Happy Whatever Day It Is
When I was growing up, in school we celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12th and George Washington’s Birthday on February 22nd. The latter was a federal holiday, celebrated on the date our first president was born.
Then Congress got into the act. The “Washington’s Birthday” holiday was moved to the third Monday of February in 1971, part of the effort to give federal workers three day weekends…that’s how Columbus Day and Memorial Day, among others, were moved from fixed dates on the calendar to Mondays.
In the 1980s, we started using a more general term, “Presidents’ Day”, ostensibly to honor both Washington and Lincoln, with the date falling in between Lincoln’s and Washington’s individual birth dates…but in more recent times, it’s been used to recognize all 46 of the nation’s presidents…and for some stores to hold large sales.
But Congress has never acted to officially call today “Presidents’ Day”. So from then until now, ever since it was first established as a legal holiday in 1879, it’s been officially “Washington’s Birthday”.
So when you greet someone today and wish them a “Happy Washington’s Birthday”, you won’t be out of date…in fact, you’ll be one of the few entirely legal about it.
And if you’re a real purist, you’ll wait until Thursday, the 22nd, to administer the greeting…after all, it will mark the date 292 years ago when Washington was born. But then again, perhaps that’s going a bit far.
