# Do some parts of the USA have their own separate holidays? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366 "2005-10-15T16:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/41 "2005-10-16T19:25:54Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > Admission Day is celebrated by very, very few people in California. The state added Cesar Chavez’s Birthday as a holiday a couple of years ago. It is celebrated on either the last Monday in March or on March 31 (his actual birthday). When I was growing up, Admission Day was a school holiday. Since it fell the same week as Labor Day (most of the time), it made for an interesting first week of school. Not certain when they stopped making it a school holiday… ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/42 "2005-10-16T20:20:53Z")
I’m guessing that Oklahoma’s “Cherokee Strip Day” doesn’t have anything to do with girls giving lap dances in places out by the airport, but it still doesn’t sound like much of a holiday. (It commemorates Cherokee land being opened up to non-Cherokee homesteaders in the 1890s’. The Cherokee were understandably against the idea.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/43 "2005-10-16T21:20:47Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > I grew up getting Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off for Mardi Gras. This was in Mississippi, about an hour northeast of New Orleans. (In New Orleans itself, schools were, I believe, let out the whole week.) In Louisiana, Mardi Gras (just the Tuesday) is a state holiday. State offices and banks are closed that day. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/44 "2005-10-17T01:06:19Z")
> [@DrMatrix](#): > > In Louisiana, Mardi Gras (just the Tuesday) is a state holiday. State offices and banks are closed that day. Mardi Gras is, by definition, a Tuesday only. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/45 "2005-10-17T01:29:44Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > Thanks, but I managed to pick all that up over the last 18 years. The football team bit was just a stupid joke my brother and I used to share when we both moved to this strange state from NY. Sorry I took your post at face value. I can appreciate a stupid joke as much as anyone. But I’ve been told the Teeming Millions includes some of the very brightest people on earth, plus one or two real dipsticks. Up until then I hadn’t though you were one of the latter, but one never knows. Also. . . I know lots of folks who have lived here all their lives and probably think Patriots Day _is_ about the football team. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/46 "2005-10-17T02:19:21Z")
I consider a “real” Holiday to have eith a day off/bank/school Holiday (as **BluePitbull** mentioned)or at the very least much partying. I am not sure how many of those on **Polycarp** s list qualify either way. 😕 4 Holidays result in major partying around here- Cinco de Mayo, St Patricks Day, Fat Tuesday, and Halloween. I don’t know of anyone who gets those days off, however. Columbus day gets some a day off, but I have never seen much observance other than that. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/47 "2005-10-17T02:30:24Z")
Well, there’s Sweetest Day, a made-up Holiday originating in Cleveland. It’s totally ignored outside of parts of the Midwest, and appears to be a clone of Valentine’s day made up by a Cleveland candy manufacturer. It was this last Saturday, but I don’t know the formula for designating when it falls. [1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest\_Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest_Day) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/48 "2005-10-17T05:21:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Did anyone notice what looked like a large # of holidays for P.R.? > > I didn’t count them and compare, but it really seems like they do have a very high share of the holidays. If you lived and worked on a carribean island that happened to be the world’s leading producer of rum, I bet YOU would take lots of holidays too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Otanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/49 "2005-10-17T05:38:59Z")
Nevada Day (Oct. 31st) is no longer celebrated on that day. Can’t remember where they moved it too, but they claimed too many kids thought they were getting a day out of school for halloween instead of for Nevada Day. -Otanx ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/50 "2005-10-17T19:45:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, there’s Sweetest Day, a made-up Holiday originating in Cleveland. > It’s totally ignored outside of parts of the Midwest, and appears to be a clone of Valentine’s day made up by a Cleveland candy manufacturer. It was this last Saturday, but I don’t know the formula for designating when it falls. The original idea may have been due to a candy maker, but it only really caught on because of American Greetings, a greeting card maker (beginning to see a pattern here?). AG has a big advantage in creating holidays, in that they also have a successful line of calendars. Note, by the way, that most of these holidays are “celebrated” at most by a day off work/school, and maybe a cookout if it’s the right time of year. You’re not likely to see a special President’s Day episode of a TV show, for instance. Of those holidays for which there is some particular “celebration”, the biggies are New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, (maybe) Mardi Gras/Carnivale/Fat Tuesday, (maybe) St. Patrick’s Day (both depending on your ethnicity and locale), Easter, Fourth of July (officially Independance Day, but nobody ever calls it that), Haloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of those, one typically only gets off for New Year’s, Easter (sometimes), 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Also, there are a fair number of regional variations on holidays like Christmas or Haloween, but there are also elements which are mostly common. On national (or international) TV shows, one is going to mostly just see the common elements, not the regional variations. This says more about TV than it does about the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![MyNameIsEarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@MyNameIsEarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyNameIsEarl)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/51 "2005-10-17T21:30:08Z")
> [@SomeGuy](#): > > What did you expect them to do? Insist on working these days? Quite frankly… yes. Given that I used to be somewhat intimately invloved in state government (for research for uni and actual work in an intern postion), at least 70% of the Atlanta offices of the state government were held by blacks. It would be much the same as “whites-only day” (MLK Day) at most any office I’ve worked where MLK Day was a floater. In any event, it’s nice to see that principles go out the window when it comes to taking the day off. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/52 "2005-10-17T21:40:24Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > I grew up getting Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off for Mardi Gras. This was in Mississippi, about an hour northeast of New Orleans. (In New Orleans itself, schools were, I believe, let out the whole week.) I grew up in Mobile (birthplace of Mardi Gras in the U.S.) and we got the whole week too. I think public schools might have only gotten through Ash Wednesday off though. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/53 "2005-10-17T21:45:46Z")
> [@China Guy](#): > > Easter - the financial services firms in Manhattan suddenly have a very high percentage of people celebrating their jewish faith. It’s been almost a decade since I was in the biz, but it was good friday or some other event around Easter that is not an official holiday but individuals get for religious reasons. Also, not to sound snarky as know that for many people it is a very important religious event, but there were quite a few that I knew who were completely non practicing assimilated Jews that decided a day off was a day off. Passover? ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366/54 "2005-10-18T05:21:10Z")
New Year’s Day is a very big deal in Philadelphia owing to the Mummers Parade. The whole country already gets off for that, the assumption being that people will recover from partying New Year’s Eve. For many people here however the night of the 1st is a bigger and more meaningful party and although no one gets off for it, I think it’s pretty well understood that anyone in the Mummers or in the Two Street area or family of a Mummer can expect to be calling out on Jan. 2nd, or at the very least coming in late/with a hangover. We’re talking about probably more people than live in, say, Wyoming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-parts-of-the-usa-have-their-own-separate-holidays/326366.md?page=2)