Monday, Feb. 20, is Presidents”™ Day ”“ sort of.
According to the “Old Farmer”™s Almanac,” what we”™re really celebrating is George Washington”™s Birthday, which we used to do on Feb. 22, just as we in the North celebrated Abraham Lincoln”™s birthday on Feb. 12.
Neither Congress nor the White House ever stipulated that the holiday is to be called Presidents”™ Day.
So technically it”™s Washington”™s Birthday, one of 11 federal holidays. But since Washington was a modest leader whose emphasis was always on the nation and since we also want to remember Lincoln for emancipating enslaved Africans and preserving the union, Presidents”™ Day it is, celebrated on the third Monday of February as part of the Monday Holiday Law passed by Congress in 1968 to create three-day weekends and “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the”¯nation.” To which retailers everywhere have said, “Amen.”
But was Washington born on Feb. 22, 1732? Well, yes and no. Under the Julian calendar, his birthday was Feb. 11, 1731. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted, people born before 1752 had to add 11 days to their birthdate, and those born between Jan. 1 and March 25 had to add a year. (This was actually once a question on Final “Jeopardy!”.) So Washington was born ”“ finally ”“ on Feb. 22, 1732, though we”™d hate to have to do his astrological chart.
Wherever, whenever, however you celebrate, Happy Presidents”™ Day/Washington”™s Birthday.
