Washington’s Birthday or Presidents Day Confusion?
You may have noticed there were no school busses on the highways and byways this morning. That is because it is President's Day. Or is it Washington's birthday? It's actually both, depending on your views.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, Washington's Birthday became popularly known as Presidents' Day following the 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which shifted the federal holiday from February 22 to the third Monday in February to create three-day weekends. The name shift was driven by marketing, the proximity to Lincoln's Feb. 12 birthday, and a desire to honor all U.S. presidents, though it remains officially "Washington's Birthday".
George's birthday didn't legally become a holiday until 1879. He would mostly likely have opposed it had he still been around. He was famous for not liking pageantry and honors. Maybe that is why he wanted to be a president and not a king.
To further confuse things, today is not actually Washington's birthday, as mentioned above, that is this coming Sunday. That is when an annual tradition since 1896 occurs, the reading of Washington's "Farewell Address" takes place in the United States Senate.
Another reason for the dual names of the day is political; some prefer to call today President's Day because they don't want to honor the nation's first president because he owned slaves.
It is officially a federal, state and local holiday, so, if you have government business, don't expect to get anything done because the federal building, county courthouse and city halls are closed. So are the schools, post offices (no mail, no bills), and there is also no garbage pickup.
Even though the name "President's Day" has been used, especially by retailers advertising big sales, the federal government has never officially changed the name. This is still officially "George Washington's Birthday" as far as Uncle Sam and a number of states are concerned.
For some reason, it has become a tradition that most of the Washington's birthday sales are for discounts on mattresses. Nobody is sure if that is because Washington slept so many different places or what.
Whatever you want to call today, this year it is a major holiday for George and all his successors because this is the 250th anniversary year of our country.
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