Columbus Day isn't a Nevada state holiday — here's why

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Federal offices, including the U.S. Post Office, will be closed Monday in recognition of the Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day federal holiday. But for most local and state workers, business will continue as usual.

Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day, observed on the second Monday in October, is the only federal holiday that isn't a Nevada state holiday. That's because the Silver State celebrates Nevada Day just two weeks from now.

Monday's federal holiday is both the newest and oldest official holiday on the national calendar. Columbus Day was proclaimed a national holiday in 1934 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to mark Christopher Columbus' arrival on the Bahamian island of Guanahaní on Oct. 12, 1492. President Biden issued a presidential proclamation in 2021 celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day in conjunction with Columbus Day.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day on the same date as a simultaneous celebration for America's indigenous peoples. Of those, five states (South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Maine and New Mexico) plus the District of Columbia recognize only Indigenous Peoples' Day, not Columbus Day.

Nevada, which celebrates Nevada Day later in the month, has stayed on the sidelines of the debate.

What other official celebrations are recognized by the state? Here's the rundown of all 12.

Jan. 1: New Year's Day One of just four days on the original list of federal holidays, New Year's Day was first recognized on June 28, 1870 along with Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Third Monday in January: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday The Nevada Legislature passed a bill during its 1987 session to create a holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. At the time, Nevada joined 38 other states in official recognition of the date; federal employees across the country had begun receiving the day off beginning in 1986.

Dr. King was born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, but the official holiday may fall anywhere between Jan. 15 and Jan. 21.

Third Monday in February: Washington's Birthday It's often referred to as Presidents Day, but the official title in both federal and Nevada law is Washington's Birthday, commemorating the birth of President George Washington in February 1732. Washington's birth was celebrated in Nevada at least as far back as 1865. The holiday was established at the federal level in 1879, although federal workers in Nevada didn't start getting the day off until 1885. The holiday falls anywhere between Feb. 15 and 21.

But when, exactly, is Washington's birthday? It's complicated. When America's first president was born, the calendar on the wall read Feb. 11, 1732. But at the time Great Britain and its territories still used the Julian calendar, which was several days off from the more accurate Gregorian calendar introduced in 1582. Britain's colonies in North America adopted the new calendar in 1752, shifting Washington's birthday to Feb. 22. (Oddly enough, the official federal holiday can never land on either Feb. 11 or Feb. 22.)

Last Monday in May: Memorial Day Fourteen weeks after Washington's Birthday — the longest stretch between any two state holidays — Memorial Day honors members of the U.S. military who died while serving their country (a distinction from Veterans Day, which honors all veterans living or dead). It began in America in the post-Civil War era, with origins traced to Charleston, South Carolina in 1865; Columbus, Mississippi in 1866; and Virginia's Arlington National Cemetery in 1868.

Why all the Monday holidays? It's due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which sets Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, MLK Day and Labor Day on Mondays to create three-day weekends.

June 19: Juneteenth Juneteenth is celebrated each year on June 19 to commemorate Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger's General Order No. 3, which reaffirmed the abolition of slavery in Texas following the Civil War.

Despite the surrender of the Confederacy on April 9, 1865, a separate confederate army operating in Texas did not surrender until June 2. When Granger arrived in the port city of Galveston to oversee Reconstruction on June 19, 1865, the order to end slavery was posted throughout town and eventually throughout the state. Slavery officially was abolished nationwide with the passage of the 13th Amendment that December.

Nevada officially added the holiday to the calendar in 2023.

July 4: Independence Day The most American of holidays celebrates the issuance of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, laying out the Second Continental Congress' reasoning for splitting with Great Britain. The official vote to declare independence occurred two days earlier on July 2, but debate continued for two days on the wording of the Declaration of Independence, including whether or not to include a denunciation of the slave trade. (It didn't make the cut.)

First Monday in September: Labor Day Labor Day, an official holiday celebrating laborers and the labor movement, also marks the unofficial end of summer in the U.S. It's been an official holiday for federal workers since a bill was passed by U.S. Congress in 1894, but it only gained adoption within Nevada over the ensuing decades. It falls anywhere between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7.

The Nevada State Journal noted the first observance in September 1894, wondering why the holiday hadn't caught on in the Silver State: "(W)hy Nevada has not followed the example of California and other States is not apparent. Probably it is due to the fact that Nevada is not a manufacturing State."

Last Friday in October: Nevada Day Nevada Day, commemorating the anniversary of Nevada's admission to the Union on Oct. 31, 1864, was celebrated sporadically for decades until 1939, when it became an official annual state holiday. Nevada is one of four states to commemorate its admission to the Union as an official state holiday, along with Alaska, Hawaii and West Virginia.

Moving Nevada Day festivities to the last Friday in October, creating a three-day weekend, was the culmination of a two-year effort in the late 1990s. Nevada voters backed the change, 52.5% to 47.5%, and the 1999 Nevada Legislature made it official, beginning in 2000. The official holiday falls anywhere between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31.

Nov. 11: Veterans Day President Woodrow Wilson first commemorated the holiday, originally known as Armistice Day, to mark the one-year anniversary of Nov. 11, 1918, the the end of hostilities in World War I. (While Memorial Day honors members of the U.S. military who died while serving, Veterans Day honors all veterans, living or dead).

When the Uniform Monday Holiday Act originally passed in 1968, Veterans Day was moved to a Monday along with a handful of other holidays; it subsequently was returned to a fixed date of Nov. 11.

Fourth Thursday in November: Thanksgiving Day The oldest holiday of American origin on the calendar, Thanksgiving recognizes the first successful harvest by Puritan settlers at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts, and the subsequent celebration alongside Native Americans. The observance was celebrated sporadically until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the final Thursday in November as a day for gratitude and to "fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation" during the Civil War. It was recognized as one of the original four official holidays on the federal holiday calendar in 1870.

Friday following the fourth Thursday in November: Family Day Call it Black Friday if you'd like, but Family Day is the official name of the Friday after Thanksgiving. Its creation in the 1980s stretches things out to a four-day weekend for most state employees.

Before the Nevada Legislature recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1987, the governor had the ability to declare two "discretionary holidays" each year (say, for example, adding Christmas Eve to the list of days off). But the bill establishing MLK Day also permanently locked down the day after Thanksgiving as Family Day, the only back-to-back state holidays on the calendar.

Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 25 has been celebrated as the birthdate of Jesus Christ since the fourth century A.D., although scholars using New Testament clues point to entirely different times of the year. Nevertheless, Christmas is officially celebrated on Dec. 25 in Nevada, the United States and the entire Western Hemisphere, along with much of the Eastern Hemisphere as well. It's been on the list of official federal holidays since the beginning, and is one of just four fixed-date celebrations on Nevada's calendar.

Brett McGinness is the engagement editor for the Reno Gazette Journal. He's also the writer of The Reno Memo — a free newsletter about news in the Biggest Little City. Subscribe to the newsletter right here. Consider supporting the Reno Gazette Journal, too.

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