NEW YORK, NY — Ah, Labor Day. That weird holiday that annually perplexes parents and students who just want to know whether school starts before or after the first Monday in September. For many workers, it’s simply a much-needed reprieve 61 days after July 4th. But ask someone on the street how it came to be that many have the day off, and you’ll get a heavy mix of scrunched faces and head scratchings ranging from “You know, I don’t know,” to “Yeah, no idea.”

The answer is rooted in the name: labor. Workers believed they were putting in too many long days at their jobs, often reaching 70-plus hour work weeks. Those long days were often coupled with unsafe working conditions, and some companies chose to pay workers in scrip — tokens that are only accepted at the employer’s stores.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the idea for the holiday was created by the labor movement. It’s dedicated to the “social and economic achievements” of workers who contribute to America’s strength, prosperity and well-being.

And while today people still enjoy the day off, Labor Day once featured festivals to behold, with thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — marveling at the parades of marching bands, banners and balloons as powerful trade unions flexed their collective muscle. More than one bottle of booze made it to these events, too.

Here are five things to know about Labor Day:

1. The idea was first floated in the 19th century labor movement. Unions in New York City held a parade on Sept. 5, 1882, to celebrate their members and support all unions. At least 20,000 people attended the spectacle, and workers gave up the day’s paycheck in order to watch. A newspaper account of the event described the day as: “… men on horseback, men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges, and all the other paraphernalia of a procession.”

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“There was also a lot of beer involved in the event,” according to the Constitution Center.

The first Labor Day was organized by the Central Labor Union. Two years later, the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday and the CLU encouraged other groups in other cities to follow suit and celebrate the “workingmen’s holiday.”

“The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country,” the Labor Department wrote.

2. There’s some debate as to who actually is credited with first proposing the New York City event. It wouldn’t be America if we agreed on who got there first. But one thing does appear clear: that person was a man with a last name that sounds like the last name of infamous former MLB player Mark McGwire.

Some records suggest Peter J. McGuire, then-general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first to suggest a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold,” according to the Labor Department.

More recently, however, his claim has been challenged by research showing it was, in fact, the machinist Matthew Maguire, who proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the CLU. Maguire later became secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, New Jersey.

The two were actually from rival unions.

“What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic,” the Labor Department wrote.

3. Labor Day became recognized by local governments long before the federal government. Municipal governments first started passing local ordinances adopting the holiday in 1885 and ’86. New York became the first state to introduce legislation, but Oregon became the first to actually enact a Labor Day law, doing so on Feb. 21, 1887. That same year, four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and, yes, New York — followed suit. By 1890, Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had all done the same and by 1894, 23 more states adopted the holiday.

Violence stemming from the nationwide 1894 Pullman railroad strike proved to be the catalyst that ultimately nudged the federal government to adopt the holiday. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the bill, S. 730, into law declaring the first Monday in September of each year Labor Day, a national holiday. Interestingly, Cleveland likely chose that day over the internationally celebrated May 1 date out of fears it could empower more radical union groups, particularly after the deadly Haymarket Riot in Chicago, according to Slate.

Response to the new holiday was “overwhelmingly positive,” according to the U.S. House of Representatives office of the historian. Labor unions in cities including Boston, Nashville and St. Louis all celebrated with parades and picnics. As many as 30,000 jovial attendees turned out in Chicago.

4. Wearing white after Labor Day was a fashion faux pas in the late 19th century. Someone somewhere has probably made a bad joke to you about wearing white after Labor Day. If you’re like many Americans, you laughed it off and forgot about it by Tuesday (the closet only has so many fall sweaters, we get it). But if you lived in the late Victorian Era, you wouldn’t have shelved those nice bright white sneakers.

According to the Emily Post Institute, wearing white indicated you were on vacation. It was a summer tradition. City clothes were left behind in exchange for lighter, whiter, summer outfits, the website said. In the fall, people put away their summer — whiter — clothes in favor of more formal garb.

“It was an age when there was a dress code for practically every occasion, and the signal to mark the change between summer resort clothes and clothing worn for the rest of the year was encapsulated in the dictum ‘No white after Labor Day,’ ” the site said. “And it stuck.”

5. Labor Day is a federal holiday, but not everyone gets the day off. It’s true. The official proclamation applies only to federal workers. Individual states must declare their own legal holidays and essential personnel — such as security and transportation workers — still have to show up. And if you go to one of the many beautiful national parks Monday, make sure you take time to thank the worker who didn’t get off.

Furthermore, creating a Labor Day holiday doesn’t mean private companies have to give workers the day off, evidenced by the myriad car and mattress sales.

Photo: DETROIT – SEPTEMBER 4: Members of the United Steel Workers union march in the Detroit Labor Day Parade September 4, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)