UpcomingHolidaysCont.

2023PresidentsDay

By: Ava Valdes 7th grade

Presidents Day is celebrated to honor the birthday of the first president, George Washington, and the birthday of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. But sometimes Presidents Day is recognized as a day where we celebrate all the U.S. presidents' birthdays.

George Washington was born on February 11th, 1731 but it was moved to February 22, 1732, because back then a lot of people used the Julian calendar, but then they started to use the Gregorian calendar. Abraham Lincoln's birthday is on February 12, 1809. In 2023 President's Day will be celebrated on February 20. Presidents Day is always celebrated on the 3rd Monday of February. But, they only started celebrating Presidents day on the 3rd Monday after Johnson's Uniform Holiday Bill and so that American workers could have multiple 3-day weekends throughout the year.

Presidents Day is also an official federal holiday. Since Presidents Day is an official federal holiday, stock markets, post offices and government agencies will be closed along with all public school students getting a day off from school.

To celebrate Presidents Day people usually hold public ceremonies in Washington DC and other places. Sometimes people even eat cherry pie on Presidents Day because George Washington liked it. The only state that doesn't celebrate Presidents Day though is Delaware.

We have been celebrating Presidents day since 1799 when George Washington passed away but at the time it was called George Washington's birthday instead of Presidents Day. It also only became federally recognized on January 31, 1879. So, we've been celebrating Presidents Day for more than 220 years. The reason Britain started celebrating George Washington's birthday was as a sign of respect. Before we started celebrating Abraham Lincoln's birthday we used to only celebrate George Washington's birthday and it was celebrated on his actual birthday. But, after everyone started celebrating Abraham Lincoln's birthday they changed the day we celebrate it and changed the name to Presidents Day. Even though they changed the name to Presidents Day the federal government still officially calls it George Washington's Birthday.