Holidays and Other Dates in the US Secular CalendarThe American Secular Holidays CalendarFirst published on 1996 July 15;last updated 2001 January 4 by Marcos J. Montes.Holidays Covered |Algorithms Used |ReferencesPlease enter a year >1776 (see text below).US Secular Calendar for which year: A.D. OutputYou will a receive a listing of the holidays covered below. Forholidays that occur on fixed dates, the day of the week isprovided. For holidays that occur with a fixed formula ("Last Mondayin May") the date is provided.Federal Holidays & Government DocumentsTHIS SECTION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ASGOVERNMENT RULES CHANGE. PLEASE CONSULT THE Office of Personnel Management SITE FORTHE LATEST INFORMATION.Official rules covering Federal Holidays in the USA may be found atthe Office of Personnel Management.In particular, the dates for the current year may found at the Federal HolidaysPage.The following information in this section (in red on most browsers,and between horizontal rules) is courtesy the OPM. Mycomments are in [square brackets].In-Lieu of Holidays: When a holiday falls on anonworkday outside a full-time employee's basic workweek, the day tobe treated as his or her holiday is the first workday preceding thenonworkday except, if the nonworkday is Sunday, the next workday isthe holiday. Another exception is that agency heads have recentlybeen given authority to determine a different in-lieu of holiday foremployees on compressed work schedules. [This rule currently applies toNew Year's Day (Jan. 1), Independence Day (July 4), Veterans' Day(Nov. 11), and Christmas (Dec. 25).]Inauguration Day: January 20 of each fourth yearafter 1965, Inauguration Day, is a legal holiday for Federal employeesand individuals employed by the government of the District of Columbiaemployed in the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince GeorgesCounties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia andthe cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia. When January 20of any fourth year after 1965 falls on Sunday, the next succeeding dayselected for the public observance of the inauguration of the Presidentis a legal public holiday. [Please note: If Inauguration day falls onMartin Luther King's Birthday, I believe the Federal employeesmentioned above only get one day off (the Monday) and not two daysoff. The OPM has clarified to me that "In-Lieu of Holidays" rules do NOTapply to Inauguration Day since the purpose of the day off is to easetraffic congestion and make logistics easier for dignitaries, and toencourage Federal Employees to welcome the new President at the parade,etc.] Government Publications:The statutory listing of legal public holidays--along with statutoryrequirements-- is found in section6103 of title 5 of the United States Code. Many rules apply to the administration of holidays including,specifically Executive Order 11582, dated February 11, 1971, as wellas regulations found in SubpartB and Dof Part610 in Title5 of theCodeof Federal Regulations. Both the title 5 of the United States Code, and the Code of Federal Regulations are for sale by the U.S.Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail StopSSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328.Dates NOT Covered by this CalendarReligious holidays are not covered by this calendar, since this is forsecular holidays. Religious holidays such as the followingmay be found elsewhwere.Good Friday (may be found at my Ecclesiastical CalendarPage)Easter (may be found at my Ecclesiastical CalendarPage)Jewish Holidays (may be found at B'nai B'rith) Dates Covered by this CalendarUSA Federal Holidays and CelebrationsWork schedules may or may not be affected by these holidays. New Year's Day, January 1st.Birthday of Martin Luther King, third Monday in January.Inauguration Day, January 20th every four years,starting in 1937.Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February since1971; prior to that year, it was celebrated on the traditional date ofFebruary 22. Inauguration Day, March 4th every four years, pre-1937.Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May.Memorial Day, last Monday in May since 1971; from 1868to 1970 it was celebrated on May 30, and was called Decoration Day for partof that time.Flag Day, June 14th.United States of America's Independence Day, July 4.Labor Day, first Monday in September.Columbus Day, second Monday in October (federalholiday since 1971).Election Day, Tuesday on or after November 2.Veterans Day, November 11th (except from 1971 to 1977,inclusive, when it was celebrated on the fourth Monday in October; formerlyknown as Armistice).Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November.Christmas Day, December 25th. I have finallyincluded this since it is a federal holiday, although it is not basedon a secular holiday. Current Trading HolidaysA list of Current Trading Holidays is maintained at the New York Stock Exchange. The list of Historical Early Closings and Trading Stoppages of the NYSE is alsoavailable. The biggest piece of extra information available is that GoodFriday is a banking holiday. Good Friday dates can be found on my EcclesiasticalCalendar pages. When I have more time I'll see about adding thisto the algorithm's that compute the calendars for these pages.Notable Dates for planning the YearStates in the USA are not required to use Daylight SavingTime. However, if a state decides to use Daylight Saving Time, it mustbegin and end Daylight Saving Time on the dates and time specifed byCongress. Daylight Saving time begins, (currently) first Sunday inApril (but not in Arizona, Hawaii, and most of the counties of Indiana);beginning in 2007 Daylight Savings time will begin the second Sunday in March.Federal Income Taxes are due April 15th; if the15th is a Saturday or Sunday, then the due date is the Monday after the 15th. Daylight Saving Time ends, last Sunday inOctober (but not in Arizona, Hawaii, and