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14th June: Flag Day - This day commemorates the adoption by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, of the Stars and Stripes as the U.S. flag. Although it is a legal holiday only in Pennsylvania, President Truman, on Aug. 3, 1949, signed a bill requesting the president to call for its observance each year by proclamation.

Third Sunday in June: Father's Day - The exact origin of the holiday is not clear, but it was first celebrated June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation making Father's Day official

4th July: Independence Day - The day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, celebrated in all states and territories. The observance began in 1777 in Philadelphia. Independence Day is one of the most important of all American holidays. That's the day that we celebrate our independence from England, who once controlled all of the new colonies in the New World. In 1773, there were only 13 colonies in America. About 2 million people lived in those colonies and all 2 million people had to pay taxes to England. The people believed this was unjust because even though they paid taxes they had no say in the way they were being governed. One night when three English ships loaded with tea was dock in Boston Harbor, some Americans dressed like Indians went aboard the ships and threw all the tea into the water. This became known as "the Boston tea party." This was seen as an act of treason by the English Crown and England sent many soldiers to America. The English soldiers killed many Americans in what is now called the Boston Massacre. After the Boston Massacre, the colonists formed the Constitutional Congress which decided that America should declare its independence from England. Thomas Jefferson was appointed to write the Declaration of Independence which was signed July 4, 1776. But this did not guarantee America's freedom from England. Only after defeating England in a war that lasted for five years was America free from England's control. The British army surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown, Virginia in late 1781. The Treaty of Paris, which gave America its own sovereignty, was signed in 1783. 

First Monday in September: Labor Day - First first celebrated in New York in 1882 under the sponsorship of the Central Labor Union, following the suggestion of Peter J. McGuire, of the Knights of Labor, that the day be set aside in honor of labor.

7th September: First Day of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) - This day marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year and opens the Ten Days of Penitence, which close with Yom Kippur.

16th September: Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) - This day marks the end of the Ten Days of Penitence that began with Rosh Hashanah. It is described in Leviticus as a “Sabbath of rest,” and synagogue services begin the preceding sundown, resume the following morning, and continue to sundown.

21st September: First Day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - This festival, also known as the Feast of the Ingathering, originally celebrated the harvest. The name of the festival comes from the booths or tabernacles in which the Jews lived during the harvest, although one tradition traces it to the shelters used by the Jews in their wandering through the wilderness. During the festival many Jews build small huts in their backyards or on the roofs of their houses.

Last Sunday of September: Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law) - This joyous holiday falls on the eighth day of Sukkot. It marks the end of the year's reading of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) in the synagogue every Saturday and the beginning of the new cycle of reading

First Monday in October: Columbus Day - A federal holiday,  it commemorates Christopher Columbus's landing in the New World in 1492. Quite likely the first celebration of Columbus Day was that organized in 1792.

31st October: Halloween - Eve of All Saints' Day, formerly called All Hallows and Hallowmass. Halloween is traditionally associated in some countries with customs such as bonfires and the telling of ghost stories. The Celts, (that's the name of the people from Gaul and Great Britain) believed, dead spirits would try to possess living people. They also believed that witches, ghosts and other evil spirits roamed the land freely on this night. To scare away the spirits, people dressed in costumes, lit bonfires, placed jack-o-lanterns and other scary decorations in front of their homes. 

1st November: All Saints' Day - A Roman Catholic and Anglican holiday celebrating all saints, known and unknown.

First Tuesday after first Monday in November: Election Day - (legal holiday in certain states). Since 1845, by act of Congress, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is the date for choosing presidential electors. State elections are also generally held on this day.

6th November: First Day of Ramadan - This day marks the beginning of a month long fast that all Muslims must keep during the daylight hours. It commemorates the first revelation of the Qur'an.

11th Novembe: Veterans Day (Armistice Day) - A federal holiday, was established in 1926 to commemorate the signing in 1918 of the armistice ending World War I. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all men and women who have served America in its armed forces. Veteran's Day began as Armistice Day. This is the name given to November 11th by President Woodrow Wilson. He proclaimed Armistice Day a day to remember the tragedies of war. Britain and France observe this day to commemorate the end of World war I on November 11, 1918.

Fourth Thursday in November: Thanksgiving - Holiday by act of Congress (1941), The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in the year 1621. The Pilgrims who had come to the New World from England landed at Plymouth Rock, in what is now Massachusetts, on December 26, 1620 after being at sea for almost a year. When the Pilgrims landed in this country they discovered that the grain they brought from England wouldn't grow in the soil of their new home. The first winter was very hard for the early settlers and many people died because of sickness and starvation. The native Indians came to the aid of the Pilgrims and taught them how to plant crops of corn. They also taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and fish. Thanks to the help of the Indians, the settlers' crops in the fall of 1621 did well and there was a great harvest. The Pilgrims decided to have a feast as a way of giving thanks. The Pilgrims invited their friends, the Indians, to share this first Thanksgiving feast which lasted three days.

