Washington's Birthday

Washington's Birthday as it is officially named, is also called Presidents' Day. It commemorates George Washington, the first President of the United States, who was born on February 22nd, 1732.

President’s Day is a day of remembrance for all presidents of the United States, not just George Washington.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law proclaiming Washington’s birthday as an official holiday in honor of all presidents of the United States (including himself). Recently, Congress passed legislation to make President’s Day a national holiday honouring all Americans who have served in the military, not just presidents.

How Presidents Day is celebrated

Celebrating Presidents Day is different from state to state, but the celebration includes parades and ceremonies, beauty pageants and carnivals, concerts and fireworks, and much more. Some states and cities even celebrate for many weeks in a row.

In Washington’s hometown Alexandria, Virginia there is a month-long celebration, including an enormous Birthday Parade. Laredo, Texas also host a month-long (almost) celebration with about 400k participants. The celebration includes two parades, two beauty pageants, a carnival, fireworks, concerts and much more.

Some people celebrate presidents day by watching these parades and ceremonies. Others enjoy outdoor activities such as boating or fishing to celebrate this day with family and friends.

Some are also reading the speech that George Washington gave as he was about to retire as president. His farewell address is one of the most admired speeches in American history. His words are still relevant today, as many of his predictions have come true.

Why cherry pie on Presidents Day?

George Washington's was six years old when he got his first hatchet from his father. The story says that little George liked to chop down every tree in his path. One day he was in his parents garden, where his parents had an English cherry tree. George cut off all the bark, and the tree died.

His father discovered that the tree had died and asked George about it. His father asked something in the lines of, “Who killed our cherry tree, George?”. George famously replied “I cannot tell a lie, you know, I cannot tell a lie, I did, I cut the tree with my hatchet.”

It is because of this famous reply from George Washington to his father that the cherry pie became a traditional food for many Americans on Presidents' day.

Banks are closed, Stores are open

As Presidents Day is a federal holiday many banks and schools are closed. Even NYSE and NASDAQ is closed for trading. As all non-essential federal workers have the day off, expect everything run by the federal government to be closed as well.

Stores however, since the late 1980s, have not just been open, but have been offering sales and promotions. Expect to see store sales the entire weekend.

Not just George Washington’s Day

This holiday is officially named Washington's Birthday, but more popularly called Presidents’ Day. It is still true that Americans specifically celebrate the Birthday of George Washington, but now a days it’s become a broader celebration of Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Daisy Bates.

However, it’s not this simple… Both the name of the holiday and who is celebrated varies from from state to state. For example, Alabama has named it “Washington and Jefferson Day”, Montana has named it “Lincoln's and Washington's Birthday”, Colorado has named it “Washington–Lincoln Day”, Arkansas has named it “George Washington's Birthday and Daisy Bates Day”, and the list goes on.

Nevertheless, Presidents Day is a patriotic holiday and a time for remembrance.

Questions many have

When doing research for this text we saw that many people wonder about the questions below. We have summarised them for your convenience.

Why is Presidents Day on a Monday?

The main reason for moving the holiday was to create more three-day weekends for federal employees. In 1968, Congress permanently moved three holidays to a Monday to create long weekends with three days off ending with the holiday. The three holidays that was moved was Presidents Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Why is Presidents Day celebrated in Canada?

Some believe that Presidents Day is celebrated in Canada, but that is actually not true. The reason some people believe this is because Canadians celebrate Family Day in Canada on the same day that Americans celebrate Presidents Day.

Varying Dates

Washington's Birthday is not a holiday with a fixed calendar date, meaning the exact date varies depending on a rule. The rule for Washington's Birthday is that the day is observed on the third Monday of February. This, in turn, means that the date for this day can vary between February 15 and February 21. See the table below to find the exact date for the next few years.

Washington's Birthday in other countries

This holiday is celebrated in several countries. Three countries in our dataset around the world are celebrating or observing this day.

In the map below, you can see where the day is celebrated or marked. You can find the date by tapping the different colors on the map. You can also see if the day is a public holiday, an observed day, or a day only celebrated by parts of the country's population.

Note that the date of this holiday varies between countries even though the day celebrates the same thing.

This table gives a more detailed overview of when and where this holiday is celebrated or observed. Click on the country for more information.

Flag	Country	Holiday type	Date this year
	United States of America	Public holiday	February 19, 2024
	American Samoa	Public holiday	February 19, 2024
	Puerto Rico	Public holiday	February 19, 2024

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