most of the counties ofIndiana). Beginning in 2007, Daylight Savings Time will end the firstSunday in November.Other Widely Celebrated ObservancesThese usually don't affect work schedules.Groundhog Day, February 2.Lincoln's Birthday, February 12.Valentine's Day, February 14.Washington's Birthday, February 22.St. Patrick's Day, March 17.April Fools's Day, April 1.Earth Day, April 22 (since 1970; see Earthday.net)Administrative Assistants' Day, which once upon a timewas Secretaries' Day, is the Wednesday of the last full week ofApril (that is, the Wednesday before the last Saturday in April)since 1955; see this site for moreinformation. Arbor Day is often the last Friday in April (since1872), but since planting conditions vary, it may occur from September to May;please consult the National ArborDay Foundation's list of Arbor DayDates. Mothers' Day, second Sunday in May (36 USCSec. 142).Fathers' Day, third Sunday in June (36 USCSec. 142a).Parents' Day, fourth Sunday in July (36 USC Sec. 142c).Grandparents' Day, Sunday after Labor Day (36 USCSec. 142b).Columbus Day (traditional), October 12.United Nations Day, October 24.Halloween, October 31.AlgorithmsThe primary algorithm that I use in order to determine when thevarious dates will fall in any particular month is one that connects aparticular date to a day of the week. I found this algorithm in the Calendar FAQ byClaus Tondering.An excerpt:2.5. What day of the week was 2 August 1953?-------------------------------------------- To calculate the day on which a particular date falls, the followingalgorithm may be used (the divisions are integer divisions, in whichremainders are discarded; % means all we want is the remainder): a = (14 - month) / 12y = year - am = month + 12*a - 2For Julian calendar: d = (5 + day + y + y/4 + (31*m)/12) % 7For Gregorian calendar: d = (day + y + y/4 - y/100 + y/400 + (31*m)/12) % 7 The value of d is 0 for a Sunday, 1 for a Monday, 2 for a Tuesday, etc.Then I sat down and came up with this formula in order to calculatedates such as "The third Monday in January". I suspect these have beenderived and written down somewhere by someone else; in any case, theseformula are easy to derive, and useful for computing various holidaysin electronic calendars.First, let the above formula be called DoW(year,month,dayinmonth),which specifies that its arguements are the year (in numerical form),the month (1-12) and the day in the month (day number in month, 1-31).In all the below formula, the following common-sense relation is used:-1%7 = 6; -2%7=5; .. -6%7=1, -7%7=0. Also, an N-day is a Sunday (N=0),through Saturday (N=6).The most generic formula is then:Date In Month that is an N-day ON OR AFTER date Year-Month-Day = Day + (N - DoW(Year,Month,Day))%7 .Date In Month that is an N-day ON OR BEFORE date Year-Month-Day = Day - (DoW(Year,Month,Day) - N)%7 .These lead to quick formulae for determining the date of the first,second, third, fourth and fifth occurence of a Sunday, Monday, etc., inany particular month:First N-day: N1 = 1 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,1))%7 ;2nd N-day : N2 = 8 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,8))%7 ;3rd N-day : N3 = 15 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,15))%7 ;4th N-day : N4 = 22 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,22))%7 ;5th N-day : N5 = 29 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,29))%7 .(Note: Use common sense when trying to calculate the fifth N-day:check to see if the value you obtain is greater than the number ofdays in the month; if it is, the there is no fifth N-day in thatmonth.) Two visitors to this page, Timothy Barmann and Bobby Cossum, haveindependently suggested that the above five equations can be simplifiedinto just one equation. Let Q be the occurence (first, second, third,fourth, fifth), and N will still represent the day of the week, asabove. Then, the Q-th N-day: NQ = 1 + (Q-1)*7 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,1))%7;or equivalentlythe Q-th N-day: NQ = 7*Q - 6 + (N - DoW(Year,Month,1))%7.So, to find the first Friday using the above equations, use Q=1, N=5; thethird Monday is found using Q=3, N=1, etc. In order to find, for example, the LAST Monday in a month, we need toknow the length of the month; for all months except February, this is,of course, fixed. In any case, we have:ND=Number of last day in month;Last N-Day : NL = ND - (DoW(Year,Month,ND) - N)%7 .Example: What date is the last Monday in May, 1996? The last day in May is May 31, so ND=31. Monday is what we want, so N=1 The day of the week of May 31, 1996 is found by following the firstalgorithm above:a=(14-5)/12=0y=1996-a=1996-0=1996m=5+0-2=3d=(31+1996+499-19+4+(31*3)/12)%7= 5So, May 31st is a Friday; thenNL=31-(5-1)%7=31-4=27So, the last Monday in 1996 May is May 27. Other AlgorithmsI have some pages with other algorithms that may be of interest toanyone wishing to prepare an electronic calendar.Algorithms to calculate the date of Easter in the Western tradition include Butcher's Algorithm,Oudin's Algorithm, and Carter's Algorithm. Calculations of the date ofEaster in the Orthodox tradition use Gauss' Algorithm.ReferencesTheCalendar FAQ by Claus Tondering.Related LinksA list of equinoxes, solstices, aphelia, and perihelia forseveral recent and future years may be found at the United States Naval Observatory's Earth Seasons page which is part of their Data Services section.A list of observances may be found in Title 36 USC Chapter9 - National Observances. FederalHolidays at the USNO site.The World Wide Holidayand Festival Page by Brian Prescott-Decie is an excellent resourcewith links to pages for both secular and religious holidays around theworld. Linksto this page according to AltaVista.Last updated 2001 January 4.Copyright © 1996-2001 by Marcos J. Montes.Marcos MontesPlease visit my EcclesiasticalCalendar page.Marcos J. Montes |
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