Talk:Federal holidays in the United States

Inauguration Day
Is not a holiday listed at the government page as a federal holiday. It doesn't belong on this list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.39.149.124 (talk) 15:52, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Inauguration Day is indeed listed as a holiday in the federal code, but it's in a separate section from the list of 10 others (New Year's, 4th of July, etc) because Inauguration Day only applies to employees of the govt of D.C. and employees of some surrounding counties in MD and VA. Title V of the United States Code (5 U.S.C. § 6103) makes it clear. Petershank (talk) 19:12, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Traditional?
I'm not convinced that Memorial Day and Labor Day should be called the "traditional" start and end of summer. I'm changing this to "unofficial".

Mother's Day and Father's Day
This section is about Federal Holidays, not holidays celebrated in the United States. The link to the U.S.C. doesn't mention Mother's Day and Father's Day at all making their stance as Federal Holidays questionable. The part about Mother's Day and Father's Day falling on Sunday and therefore being "weekend holidays" makes no sense. If they were in fact Federal Holidays the following Monday would be given off. Without mention in the U.S.C. of Mother's Day and Father's day, the reference to these holidays should be removed. Juxtapos99 23:07, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed and edited. Rillian 12:52, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

i agree


 * Someone just added Mother's Day. This brings up a problem: a holiday can be "federal" in the sense of being federally recognized without necessarily being a paid legal holiday. I think the technical term for paid federal holidays is "legal public holiday." We could, of course, include both, but we should clearly distinguish which ones are which. Zyxwv99 (talk) 17:32, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Change the article's name for Federal Holidays in the USA
This article is about Federal Holidays in the USA, we have several other Countries that are also a federation and have federal holidays : Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico , Iraq, Russia, Canada .... and so on. 63.84.125.130 (talk) 16:42, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

What About Election Day in Years That Are a Multiple of Four?
I think that every four years, Election Day should be a holiday at the federal level. Voting for a new president would likely mean the observance of a federal holiday because people cannot vote while they are working. For this reason, if I were to become President of the United States, I would likely establish Election Day as a federal holiday every fourth year. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.198.248.41 (talk) 17:08, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

What if Inauguration Day is the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day?
You are not very clear on what happens if Inauguration Day is the same day as Martin Luther King Day. Could it be that Martin Luther King Day is the previous Monday (January 13) in the event of Inauguration Day being a Monday? Or could it be that the day is recognized as a "double federal holiday," with the day counting for two? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.198.248.41 (talk) 13:01, 20 July 2013 (UTC)


 * I suspect that MLK Day would be observed as normal both in the DC area as well as elsewhere, and that would be it. In y understanding the main reason why federal employees get the Inauguration Day holiday is to cut down on congestion etc., so any holiday would accomplish that. I suppose that some DC area employees might be put out that they lose their 11th holiday, but then fed employees elsewhere never get this, so this evens out somewhat. At any rate, I don't see that MLK day would be changed for all federal employees everywhere for the benefit of the relatively few in the DC area, nor do I see the US government giving DC employees a "double holiday" by either giving them an additional day off, or an extra day's worth of holiday pay. Wschart (talk) 03:31, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Why wasn't Veterans Day changed to the second Monday in November?
I think under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day should have been the second Monday in November. Does anyone know why it was the fourth Monday in October instead? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.198.244.19 (talk) 22:20, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Patriot's Day isn't a federal holiday
According to http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/snow-dismissal-procedures/federal-holidays/#url=2014 Patriot's day isn't a federal holiday and should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maliberty (talk • contribs) 17:08, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

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List of federal holidays CHART wording. "Observed", etc.
A number of entries in the chart say a holiday is "observed" on a certain date, but that is not really the case. It may be "fixed" to a certain date but might be observed (and/or taken off work from) on a different date. How shall we word it so that the chart has the correct date of the calendar while indicating the observed date may be different? Misty MH (talk) 08:04, 16 May 2018 (UTC)

Removal of "Former federal holidays"
I have removed from this article the sub-section called "Former federal holidays" because it was incorrect as to both cited holidays:

The article stated that The Eighth was observed from 1828 to 1861, yet the article also says (correctly) that Federal holidays did not exist until 1870. It seems likely that The Eighth may have been a "national" observance or holiday during that time, but it was never a "Federal" holiday in the sense of federal law, which is the topic of this article. (For example, Christmas and Independence Day were probably widely celebrated in 1828, too, but they were not true Federal holidays until later.) There was no citation to any source stating otherwise or explaining the discrepancy with the 1870 statute. Meanwhile, at least two of the References cited on this page (the US Senate report from 1999 and the Congressional Research Service report from 2014) both discuss the history of Federal holidays without mentioning The Eighth at all.

Victory Day is also omitted from those reports, and given its more recent observance, one would certainly assume that it would be acknowledged if it existed. The source cited for this holiday, from aei.org, indicates that it may have been a holiday in several states, but it says nothing about federal law. The Victory Day (United States) article says that only Arkansas and Rhode Island ever celebrated the holiday, citing a 2017 Rhode Island news report. So this too seems like a sure error.

