New Year’s Day was celebrated for the first time in 45 B.C., when the Julian calendar first took effect.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the holiday was enacted at the federal level by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
Washington’s Birthday was the first Federal holiday to honor an individual’s birth date. In 1885, Congress designated February 22 as a holiday for all Federal workers. In 1970, To give federal employees a three-day weekend, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to the third Monday in February, which can occur from February 15 to the 21st. The day soon became known as President’s Day.
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.
Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas in 1866. Freed men, women and children gathered in rural communities and freedom colonies to rejoice with parades, dances, hallelujahs, feasts, music. Jun 17, 2021 it will be the United States’ 11th federal holiday, joining the ranks of President’s Day and Thanksgiving, and the first new one created since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.
Independence Day also called Fourth of July or July 4th, in the United States, the annual celebration of nationhood. It commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Labor day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law on June 28, 1894.
Columbus Day a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Was signed as federal holiday by President Johnson on June 28, 1968, to be effective beginning in 1971.
Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing November 11th as Veterans Day.
Thanksgiving Day the earliest celebration was held in 1578. In 1870, Congress passed legislation making Thanksgiving (along with Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and Independence Day) a national holiday. However, unlike the other holidays in the bill, the President had the discretion to set the date for Thanksgiving. With few exceptions, each President until Franklin D. Roosevelt followed Lincoln’s lead by declaring the last Thursday of November a National Day of Thanks.
Christmas Day is celebrated every December 25th, and has been a federal holiday since 1885. In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous—a lot like today’s Mardi Gras parties. Christ’s birth is traditionally celebrated in the West on December 25th, but many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7. Neither date is likely correct in light of several clues uncovered by historians and information in the Bible itself.
See Birth of Jesus
See Age of the Lord Jesus
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