Presidents' Day : Origins

Officially, Presidents' Day is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of every February. This has not always been so. In fact, Presidents' Day is not even a National Holiday. Now I know what you're thinking. How can a holiday that is not an official holiday, have an official, governmet sanctioned, day of recognition? In order to understand this fact, we first have to brush up on our nation's history.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 and was the 16th President of the United States. He served the presidency from March 1861 until his assassination on April 15, 1865. He courageously, and successfully led this country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis. The American Civil War. As if preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization wasn't enough, he was also known to be very honest. Even now he is still known as Honest Abe. Despite all of his accomplishments, presidential assassination, and the fact that his birthday is Feb. 12, if Honest Abe were with us today he would tell us that his birth has nothing to do with why we celebrate Pesidents' Day.

As hard as it is to believe, Pesidents' Day is not actually Presidents' Day at all. In fact, The official day that we celebrate as Presidents' Day is federally recognized as George Washington's birthday. Titled "Washington's Birthday", the holiday honoring George Washington was originally started by an Act of Congress in 1880. This only applied to government offices in the District of Columbia until expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. Washington's Birthday was the first federal holiday recognizing an American citizen and as such was celebrated on Washington's actual birthday, Feb. 22. On January 1, 1971, the federal holiday was changed to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This places it between February 15 and 21.

The first attempt at creating a Presidents Day occurred in 1951 when the "President's Day National Committee" was formed. The purpose was not to honor any one President, but to honor the office of the Presidency. March 4, the original inauguration day, was suggested be deemed Presidents Day. However, the bill recognizing the March 4th date was stalled.
An early draft of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act would have renamed the holiday to "Presidents' Day" to honor the birthdays of both Washington and Lincoln, but this proposal failed in committee. The bill that was voted on and signed into law in June of 1968, kept the name "Washington's Birthday".
Due to the push from advertisers, the term "Presidents' Day" began its public appearance by the mid-1980s. Even though Lincoln's birthday was never a federal holiday, close to a dozen state governments have renamed their "Washington's Birthday" observances as "Presidents' Day", "Washington and Lincoln Day", or other such titles.

Today, this February holiday has become very well known for being a day in which many retailers (especially car dealers) hold sales. Until the late 1980s, businesses usually closed on this day, similar to holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day. With the late 1980s advertising push to rename the holiday, more and more businesses are staying open on the holiday each year. Now it seems as if the holiday has taken a back seat as far as traditional celebrations are concerned. It seems to have joined the likes of Columbus Day and Flag Day. Although not everywhere. Many cities still hold Presidents' Day parades. Community celebrations often display a lengthy heritage. For example, Alexandria, Virginia holds a month-long tribute, including the longest running Washington's Birthday parade. The community of Eustis, Florida continues its annual "George Fest" celebration which was begun in 1902.
This year, whether you want to observe "Washington's Birthday" or "Presidents' Day", enjoy it. Buy some balloons. Play "Hail To The Cheif" (which is an whole article in and of itself). Go Shopping! Whatever you choose to do just remember, without George Washington and the office of the Presidency we may not even have a Nation in which to celebrate. Happy Presidents' Washington's Birthday Day!

During WWI and WWII, our country banded together and average citizens started growing "Victory Gardens" to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. Why has thid prsctice ended? It can be just as patriotic to grow our own gardens today. Way too many of us depend on all of the processed food in th grocery stores today, and that is what is making society sick! Could modern day victory gardens reduce th presure on the public costs on Medicare and other Govt. healthcare costs? Who knows? One benefit for sure is that we would have more access to fresh healthy produce. A diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables is essential to achieve good overall health and well being. Quality juicing machines make it a whole lot easier to add this vital nutrition to our diets. Whether it be a masticating juicer, centrifugal juicer, or a good old fashioned citrus press, juicers allow for us to drink these vital nutrients. Visit a few of my other lenses on health and juicing or stop by my website at www.juicing4life.net for even more juicing health and nutrition topics. On a side note, this lense is the second addition to a series of lenses I plan to continue adding to throughout the year. My series on Holiday Origins. Stop by and check up periodically to find out interesting information on all of your favorite Holidays.