Yes, we have another holiday in the U.S. Labor day. First let me say that the reason I do these holiday posts on the blog is I get a lot of traffic from people outside the U.S> (thank you for that!). Labor day in the U.S., for the population is the unofficial end of the summer. In the past it used to mean back to school too but that has changed a lot most kids are back by the end of august. Additionally, Labor day is the beginning of the unofficial “Holiday season” meaning in the U.S. we have a major holiday every month from now until the end of the year. All of those holidays of course have major sales associated with them.
How did Labor Day come to be? During the industrial period of the U.S. unions began to form and wield more and more power. In the 1880’s – 90’s they started to create the narrative of the value of labor and how the workers of the country should be celebrated. From there it took off and became more political but the heart of the holiday is the celebration of the American worker. It is celebrated on the 1st Monday of Sept and became a federal holiday in 1894. So gov offices are closed, courts, post offices, banks, schools and most Americans have the day off from work or those that do work get paid above and beyond their normal rate.
The wiki page here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day has a very good summary of the holiday, far more detail then I have. This is not the same as international workers’ day or in many countries May Day. While they generally represent the same premise and spirit they are all distinct from one another in both origin and date of celebration.
Most Americans will have this day off and will have a small party at their homes. It will likely be a BBQ and in most of the country we will still have summer weather. However, Sept is a transitional month, in many parts of the U.S. Sept can start off very hot and by the end of the month we have cooled into day time highs of 60F. Notable for Labor Day, as mentioned above, is the start of the “holiday season”. Specifically, Labor day is usually the best time of the year to get a sale on a car because the dealers are prepping to receive the next model year and want to clear out their inventories.
As this is posted I have the day off as well and I am working in my yard today cleaning up a flower bed. I hope you have a great labor day too where ever you are.
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