This past Monday we observed Presidents Day, which is a federal holiday and observed as a state holiday in Pennsylvania as well, but the actual holiday means different things depending upon which state you live in.

I do not want to get ahead of myself, so let us begin by discussing where Presidents Day began and how we went from two presidents and two birthdays to one date that is not even close to either one.The "Father of our Country" and first president of the United States George Washington was born on Feb. 11, 1731. Why then do we observe Feb. 22 as his birthday? The reason is due to calendars. When Washington was born in 1731, England, and, as an extension, the Colonies were using the Julian calendar, which placed Washington's birth on Feb. 11.Throughout the rest of the world though, the Julian calendar began to fall out of use in favor of the Gregorian calendar.While the history of the two calendars is complex, the end result was the Julian calendar had several more leap days in the centuries between its adoption and 1582, specifically 11 more days at that point in time.This occurred because leap year in the Julian calendar for several years was marked every three years instead of every four years, and then when it switched to every four years, they included all of the centuries in their calculations.These extra days had the effect of shifting astronomical events on the calendar so the vernal or spring equinox had moved by 1582 back 11 days to March 11 instead of the standard March 21. Due to the church calendar's calculation of Easter it was shifting away from the traditional first day of spring.In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to reform the calendar to shift the dates for the equinoxes and the solstices back to their original places since the Julian calendar had gradually created an 11-day gap at that point with the extra days.European countries began to adopt this new calendar with its 11-day gap at various points.Britain and the present members of the United Kingdom except Scotland held out for a few centuries, but during the reign of King George II, the majority of the British colonies and England adopted the Gregorian calendar.This meant when the English subjects went to bed at midnight Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1752, and woke the next morning, the date was Thursday, Sept. 14, 1752. This 11-day gap corrected the solar events in the calendar year, and we have continued to follow the Gregorian calendar ever since.This created an interesting dilemma for people born during this time: Do they follow the old calendar or the new calendar? In Washington's case, his birthday on Feb. 11 was according to the Julian calendar, so like many of his contemporaries, he had a decision to make.Should he keep the Feb. 11 birthday or go with the corrected Feb. 22 birthday? Washington decided to fully embrace the new calendar, reasoning that his birthday should have been Feb. 22 and was off due to the calendar issue, so in 1752 he made the change.Congress decided to honor Washington by making his birthday a Federal holiday in 1879 and agreed that all Washington offices would be closed.In 1885, they expanded the holiday to all federal offices. It remained that way until Jan. 1, 1971, when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed by Congress. This act made several holidays including Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Labor Day national holidays on a Monday. In the case of Washington's birthday, the holiday was set to be the third Monday in February. Interestingly enough, this places the official holiday on a date ranging from Feb. 15 to Feb. 21, neither of which were either of Washington's actual birthdays.To add to the oddness of this holiday, advertisers in the 1980s and not the government advanced the idea of a Presidents Day in February instead of just Washington's birthday.While we now refer to the holiday as Presidents Day, this is not recognized by the government, even though various initiatives occurred to try to make the name change. So today we observe the official Washington's birthday holiday as the unofficial "Presidents Day" moniker.Even stranger is some states do not even celebrate or honor the same presidents. While almost all recognize Washington on this day, two states hold the day as an honor to Washington alone, while four states honor both Washington and President Abraham Lincoln, coincidentally born on Feb. 12, 1809, which was 78 years and one day later, as Washington and Lincoln Day. Alabama, for some reason, celebrates Washington and President Thomas Jefferson on that day.In any case, I think it is always important we remember and honor the men who have and continue to lead our country, and regardless of who the day officially remembers, I think in the end the idea to generalize it to Presidents Day only enhances and does not take away from this honor.Being president is a tough job, and whether we agree or disagree with individual leaders, we must always remember the personal sacrifices these men have made by selflessly leading our nation.Till next time …