DonnaYoung.org

A Chart of US Federal Holidays

The dates gathered for this chart are from https://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol
* Some holidays are not on their typical date because it lands on a weekend. The dates shown here are the possible "day-off-from-work" dates.

Holiday 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
New Year's Day 1/1 12/31 1/2 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/1 1/1 1/1
Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/18 1/17 1/6 1/21 1/20 1/19 1/18 1/16 1/15 1/21 1/20
Washington's Birthday 2/15 1/21 2/20 2/18 2/17 2/16 2/15 2/20 2/19 2/18 2/17
Memorial Day 5/31 5/30 5/28 5/27 5/26 5/25 5/30 5/29 5/28 5/27 5/25
Independence Day 7/5 7/4 7/4 7/4 7/4 7/3 7/4 7/4 7/4 7/4 7/3
Labor Day 9/6 9/5 9/3 9/2 9/1 9/7 9/5 9/4 9/3 9/2 9/7
Columbus Day 10/11 10/10 10/8 10/14 10/13 10/12 10/10 10/9 10/8 10/14 10/12
Veterans Day 11/11 11/11 11/12 11/11 11/11 11/11 11/11 11/10 11/12 11/11 11/11
Thanksgiving Day 11/25 11/24 11/22 11/28 12/27 11/26 11/24 11/23 11/22 11/28 11/26
Christmas Day 12/24 11/26 12/25 12/25 12/25 12/25 12/26 12/25 12/25 12/25 12/25

Easter & Passover

Good Friday falls on the Friday before Easter. Full moon dates are in brackets in the Western column.

Year Western [Gregorian] Eastern [Julian] Jewish Passover
2010 4/4 [3/30] 3/30
2011 4/24 [4/18] 4/19
2012 4/8 [4/6] 4/15 4/7
2013 3/31 [3/27] 5/5 3/26
2014 4/20 [4/15] 4/15
2015 4/5 [4/4] 4/12 4/4
2016 3/27 [3/23] 5/1 4/23
2017 4/16 [4/11] 4/11
2018 4/1 [3/31] 4/8 3/31
2019 4/21 [3/21] * 4/28 4/20
2020 4/12 [4/8] 4/19 4/9

* In the year 2019, the astronomical Easter date is March 24th. The first full moon after the vernal equinox falls on March 21st and in that year, 2019, the vernal equinox occurs on March 20th at 9:58 P.M. UT **. The second full moon after the vernal equinox falls on April 19th.

** 2019 vernal equinox date: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/earth-seasons

The Vernal Equinox

The Easter Date is calculated as the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox occurs at a certain time on either March 20th or 21st when the center of sun is vertically over the equator and on that day, night and day are roughly of the same length of time. The "First day of Spring" falls on the same day as the vernal equinox. This means that Easter always occurs in the Spring and typically following the first full moon. Sometimes it follows the second full moon [see 2019 in the chart].