Washington’s Birthday Monday

Monday, February 15 is the federal and state holiday formally known as Washington’s Birthday. It’s not “Presidents Day,” whatever the car-ad people say. The formal name is actually Washington’s Birthday.

But here’s where it gets really con­fusing: George Washington’s actual birthday is actually a week from this coming Monday — Monday, Febru­ary 22, which is the 278th anniversary of the birth of the first president (and first commander-in-chief) of the Unit­ed States of America. Still, by law it’s the third Monday in February when government officesare closed. That applied to Norfolk Town Hall, Norfolk Public Library, and the Nor­folk Post Office, among other things. Public schools are closed anyway be­cause of February vacation, which runs from the end of school Friday, Febru­ary 12 through the beginning of school Monday, February 22.