The United States of America has a number of official and / or cultural holidays, which the traveler or tourist must be aware of, before visiting the country.
Le federal holidays, that is, holidays observed by the federal, state, local government, and banks are indicated in bold italics.
If a federal holiday with a fixed calendar date (such as Independence Day) falls on a weekend, most state and local federal government offices will be closed on the day closest to the weekend.
Since the early 70s, several federal holidays, including the Memorial Day and Labor Day, were observed on Mondays rather than on a fixed date, for the express purpose of giving federal employees a three-day weekend.
Foreign embassies and consulates in the United States also observe the same federal holidays (in bold italics), in addition to the legal holidays of their respective countries.
The private sector and all businesses (besides banks) are usually open on most holidays except New Years, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, Fridays after Thanksgiving and for Christmas when large numbers of non-commercial businesses are closed or partially open at certain hours.
Due to the number of major holidays in close proximity to each other, in the period between the end of November for Thanksgiving and New Years many Americans refer to this period as "the holidays". School and work holidays are commonly taken during these times.
Holidays in the United States
For more information on all US holidays visit this one PAGE
To know: Holidays observed on Mondays or Fridays are usually treated as one event long weekend or bank holiday (a weekend consists of a Saturday and a Sunday).
