This morning I looked out to see fathers and children scurrying about clutching flowers and carrier bags and realised that the Mothers' Day racket had come round again.
When I was young there was no Mothers' Day giving that I or anyone I know recognised, just gifts on Christmas Day and Birthdays, so this prompted me to look up the history of these newer gift days. While there is historical precedent for a Mothering Sunday, it appears that Mothers' Day was a 19th century invention that eventually largely disappeared by 1935, the year before I was born. It was traders who revived it in the UK in the 1950s as an opportunity for money making.
Fathers' Day is even more nonsensical, invented in the USA just over 100 years ago, it wasn't recognised in the UK with an "official day" until 1972.
Two things show up these days as the commercial sham that they really are. Firstly, unlike the internationally recognised Christmas Day, they are recognised on very different days in different months in various countries, according to when traders revived/invented them there. Secondly, Anna Jarvis, who created Mothers' Day in the USA in the 19th century, long after expressed great regret at how it had been spoilt by commercialisation.
Fortunately Fathers' Day is increasingly looking like a dead duck, never catching on to the same degree as Mothers' day. Also the fact that the majority of marriages and partnerships increasingly fail nowadays means many mothers and children are far less likely to subsequently give to fathers on that day, perhaps a silver lining to the cloud of relationship breakup. Hopefully that relative failure of Fathers' Day will deter any attempt to introduce Grandparents' Days etc.
However, I find it sad that so many people feel compelled to recognise such blatantly obvious commercial scams, especially at a time when so many complain of financial hardship.
When I was young there was no Mothers' Day giving that I or anyone I know recognised, just gifts on Christmas Day and Birthdays, so this prompted me to look up the history of these newer gift days. While there is historical precedent for a Mothering Sunday, it appears that Mothers' Day was a 19th century invention that eventually largely disappeared by 1935, the year before I was born. It was traders who revived it in the UK in the 1950s as an opportunity for money making.
Fathers' Day is even more nonsensical, invented in the USA just over 100 years ago, it wasn't recognised in the UK with an "official day" until 1972.
Two things show up these days as the commercial sham that they really are. Firstly, unlike the internationally recognised Christmas Day, they are recognised on very different days in different months in various countries, according to when traders revived/invented them there. Secondly, Anna Jarvis, who created Mothers' Day in the USA in the 19th century, long after expressed great regret at how it had been spoilt by commercialisation.
Fortunately Fathers' Day is increasingly looking like a dead duck, never catching on to the same degree as Mothers' day. Also the fact that the majority of marriages and partnerships increasingly fail nowadays means many mothers and children are far less likely to subsequently give to fathers on that day, perhaps a silver lining to the cloud of relationship breakup. Hopefully that relative failure of Fathers' Day will deter any attempt to introduce Grandparents' Days etc.
However, I find it sad that so many people feel compelled to recognise such blatantly obvious commercial scams, especially at a time when so many complain of financial hardship.
