US holidays

In the USA Constitution there is no provision for national holidays. Each state has the right to decide which holiday to celebrate. Many states have holidays of their own.

There are eight major holidays observed in the USA.

Columbus Day is observed on October 12 in 34 States of the USA and in Puerto Rico. It celebrates the discovery of America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The son of an weaver from Genoa, Columbus believed that he could reach India by sailing west. Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain rendered him financial assistance, and in August 1492 he set sail on the Santa Maria and two other vessels. They reached the West Indies three months later and took the news back to Europe. Columbus made three more voyages to America.

Independence Day is the holiday honouring the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. On this day in 1776 the final draft of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson was adopted. The celebration of it began in the American Revolution. Since then it has been a patriotic holiday. Traditionally it is celebrated with firing of guns and fireworks, parades and open-air meetings.

Thanksgiving Day is the holiday commemorating the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony in 1621, after a winter of starvation and privation. The first national Thanksgiving Day, proclaimed by G. Washington, was celebrated on November 26, 1789. Lincoln revived the custom in 1863. In 1941 Congress passed a resolution decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November. The day is observed by church services and family reunion.

Until the mid-1970s February 22, the birthday of George Washington, the first President of the USA was observed as a federal holiday. In addition many states celebrated the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12. In 1970s U.S. Congress declared that in order to honour all past presidents of the USA, a single holiday, called President's Day, would be observed on the third Monday in February.

Labour Day is observed on the first Monday of September. It has been a federal holiday since 1894, but it was observed in some places before that date as a result of campaigns launched by an organisation of workers called the "Knights of Labour". Its purpose is to honour the working people of the country. In many cities the day is marked by parades of working people representing the labour unions.