Labor Day (USA)

When it falls

The first Monday of September every year, a federal holiday since 1894. Canada keeps the same day.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

The first Labor Day parade was held in New York by the Central Labor Union on 5 September 1882, and the states began adopting the day one by one. President Cleveland signed the federal holiday into law in June 1894, days after federal troops had broken the Pullman railway strike, and chose September over May so that the day would not recall the Haymarket affair.

It has become the end of summer: the last long weekend before school, the traditional close of the season for white clothes and for the beach, and the start of the college football season.

How the day is kept

• Parades by the trade unions in New York, Detroit, Pittsburgh and the older industrial cities.
• The three-day weekend at the lake, the beach and the barbecue; the largest travel weekend of the summer.
• The Labor Day sales in the shops, and the campaign season opening for elections in November.

More national days