Guest post by Emily Sherr, my 19 year old daughter, who is at Durham University studying Education with History,
Last year I wrote a blog on the origin and superstitions associated with Friday the 13th. Continuing the theme of looking at the history of certain days in the year, I’m going to look at Father’s Day.
The idea originated in 1909 due to Sonora Smart Dodd after she attended a Mother’s Day service. Sonora’s mother had died in 1898 and her father had brought her and her 5 brothers up. She noted that all of the things that mothers were being praised for on Mother’s Day had been done by her father. She recognised that fathers should be celebrated in the same way and campaigned for Father’s Day, with the first service taking place on June 19th 1910 in Washington, America. She originally wanted the date to the 4th of June, her father’s birthday, but this could not be organised in time.
Another claim for the first Father’s Day is said to have taken place in 1908 in West Virginia as a commemoration for over 200 miners who were killed in a mining disaster in 1907. This was a day celebrating the fathers who had lost their lives and the importance they had had in the lives of their wives and children. This view is less popular.
Unlike Mother’s Day, celebrations on Father’s Day did not take off and were not widespread in the first half of the 20th century. It was not until 1972 that it became recognised as an actual holiday. This delay was largely due to the fact that people just saw Father’s Day as being a commercial holiday and an excuse for companies to sell cards and gifts, in contrast to the ancient and religious association connected with Mother’s Day (I’ll save the details for another blog!).
To be honest, this may well be true, and Mother’s Day has similarly lost most of its traditional roots and is another reason for shops to treble the price of flowers and for restaurants to do special menus. But to me, this really isn’t a problem. Everyone knows that, like most of the holidays such as Christmas and Easter, Father’s Day is commercial, I’m not going to deny it. But so what, what does it matter? It’s a gesture and a demonstration from children that they appreciate their dad, something that probably isn’t shown as much as it should be throughout the year. People should embrace the commerciality and give their dad’s a day, whether that means phoning him up, taking him out for dinner or just spending time together. Father’s Day is celebrated on different days and in different ways around the world so it really doesn’t matter what you do, or the origins behind why you’re doing it, just show your dad, or another male influence in your life, that you care.
So Musical Minis would like to wish Happy Father’s Day to all Musical Minis Dads, and all dads for that matter. Enjoy the day and let your wives and children spoil you!
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