Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. The holiday originated in 1882 from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create "a day off for the working man". Parades and pro-union demonstrations were central to the holiday at least through the time of World War I. Today, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer (which symbolically begins on Memorial Day). Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894. All fifty states have also made it a state holiday.