Name Three National U.S. Holidays: Civics Question 126

Name any three from the official list. New Year’s Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving will do it.

Question 126 asks you to name three national U.S. holidays. Accepted answers include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is a starred question, so it can also appear on the shorter test for applicants who are 65 or older.

The List You Choose From

National holidays are the days set by federal law, when federal offices close and most federal workers have the day off. The accepted answers include:

• New Year’s Day, January 1
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, in January
• Presidents Day, also called Washington’s Birthday, in February
• Memorial Day, the last Monday in May
• Juneteenth, June 19
• Independence Day, July 4
• Labor Day, the first Monday in September
• Columbus Day, in October
• Veterans Day, November 11
• Thanksgiving, in November
• Christmas, December 25

You give three of them. The officer does not choose which three.

Why the Officer Asks This

This is one of the few questions that asks for more than one answer, so the officer waits until three names have been said before marking it.

The holidays also carry other questions with them. Independence Day is question 125, Memorial Day is question 127, and Veterans Day is question 128. Four questions in this part of the test run on the same calendar.

How to Remember Three Holidays

Pick three, rehearse only those three, and let the rest of the list go. Trying to hold the whole list makes it harder to produce three under pressure.

A good set is New Year’s Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. They are short to say, and they sit in calendar order: January, July, November. Walk the year forward and the three come out in the right sequence.

Say them as one phrase in practice, not as three separate facts. New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving.

Common Ways People Get This Wrong

The most common error is naming days that are widely celebrated but not federal holidays. Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Cinco de Mayo do not count here.

The second error is counting. Some applicants name two and stop, and others keep listing holidays after the third. Give three and no more.

What to Say on Test Day

Say “New Year’s Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.” Then stop.

You do not need the dates, the reasons, or a fourth name.