Daily Calendar for Monday, February 15, 2027

Though this day is commonly called Presidents’ Day, the federal holiday is still called “Washington’s Birthday,” contrary to popular belief. It is one of eleven permanent holidays established by Congress. George Washington’s actual birthday is February 22, but we observe federal holidays on Mondays (in this case, the third Monday of February). To complicate matters, Washington was actually born on February 11 in 1731 because the country switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar during his lifetime (something most of Europe had done in 1582). As a result of this calendar reform, people born before 1752 were told to add 11 days to their birth dates. Those born between January 1 and March 25, as Washington was, also had to add one year to be in sync with the new calendar. By the time Washington became president in 1789, he celebrated his birthday on February 22 and listed his year of birth as 1732. Upon entering office, Washington was not convinced that he was the right man for the job. He wrote, “My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit, who is going to the place of his execution.” Fortunately for the young country, he was wrong. Learn more facts and folklore about Presidents’ Day.

The Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, New York, was the home of this women’s rights leader during the most politically active period of her life. It was here that she was arrested for voting in 1872, before women had the right to vote. Today the house is a National Historic Landmark and museum. Anthony, born in 1820, is best known as an advocate for woman suffrage, but she began her career as an outspoken proponent of temperance. She was not allowed to speak publicly, however, because she was a woman. In response to this outrage, she teamed up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1852 and dedicated her life to winning voting rights for women. She died in 1906 without realizing her dream. (Women didn’t get the right to vote nationally until 1920, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.) Connect with the Ken Burns/PBS documentary Not for Ourselves Alone, which examines Anthony’s and Stanton’s roles in the early women’s movement. The Web site also features their original writings and speeches.

This marks the day in 1965 when Canada’s red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill and in communities across Canada. On this day in 1965, the current Canadian flag was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. Red and white were designated as Canada’s official colors in 1921 by His Majesty King George V. Its design had been hotly debated, but eventually the government chose an idea by historian George Stanley: a red flag with a white square in its center containing a red maple leaf. In 1996, National Flag of Canada Day was designated to take place every February 15 to honor the official unfurling of the new flag.