Festivities include counting down to midnight (12:00 AM) on the preceding night, New Year's Eve. Traditional end of holiday season. |
| Third Monday in January | Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Honors Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights leader, who was actually born on January 15, 1929; combined with other holidays in several states. |
| January 20, the first January 20th following a Presidential election | Inauguration Day | Observed only by federal government employees in Washington D.C., and the border counties of Maryland and Virginia, in order to relieve congestion that occurs with this major event. Swearing-in of President of the United States and Vice President of the United States. Celebrated every fourth year. Note: Takes place on January 21 if the 20th is a Sunday (although the President is still privately inaugurated on the 20th). If Inauguration Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the preceding Friday or following Monday is not a Federal Holiday. |
| Third Monday in February | Washington's Birthday | Washington's Birthday was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress. The Uniform Holidays Act, 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. Many people now refer to this holiday as "Presidents' Day" and consider it a day honoring all American presidents. However, neither the Uniform Holidays Act nor any subsequent law changed the name of the holiday from Washington's Birthday to Presidents' Day.[2] |
| Last Monday in May | Memorial Day | Honors the nation's war dead from the Civil War onwards; marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season. (traditionally May 30, shifted by the Uniform Holidays Act 1968) |
| July 4 | Independence Day | Celebrates Declaration of Independence, also called the Fourth of July. |
| First Monday in September | Labor Day | Celebrates the achievements of workers and the labor movement; marks the unofficial end of the summer season. |
| Second Monday in October | Columbus Day | Honors Christopher Columbus, traditional discoverer of the Americas. In some areas it is also a celebration of Italian culture and heritage. (traditionally October 12); celebrated as American Indian Heritage Day and Fraternal DayinAlabama;[3] celebrated as Native American DayinSouth Dakota.[4] In Hawaii, it is celebrated as Discoverer's Day, though is not an official state holiday.[5] |
| November 11 | Veterans Day | Honors all veterans of the United States armed forces. A traditional observation is a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. remembering those killed in war. (Commemorates the 1918 armistice, which began at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.") |
| Fourth Thursday in November | Thanksgiving Day | Traditionally celebrates the giving of thanks for the autumn harvest. Traditionally includes the consumption of a turkey dinner. Traditional start of the holiday season. (Note: Thanksgiving is not celebrated on the same day in Canada). |
| December 25 | Christmas | Celebrates the Nativity of Jesus. Some people consider aspects of this religious holiday, such as giving gifts and decorating a Christmas tree, to be secular rather than explicitly Christian. |
The Congress has designated various United States federal observances—days, weeks, months, and other periods for the observance, commemoration, or recognition of events, individuals, or other topics. These observances do not have the status of holidays in that Federal employees do not receive any days free from work for observances.
In addition to the official holidays, many religious, ethnic, and other traditional holidays populate the calendar, as well as observances proclaimed by officials and lighter celebrations. These are rarely observed by businesses as holidays; indeed, many are viewed as opportunities for commercial promotion. Because of this commercialization, some critics apply the deprecatory term Hallmark holiday to such days, after the Hallmark greeting card company.
| Date | Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| February or March, date varies | Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday | A festive season (Carnival) leading up to Shrove TuesdayorMardi Gras. Closes with Ash Wednesday (40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays), which starts the season of Lent in the Christian calendar. |
| February 2 | Groundhog Day | The day on which the behavior of a groundhog emerging from its burrow is said to predict the onset of Spring. |
| February 14 | Valentine's Day | Traditional celebration of love and romance, including the exchange of cards, candy, flowers, and other gifts. |
| March 17 | St. Patrick's Day | A celebration of Irish heritage and culture, based on the Catholic feast of St. Patrick. Primary activity is simply the wearing of green clothing ("wearing o' the green"), although drinking beer dyed green is also popular. Attending St. Patrick's Day parades has historically been more popular in the United States than in Ireland. |
| April 1 | April Fools' Day | A day to play tricks on family, friends, and coworkers, if so inclined, this day used to be the start of the New Year, the tradition started when New Year's Day was moved from April 1st, to January 1. |
| late March or April (Date varies) (March 21 for 2008) | Good Friday | Commemorates the crucifixionofJesus ChristbyPontius Pilate, believed by Christians to have taken place (traditionally) on April 1, 33 AD. Sometimes celebrated as a "Spring holiday" for Universities and schools in certain states. |
| Spring Sunday (date varies), first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon after the vernal equinox | Easter | Celebrates the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus. For Christians, Easter is a day of religious services and the gathering of family. Many Americans follow old traditions of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving children baskets of candy. On the next day, Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn for young children. The holiday is also often celebrated as a nonsectarian spring holiday. Not generally observed by most businesses as it always falls on a Sunday. Most financial markets and some other businesses close on the Friday prior, Good Friday (which is a state holiday in many states). Roman Catholic and Protestant groups celebrate Easter on a different Sunday (most years) than Orthodox groups. |
| April 22 (varies by location and observance) | Earth Day | A day used to promote environmentalism. |
| Spring, date varies | Arbor Day | A day for the planting of trees, commonly the last Friday of April but depending on the climate of the state. |
| May 5 | Cinco de Mayo | Primarily a celebration of Mexican culture by Mexican-Americans living in the United States. Although this is the anniversary of the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, Cinco de Mayo is far more important in the USA than in México itself. Additionally, this "holiday" is often mistaken by Americans as being Mexican Independence Day, which is actually observed on September 16. |
| Second Sunday in May | Mother's Day | Honors mothers and motherhood (made a "Federal Holiday" by Presidential order, although most Federal agencies are already closed on Sundays) |
| Third Sunday in June | Father's Day | Honors fathers and fatherhood. |
| September or October (depends on Hebrew calendar) | Rosh Hashanah | Traditional beginning of the Jewish High Holidays. It is also celebrates the beginning of a new year on the Hebrew calendar. |
| September or October (depends on Hebrew calendar) | Yom Kippur | Traditional end of and highest of the Jewish High Holidays. |
| October 12 | Columbus Day | Honors the first European explorer known to have set foot on North America. |
| October 30 | Mischief Night | Night before Halloween, notorious as a night where children and teenagers cause mild mischief around their town, such as tepeeing houses or throwing eggs. |
| October 31 | Halloween | Celebrates All Hallow's Eve, decorations include jack o'lanterns, costume wearing parties, and candy such as candy corn are also part of the holiday. Kids go trick-or-treating to neighbors who give away candy. Not generally observed by businesses. |
| first Tuesday after the first Monday in November | Election Day | Observed by the federal and state governments in applicable years; legal holiday in some states. |
| Friday after Thanksgiving Day | Black Friday | Kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, known to be the busiest shopping day of the year |
| December (depends on Hebrew calendar) | Hanukkah | an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second TempleinJerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BC. |
| December 7 | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day | Day to mourn the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 |
| December 21 | Winter Solstice | Day to celebrate the sun, because the winter solstice is the day with the least daylight in the Northern Hemisphere. |
| December 24 | Christmas Eve | Day before Christmas Day |
| December 26 through January 1 | Kwanzaa | African American holiday celebration created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga |
| December 31 | New Year's Eve | Final Day of the Gregorian year. Usually accompanied by much celebration. |
In addition to the federal holidays, individual states observe the following holidays:
May or may not be legal holidays, depending on state law.
Many observances and special days are declared by the President. See list of observances in the United States by presidential proclamation.
There are many annual observances in the United States (some of which are listed above) that are not celebrated by the rest of the world.
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