Although the February holiday now known as President’s Day — this year on Feb. 19 — is still officially on the books as Washington’s Birthday, it has morphed into a time to remember all 45 men who have led the country. The holidays switched from honoring President George Washington, one of our founders, on his Feb. 22 birthday to Presidents’ Day as part of the 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which sought to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.

The most common tradition of Thanksgiving Day in America dates back to 1621 when the Pilgrims, who had struggled to survive on the edge of an alien land, gave thanks and joined in fellowship with the native Americans for the bounty of their first harvest and, most likely, offered up a prayer to God for help in surviving the winter soon to descend.