American Holidays-Fixed and Floating

The calendar of the United States includes a goodly number of legal holidays which are observed throughout the country. Additionally, some states have particular state holidays, such as my own home state, Nevada, which celebrates Nevada Day, October 31, the day the state joined the union in 1864. National holidays are in several categories, general holidays which may be observed throughout the world and particular historic American holidays. The current roster of holidays is as follows:

  January 1-New Year’s Day

  January (floating day) - Martin Luther King Day* (MLK)

  February (floating day) - President’s Day*(Washington’s Birthday, officially)

  May (floating day) - Memorial Day*

  June 19-Juneteenth Day*

  July 4-Independence Day*

  September (floating day) - Labor Day*

  October (floating day)-Columbus Day

  November 11 - Veterans Day*

  November (floating Thursday)-Thanksgiving Day)*

  December 25-Christmas Day

Holidays with an asterisk (*) are particular American holidays with an historical basis of relevance to the United States. It should be noted that most of these holidays are on floating days, always a Monday, with the exception of Thanksgiving Day which is always on a Thursday. It wasn’t always this way.  On June 28,1968, the Congress, in its wisdom, changed the date that many holidays were celebrated to a floating Monday via the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in an effort to create three day weekends.  This act became effective on January 1, 1971.  President Lyndon B. Johnson, in signing the Act declared that families would be able to spend more time together and travel to see more of America’s cultural and recreational treasures. The act was strongly supported by the travel industry. Shopping malls are generally packed on these three day weekends and travel sets records every year with the number of motorists on the road and the number of airplane passengers flying. Of course merchants are thrilled by the shopping traffic as are the airlines. The flip side is the greater amount of air pollution coming from the automobile as well as an increased number of accidents, injuries and deaths from increased incidents on the heavily travelled holidays. Obviously, most Americans prefer three day weekends and the associated leisure time but this is not without other drawbacks. In addition to the above mentioned problems, there is also a decrease in productivity as many factories and other businesses close down for the long weekends. At this particular time, with the acknowledged necessity to increase American productivity and competitiveness during this era of globalization lets look at each holiday and see when it could best be celebrated.

Generally celebrated universal holidays are on fixed dates.These include New Year’s Day and Christmas. All the other legal holidays are related to American history. This is what is the concern of this article. Do these dates represent something civically sacred and worthy of being celebrated on a particular day linked to something special or are they simply an excuse for a day off? Two of our national holidays are on permanent fixed dates due to their overwhelming historical importance. Independence Day, July 4, could hardly be celebrated on any other day. Our newest national holiday, Juneteenth, is also of such critical historical importance that it would be just plain folly to observe it on any day other than June 19. Three other historically American holidays have always been celebrated on  floating dates. Labor Day, America’s answer to the socialist May Day (May 1) is celebrated on the first Monday of September. Thanksgiving Day, an almost religious particular American holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and has doubled as the beginning of the shopping season for the Christmas holiday. The day after Thanksgiving, known universally as Black Friday, is marked by massive sales and is the busiest shopping day of the year. It is when most retailers start to turn a profit for the year, hence its nickname. The final floating American holiday that is in this category is Columbus Day, a controversial name which some call Indigenous Peoples Day as a form of protest against the “colonization” of America. It was “fixed” on the second Monday of October and has been a national holiday since 1971 despite its being observed for many years prior in recognition of Columbus’ landing in the new world. These holidays, since their inception have been on floating days and it is reasonable that they continue to be observed on their floating day.

Several important holidays are on floating days and it is the contention of this author that they should be celebrated on their correct fixed date. Martin Luther King Day, celebrating MLK’s birthday is floating on the third Monday of January. MLK was born on January 15,1929 and it seems that proper homage should be paid to him by observing his birthday rather than having one more three day weekend . His martyrdom is certainly worth more than a weekend shopping spree. In the same situation is the transfer of Washington’s birthday celebration from February 22 to the third Monday in February. For the father of the nation, the leader of the Revolution and our first president, this is indeed shabby treatment, particularly as most people now refer to this as President’s day-officially it still remains Washington’s Birthday. Interestingly, Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, has disappeared from the calendar. The final date we are concerned with is Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, as the graves of fallen American soldiers were decorated with American flags on May 30. This has been changed to the last Monday of May. It is now the unofficial start of summer (its unofficial end is Labor Day). One wonders if the phrase “We thank you for your service” is a signal to go to the beach, have a picnic or barbecue or really means anything considering the day is meant to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice for our country. These three solemn days have been trivialized by being moved to floating days which are of no significance to the importance that they symbolize and deserve.

This brings up the issue of whether any holiday has gone from a floating day to a fixed day. The answer is yes and that holiday is Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day. Now celebrated on November 11, it was changed to a floating day by the Monday legislation to the fourth Monday in October in 1971, but in 1978 was reverted to its previously fixed date of November 11, the date World War I ended.  Thus, it is possible, with popular support, to return holidays to their original fixed date. It is the hope of the author that popular opinion will recognize the value of our history and traditions and change the meaningless dates of MLK Day, Washington’s Birthday and Memorial Day to their rightful fixed dates. King, Washington and our honored dead deserve no less. The Congress and LBJ were wrong. Our history and civic life deserve and demand these changes. The sooner the better!

Garry S. Sklar

Viviers, France

July 24, 2025