Father’s Day
Why everyone’s talking about...
Happy Father’s Day! Damn! I clean forgot. Must dash out and get something…
You’re not the only one. Sales of Father’s Day cards actually peak at 10am today and booze sales spike at midday, according to the Co- op, suggesting a last- minute rush. If you’d already remembered, you could have got naff gifts such as a brush for belly-button fluff, a coffee mug shaped like a toilet or a card saying: ‘If you think this card is s***, you should see the care home I found for you.’ No wonder a third of dads hate cards.
So is it just a recent commercial innovation to cynically make money?
No. Apparently, 4,000 years ago a Babylonian boy called Elmesu carved a message in clay wishing his father a long life, while Catholic nations have honoured fathers on St Joseph’s Day, March 19, since 1508. The modern concept started in the US in 1909 when Sonora Smart Dodd, inspired by her Civil War veteran dad who raised six children alone after his wife died, gave a Mother’s Day sermon in Spokane, Washington, calling for a similar celebration of fathers.
It caught on?
Eventually, though initially there was resistance with people thinking it was just a marketing trick. It wasn’t until 1972 that President Richard Nixon announced a permanent annual celebration, while in the UK the idea had taken hold after the Second World War. Now Hallmark say Father’s Day is the fourthbiggest day of the year for card sales. And while more phone calls are made on Mother’s Day, today – you skinflints! – is the busiest date for reversing the charges.
And elsewhere?
The date varies. In Taiwan it’s August 8 because the Chinese for eight is ‘ba’, so 8/8, ‘ ba- ba’, sounds like a colloquial word for father. In Germany, ‘Mannertag’ tradition is for men to go park on wheeled transport laden with beers, then drink themselves silly. No surprise: traffic accidents spike on this day.
But it’s here to stay in the UK?
About three-quarters of British men participate. Some Scottish schools banned celebrations in 2008 over concerns that it might disadvantage children raised by single mothers and lesbian couples, but such sensitivity never spread widely.
Anyway, it’s not too late to rush out and buy a card. One of the most apt this year says: ‘Dad, we might be two metres apart – but you’re still in my heart.’