They Call Me Pops
I will be honest, I occasionally get excited about my birthdays and will celebrate the milestone years — and I really do appreciate and celebrate our wedding anniversary — but I think my favorite day of celebration just might be Father’s Day. After all, a birthday just means you are getting older and my anniversary is just the day we got married, and I honestly celebrate/appreciate our love every single day. Father’s Day is a day of recognition and my feeble mind likes to believe it was a day invented just for ME! Wrong…again!
An actual day to honour fathers has been around since the middle ages when the Catholic Church felt that March 19, Saint Joseph’s Day, was a good day for a feast and maybe a long weekend. Saint Joseph has been regarded as the “putative father of Jesus” or “Nutritor Domini” (nourisher of the Lord) and what a good reason for a feast. In Europe, some countries still use the March 19 date as Father’s day and the American tradition of the third Sunday in June began in the 1920’s but was not officially recognized until Richard Nixon made it a law in 1972. Other presidents tried but Tricky Dick made it official and it is now a holiday, but no long weekend.
What about a day for non-fathers? Well that has been thought of and November 19th has been designated as International Men’s Day, but almost every country in the world has a Father’s Day of some sort. Russia’s version is February 23 when the vodka will flow with the celebration of “Defender of the Fatherland Day” and I am sure that gifts of ties flow like the Volga River. In some countries like Thailand Father’s Day is celebrated on the Kings birthday.
I think the Germans have the right idea; In Germany the day is called “Vatertag,” which is celebrated on the Thursday 40 days after Easter. It is a national holiday. The tradition is for men, young and old, to manually pull a small cart around town. Big deal, right? Wrong…the cart is filled with beer, wine and food and that usually results in drunken revelry and a lot of Friday hangovers. Hmmm…I wonder how much beer and sausage a little red wagon could carry? There are some countries where efficiency is the order of the day and in South Korea, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day are combined and celebrated on May 8th as Parents’ Day. Not only does this save money on greeting cards but you only need to buy one gift for your parents. Good idea unless you are a parent.
Here in Canada the third Sunday in June is a day when families can get together to have a feast, or at least a Bar BQ to honor dads, step-dads, grand-dads and, I am sure in some cases, sperm-donor dads (it is after all a new millennium). My sons have never called me “Father” and occasionally have called me “Dad”, but I always will answer to my fatherly nickname of “Pops.” I am truly blessed because my family seems to be able to arrange visits to coincide with both Mother’s and Father’s Day, and that is a way better gift than a tie or cologne. We get together and, as “Pops,” it is my responsibility to grill/cremate the steaks which are thoughtfully provided by our two sons and their families. And while there will be some beer and wine, we do not need to load a wagon up and wander around town. Although…if we could attach a small BBQ and have room for a cooler on the wagon this might be a new tradition. Happy Pop’s Day!