Dead Presidents!
When is Presidents Day? History of the American Holiday —
[Feb. 18]
No, I’m not talking about Gen X and Baby Boomer surfer dudes Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reaves dressed up in Dead Presidents costume masks, going out to rob banks and otherwise defy all adrenaline odds — including death — in the blockbuster surfer movie called Point Break. Our real presidents weren’t quite that death-defying. While Point Break was a pretty decent movie and full of excitement, there is just as much drama in understanding the American holiday called Presidents Day.
When is Presidents Day 2011? This year, we’ll be celebrating it on February 21, which is — of course — on a Monday to create a three day holiday vacation for people to relax and make short travel day trips to see friends and family (or do some spring cleaning after the Christmas and New Years Holidays).
Presidents day is not a day that Barack Obama gets to take off as a god given day of leisure. It is actually a national holiday in America that was designated to celebrate some very special and important dead presidents birthdays. However, it is kind of a strange holiday as no one really celebrates the event any more — but it is still on the calendar as a national holiday.
Why do Americans celebrate the life of dead presidents? Which presidents does America honor on Presidents Day?
Presidents’ Day (also known as George Washington’s birthday) is the first federal holiday to honor an actual American citizen. It was first celebrated on Washington’s birthday on February 22 in 1796, during the last year of his presidency.
Then Abraham Lincoln came along and his birthday was February 12. Americans began celebrating both presidents in February.
Why do Americans celebrate Presidents day? The early Americans did this to honor the memory of American history and the dead presidents life — rather than death — using it as an opportunity to plan memorials and teach their children about the brave and heroic American leaders who had helped make the country unique as a democracy experiment. Nowadays, parents and school teachers still use the holiday to teach kids American history and urban legends, but for the most part the holiday is not celebrated — expect by Federal employees and bank tellers doing the happy dance they get a random day off for no reason.
Why isn’t George Washington’s birthday celebrated on his real birthday? For a dumb reason.
So why the change from the 22nd to the 21st for Washington’s birthday celebration? It boils down to every party planners worst nightmare — competing special event dates.
That posed a problem. The two dates fell so close together, and two factions of Americans developed, particularly after the Civil War, during which Lincoln emancipated slaves (and there still is some contention about the name of the war — some want it called the War of Northern Aggression) each insisting on honoring its own president. Here’s where things get interesting.
In 1968, Congress decided to enact a series of federal holidays, all on Mondays, so federal employees, schools, banks and other places of work could have three-day weekends. But some people didn’t like the idea that Presidents’ Day would honor anyone other than George Washington; they wanted it named President‘s Day to indicate only one president was being celebrated.
Others felt the days should be split between the two and that should be Presidents’ Day. So Congress compromised.
Since there were two special dates so close in February, Congress decided that Presidents’ Day should become the official federal holiday to celebrate both Washington and Lincoln. In that fashion, the third Monday of February never would fall on either president’s birthday. Crafty of them.
Presidents Day a real American holiday with interesting history.
Not to dismiss Point Break, but who ever said the history of Presidents’ Day couldn’t be dramatic?
For more infromation on the history of the American holiday Presidents Day — including answers to the question WHEN IS PRESIDENTS DAY, check out the following links:
- About.com about Presidents Day
- Wikipedia on the history of Presidents Day
- iPad and iPhone apps that share news and updates about holidays like Presidents day
- rootsweb with the history of dead presidents and more
- Snopes.com — a great site to verify the truth of rumors about dead presidents and urban legends about holidays
- Point Break — just for fun, the perfect date night movie to watch on Presidents Day