Holiday Calendar Generator

The holiday calendar generator marks US federal legal dates and observed dates on a year of month grids. Legal date is the date named in statute; observed date is the weekday employees typically receive off when the legal date falls on a weekend (Saturday→Friday, Sunday→Monday). This is a marked year grid, not the holidays hub article index, and not a downloadable .ics file.

Legal versus observed on the same grid

When Independence Day is a Wednesday, legal and observed are the same cell. When it is a Saturday, the legal Saturday and the observed Friday are different cells; both can be marked so planners see the statute date and the day off. New Year’s Day on Saturday can observe a Friday in December of the previous year—read year-boundary marks carefully.

The holidays hub at 2026 holidays is the editorial list and explainer for that year. This generator is the year-of-months picture with legal/observed glyphs. Use the hub to read rules; use this page to see them on grids.

Federal set only

The marks are the US federal legal public holidays this site uses for planning. State holidays, religious observances that are not federal, and local events are unmarked unless they coincide. Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., is a special case some years; do not assume this grid is OPM’s memo.

Long weekends that arise when observed dates sit on Friday or Monday are listed as a filter on long weekends. This generator still shows holidays that do not create a Friday–Monday stretch, such as a Wednesday Veterans Day.

How to generate the year

Enter a year and calculate. Read each month for legal and observed marks. Print for a break-room wall. Toggle nothing else: there is no state picker and no religious calendar overlay on this URL.

For a file you can import into Google Calendar or Outlook, use holiday ICS, which emits observed dates as all-day events. This grid page does not download .ics.

Worked examples

An HR coordinator prints 2026 with legal and observed marks, then highlights company floating holidays in a second color by hand. The federal layer stays honest; the company layer stays local.

A teacher compares a Wednesday Christmas (legal = observed) with a Saturday Christmas (observed Friday) across two years by generating each year. Students see why “Christmas week” is not always the same shape.

Thanksgiving and Friday after

Thanksgiving is marked as the fourth Thursday in November (legal = observed). The Friday after is not a federal holiday and should not appear as an observed federal mark. If a company closes that Friday, mark it manually. Confusing company custom with federal observed dates is the most common error on these grids.

Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day remains a federal Monday holiday even where a city does not close. The grid marks the federal date; local closure is a separate question.

Workday and pay overlays

To see Monday–Friday with federal skip, use the workday calendar. To see pay dates, use the pay-period calendar. This holiday generator only answers where federal legal and observed dates sit. Stacking three jobs on one URL would hide the legal-versus-observed teaching point.

Retail 4-5-4 weeks do not rename these holidays. A five-week period that contains Christmas still uses the civil legal date shown here.

Limits

No bank-specific early close, no stock-exchange calendar, no school-district overlay. No guarantee against future statutory changes; regenerate after Congress adds a holiday rather than editing an old screenshot.

Yearly calendars without holiday glyphs live on 2026 yearly calendars. Add marks there only if you need a cleaner year poster; this page is the marked federal version.

Newly added federal holidays

When statute adds a federal holiday, regenerate the year rather than drawing a new star on an old print. Juneteenth’s legal date is June 19; observed dates follow the weekend rule like other fixed dates. Older screenshots from years before that holiday existed will omit it. 2026 grids should come from a current generate, not an archive PDF.

Inauguration Day is not handled as a general nationwide mark on this generator. Do not expect a federal glyph on January 20 except in the District of Columbia context you add yourself. The grid is the regular legal holiday set.

Color and print

If legal and observed occupy different cells, use two symbols, not one color for a vague holiday mark. The teaching point of this page is the split. A single highlight that covers Friday and Saturday hides which day is observed for time-off purposes.

Veterans Day midweek versus weekend

Veterans Day on a Wednesday is marked on Wednesday as both legal and observed. Veterans Day on Saturday marks Saturday legal and Friday observed. Payroll that pays holiday premium on the observed day should read the observed cell, not the legal Saturday. That split is why this generator exists beside a simple holiday list.