These holidays should remain omitted from this page. --EightYearBreak (talk) 20:35, 23 May 2018 (UTC)


 * But such a section should exist. We removed Washington's Birthday and replaced it with Presidents' Day. --Icowrich (talk) 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)


 * There is no federal holiday called "Presidents' Day," no matter what the ignorant news media may claim. 1995hoo (talk) 01:06, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

Congress only has authority to create holidays soley for federal institutions
Congress only has authority to create holidays soley for federal institutions

This statement is not accurate. If someone disagrees, please respond why you feel this is accurate. Depending on feedback I will correct the statement next month. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Funny4life (talk • contribs) 22:40, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

European conquest of the western hemisphere
Wording regarding the European conquest of the western hemisphere is consternating. A portion of section Columbus Day reads, “Protests by the Native American community support the abolition of Columbus Day, mainly due to its ideology in forcefully conquering and converting whole populations with another and encouraging imperialism and colonization.” Normally, the reference to conversion describes the religious conversion, courtesy Spanish missionaries, the indigenous peoples underwent during the conquest. The copy, “converting whole populations with another,” hardly depicts that. Apachegila (talk) 22:42, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Juneteenth
Senate passes bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday -. Althought, the Bill still needs House's approval and the President's signature. 76.21.97.234 (talk) 08:06, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I guess, "Proposed federal holidays" section should be updated now. 76.21.97.234 (talk) 08:14, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

The President and Vice President have a signing event scheduled for 3:30 this afternoon. Updating this page should wait until after that happens. I know lots of Wikipedia editors think they're achieving something by racing to update things in advance, but it's wrong. You never know what could happen in the interim. 1995hoo (talk) 18:23, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * 3:30 pm ? Washington DC time ?  2620:10D:C090:400:0:0:5:E69E (talk) 18:31, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Correct. Eastern Daylight Time. 1995hoo (talk) 18:41, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Here it says he has signed already - . 2620:10D:C090:400:0:0:5:E69E (talk) 20:12, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

The U.S. Government recognizes 12 Federal holidays: 11 annually and Inauguration Day every 4 years
I tweaked... The U.S. Government recognizes 12 Federal holidays: 11 annually and Inauguration Day every four years. 2601:589:4801:5660:B1C7:7A45:9E90:1C31 (talk) 15:36, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

July 4th/Christmas falling on the weekend and the stock market
Under the entries for July 4th/Christmas where it says on the day before the holiday the stock market closes three hours early it should say on the last trading day before the holiday the stock market closes three hours early because they do sometimes fall on Sunday meaning the day before would thus be a Saturday which is a normal stock market closing day. --Bigpoliticsfan (talk) 18:48, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

1st sentence
"In the United States, a federal holiday is a calendar date that is recognized and designated by the federal government of the United States as a national holiday."

I can't get past the first sentence without thinking: WTF, this is supposed to be encyclopedic? Do I have to explain to anyone why this is complete crap? This looks like the result of forcing schoolchildren to define phrases they haven't heard before. I really don't see much information content, and its technically incorrect. Deepfrieddough (talk) 13:27, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Have trimmed it to "A United States federal holiday is a calendar date that is designated by the federal government as a national holiday." Does that work? Randy Kryn (talk) 13:57, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It might be clearer/more concise if we combined the first and second sentences. (a)lizadoolittle (talk) 16:41, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Proposed federal holidays
September 11th should be listed under proposed federal holidays as legislation to designate it as such has now been introduced in both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support. --Bigpoliticsfan (talk) 20:39, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 1 June 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Not Moved (non-admin closure) >>> Extorc . talk  06:11, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

– I'm proposing to use a shorter page name in accordance with WP:CONCISE. Both Federal holidays and Federal holiday redirect to this page, and I can't find any evidence that the term federal holiday(s) is used in any other country. The observances page can likewise be moved. (As an alternative, I would suggest "Federal holidays in the United States" be moved to "United States federal holidays," again per WP:CONCISE.) -- Vaulter  17:50, 1 June 2022 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Federal holidays in the United States → Federal holidays
 * United States federal observances → Federal observances
 * There are at least 25 other national federations. Federal holidays are mentioned in articles on places like Malaysia (Public holidays in Malaysia) and Brazil (Public holidays in Brazil isn't titled Federal holidays in Brazil but begins, "In Brazil, public holidays may be legislated at the federal, statewide and municipal levels"). Dekimasu よ! 18:42, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Federal holidays has a specific meaning in the US, which isn't used by other countries. Using the Malaysia example you provided, none of the holidays listed there are described as federal holidays, just public holidays. -- Vaulter  19:18, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose. WP:CONCISE. The United States isn’t the only federal country. Showiecz (talk) 02:01, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose, would be an obvious U.S.centric change, seems fine as is. Randy Kryn (talk) 14:23, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose, same reasons as above Sheehanpg93 (talk) 16:31, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose as we'd rather have a global view of the topic. SWinxy (talk) 22:55, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Proposal improves nothing but adds confusion. Walrasiad (talk) 06:50, 4 June 2022 (UTC)