The reason I'm asking is, after doing a good deal of online searching, I'm not really sure what day it is.

It was so much easier for our parents and grand-parents. The birthday of our first President, George Washington, was celebrated every year on February 22nd, no matter what day of the week it fell on [I'm old enough to remember when the birthday of 16th President Abraham Lincoln, February 12th, was also a day off, when it fell on a weekday].

That all changed in the late 1960's. Congress decided to offer Americans a series of "Monday holidays", giving us a few "three-day weekends" every year [and give stores an excuse to hold sales]. Washington's Birthday was one of the holidays moved to a Monday [the 3rd Monday in February, as it turned out]. Around the same time, Lincoln's Birthday dropped off the holiday calendar [although a few states still celebrate it].

There have been several attempts over the years to commemorate all US Presidents on this day [and indeed, 13 States have re-named this holiday "President's Day, (or "Presidents' Day")], but none of them have ever become Federal law. Oddly enough, it's reported that Indiana chooses to remember George Washington in December, reason unknown.

I've been spending most of the night trying to get a list of those 13 states, to see if New York is on it or not, but it seems to be a, dare I say it, state secret [I did find out that Ontario is one of six Canadian provinces that also has a holiday on the 3rd Monday in February, Family Day. It seems to have more to do with the fact that it's a holiday here than anything else. Who knew?].

Anyway, if you have the day off, please enjoy it with us. And tell your family and friends in Indiana that they're just confusing things more than they already are.

{Update: Wikipedia has a list of state holidays. According to it, New York indeed celebrates today as Washington's Birthday. I still think it's rotten that Lincoln has been cut out, but at least I know what day it is...]

[brownielocks.com]

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