30th November: First Day of Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) - This festival was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus in 165 B.C. to celebrate the purification of the Temple of Jerusalem, which had been desecrated three years earlier by Antiochus Epiphanies, who set up a pagan altar and offered sacrifices to Zeus Olympius. In Jewish homes, a light is lighted on each night of the eight-day festival.

First Sunday in December: First Sunday of Advent - Advent is the season in which the faithful must prepare themselves for the coming, or advent, of the Savior on Christmas. The four Sundays before Christmas are marked by special church services.

25th December: Christmas - The most widely celebrated holiday of the Christian year, Christmas is observed as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Christmas customs are centuries old. The mistletoe, for example, comes from the Druids, who, in hanging the mistletoe, hoped for peace and good fortune. Use of such plants as holly comes from the ancient belief that such plants blossomed at Christmas. Comparatively recent is the Christmas tree, first set up in Germany in the 17th century. The use of candles on trees developed from the belief that candles appeared by miracle on the trees at Christmas. Christmas is the only holiday observed in America that is both a legal and a religious holiday. Even though it is a Christian holiday, Christmas is celebrated by almost everybody in the world regardless of religious affiliation.

As well as national holidays each state may also have their own holidays, as listed below:

State Holidays - Dates for 2002

Jan. 6, Three Kings' Day: P.R.

Jan. 8, Battle of New Orleans Day: La.

Jan. 11, De Hostos's Birthday: P.R.

Jan. 19, Robert E. Lee's Birthday: Ark., Fla., Ky., La., S.C.; (third Mon.): Ala., Miss.

Jan. 19, Confederate Heroes Day: Tex.

Jan. (third Mon.), Lee-Jackson-King Day: Va.

Jan. 30, F. D. Roosevelt's Birthday: Ky.

Feb. 15, Susan B. Anthony's Birthday: Fla., Minn.

March (first Tues.), Town Meeting Day: Vt.

March 2, Texas Independence Day: Tex.

March (first Mon.), Casimir Pulaski's Birthday: Ill.

March 17, Evacuation Day: Mass. (in Suffolk County)

March 20 (first day of spring), Youth Day: Okla.

March 22, Abolition Day: P.R.

March 25, Maryland Day: Md.

March 26, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day: Hawaii

March (last Mon.), Seward's Day: Alaska

April 2, Pascua Florida Day: Fla.

April 13, Thomas Jefferson's Birthday: Ala., Okla.

April 16, De Diego's Birthday: P.R.

April (third Mon.), Patriots' Day: Maine, Mass.

April 21, San Jacinto Day: Tex.

April 22, Arbor Day: Nebr.

April 22, Oklahoma Day: Okla.

April 26, Confederate Memorial Day: Fla., Ga.

April (fourth Mon.), Fast Day: N.H.

April (last Mon.), Confederate Memorial Day: Ala., Miss.

May 1, Bird Day: Okla.

May 8, Truman Day: Mo.

May 11, Minnesota Day: Minn.

May 20, Mecklenburg Independence Day: N.C.

June (first Mon.), Jefferson Davis's Birthday: Ala., Miss.

June 3, Jefferson Davis's Birthday: Fla., S.C.

June 3, Confederate Memorial Day: Ky., La.

June 9, Senior Citizens Day: Okla.

June 11, King Kamehameha I Day: Hawaii

June 15, Separation Day: Del.

June 17, Bunker Hill Day: Mass. (in Suffolk County)

June 19, Emancipation Day: Tex.

June 20, West Virginia Day: W.Va.

July 17, Muñoz Rivera's Birthday: P.R.

July 24, Pioneer Day: Utah

July 25, Constitution Day: P.R.

July 27, Barbosa's Birthday: P.R.

Aug. (first Sun.), American Family Day: Ariz.

Aug. (first Mon.), Colorado Day: Colo.

Aug. (second Mon.), Victory Day: R.I.

Aug. 16, Bennington Battle Day: Vt.

Aug. (third Friday), Admission Day: Hawaii

Aug. 27, Lyndon B. Johnson's Birthday: Tex.

Aug. 30, Huey P. Long Day: La.

Sept. 9, Admission Day: Calif.

Sept. 12, Defenders' Day: Md.

Sept. 16, Cherokee Strip Day: Okla.

Sept. (first Sat. after full moon), Indian Day: Okla.

Oct. 10, Leif Eriksson Day: Minn.

Oct. 10, Oklahoma Historical Day: Okla.

Oct. 18, Alaska Day: Ala.

Oct. 31, Nevada Day: Nev.

Nov. 4, Will Rogers Day: Okla.

Nov. (week of the 16th), Oklahoma Heritage Week: Okla.

Nov. 19, Discovery Day: P.R.

Dec. 7, Delaware Day: Del.