The United States will be rearranging their Federal Holidays again. The news upset printers of calendars everywhere as many 2010 editions had already been submitted for early printing.
The new holiday will be called Freedom Day and will be celebrated the Tuesday following the third Monday in January to commemorate the day that Barack Obama became President of the United States (January 20th, 2009).
Considering that the third Monday is Martin Luther King Day, this will create a new four day weekend.
As this will require the elimination of a current Federal Holiday, lawmakers have decided to eliminate President's Day in February. This was originally celebrated for many years as Lincoln's Birthday (Feb. 12) and Washington's Birthday (Feb. 23). With the creation of Martin Luther King Day, and the recognition that he had done more for the civil rights of the people in this country than the nation's first President or the President that freed the slaves, those two holidays were combined into one. Now that Barack Obama is in place as the first black President and has been granted Sainthood by the Vatican, the old, combined holiday will no longer be needed.
