Columbus day

what is columbus day

What is Columbus Day: a named Monday on the U.S. federal calendar. It commemorates Christopher Columbus's 1492 landfall in the Americas, a landing dated 12 October on the calendar used for that commemoration. Congress later placed the public holiday on the second Monday in October so the observance would make a three-day weekend. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act put that Monday rule into effect in 1971. The historical 12 October still exists as a numbered day. It is not always the holiday, because the holiday is the Monday.

In 2026 the second Monday is 12 October. In 2027 it is 11 October. The window for that Monday is 8 October through 14 October. If someone tells you it is “always the 12th,” they have mixed the commemorative date with the civil Monday. Ask for the year, then count Mondays.

Some states, cities, and institutions mark Indigenous Peoples' Day on the same second Monday, sometimes instead of Columbus Day, sometimes beside it. That is a naming and observance choice on the same autumn weekday. It does not slide the Monday into September and it does not create a second federal date.

Is today Columbus Day

Is Columbus Day today, is today Columbus Day, and today is Columbus Day are the same test. Read today's civil date in your time zone. If it is the second Monday of October in the United States, then yes. If it is any other day, no. This page is not a live clock. A Thursday in early September is not that Monday. A Saturday in October is not that Monday. The holiday was built to be a Monday; it cannot fall on a Wednesday.

Federal offices and the U.S. Postal Service observe the day. Most bank branches follow the Federal Reserve holiday list and close the lobby. Equity trading on U.S. stock exchanges has often continued on that Monday; the bond market has often followed the Reserve close. Shops and restaurants write their own hours. Do not treat a mall as a court clerk. If your task needs a federal desk or a teller, move it off that Monday or read the notice on the door.

Holiday rule: second Monday in October. 2026 date: 12 October, a Monday. 2027 date: 11 October, a Monday. Historical commemorative date: 12 October, any weekday. “Today” test: only if today's date is that Monday.

Find the second Monday in October for the year you mean. Do not assume it is 12 October unless that Monday lands there. If your town says Indigenous Peoples' Day, check whether it is still that same Monday.

If you needed “is today Columbus Day,” compare today's date to that Monday, not to a feeling about autumn. Columbus Day borrowed one October Monday. The other thirty-odd days of the month still have to go to work under their ordinary names.

Write the year on the same line as the holiday. “Columbus Day” without a year is a rule. “Columbus Day 2026” is 12 October. “Today” is a date on a lock screen. Those three only coincide when the lock screen shows that Monday.