New Year's Day is the first day of the new year. On the modern Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated on January 1, as it was also in ancient Rome (though other dates were also used in Rome). In all countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, except for Israel, it is a public holiday,[citation needed] often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January 1 on the Julian calendar corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.
Contents [hide]
1 Modern practices
2 History
3 New Year's Days in other calendars
4 Other celebrations on 1 January
5 Specific, high-profile or common celebrations
5.1 New Year's Day
5.2 New Year's Eve
6 Images associated with New Year's Day
6.1 New Year's babies
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
[edit] Modern practices
January 1 marks the end of a period of remembrance of a particular passing year, especially on radio, television, and in newspapers, which usually starts right after Christmas Day. Publications often have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year. Common topics include politics, natural disasters, music and the arts, and the listing of significant individuals who died during the past year. Often there are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year, such as the description of new laws that often take effect on January 1.
This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion for celebration the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are often fireworks at midnight. Depending on the country, individuals may be legally allowed to burn fireworks, even if it's usually outlawed the rest of the year.
It is also customary to make New Year's resolutions, which individuals hope to fulfil in the coming year. The most popular resolutions in the western world include to quit tobacco smoking, stop excessive drinking of alcohol, lose weight, and get physically fit.[1]
[edit] History
See also: Old Style and New Style dates, Julian year (calendar), and Lunisolar calendar
Probably observed on March 1 in the old Roman Calendar, New Year's Day was fixed on January 1 by the period of the Late Republic. Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls (after whose names the years were identified) entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter.[2] Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox, or commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December
Among the 7th-century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands it was the custom to exchange gifts at the New Year, a pagan custom deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemings and Dutchmen, "[Do not] make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom]." The quote is from the vita of Eligius written by his companion, Ouen.
Most countries in Western Europe officially adopted January 1 as New Year's Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25 (9 months before December 25), was the first day of the new year in England until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. The March 25 date was called Annunciation Style; the January 1 date was called Circumcision Style, because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the eighth day counting from December 25.[citation needed]
[edit] New Year's Days in other calendars
Main article: New Year
In cultures which traditionally or currently use calendars other than the Gregorian, New Year's Day is often also an important celebration. Some countries concurrently use the Gregorian and another calendar. New Year's Day in the alternative calendar often attracts more elaborate celebrations than the Gregorian New Year.
[edit] Other celebrations on 1 January
Some churches celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on January 1, based on the belief that Jesus was born on December 25, and that, according to Jewish tradition, his circumcision would have taken place on the eighth day of his life (which would be January 1). The Catholic Church has also given the name Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to their holy day on January 1.
[edit] Specific, high-profile or common celebrations
[edit] New Year's Day
On New Year's Day, people in certain countries gather on beaches and run into the water to celebrate the new year. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States and Australia are the most popular countries for this. These events are sometimes known as polar bear plunges, and are sometimes organized by groups to raise money for charity. Polar Bear Clubs in many northern hemisphere cities near bodies of water, have a tradition of holding organized plunges on New Year's Day.
In Britain an extra round of football fixtures is played (unless New Year's Day falls on a Thursday, Friday or Sunday).
In Pasadena, California, United States, the Tournament of Roses is held, with revellers viewing the parade from the streets and watching on television, followed by the Rose Bowl college football game. The game is one of several post-season bowl games played in college football in the United States (though in 2004 and 2006, due to its involvement in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), the Rose Bowl game was not held on New Year's Day).
Vienna New Year Concert, in Austria.
In Philadelphia, the Mummers Parade is held on Broad Street.
Hindu New Year, which falls at the time and date Sun enters Mesha.
Hindus celebrate the new year by paying respects to their parents and other elders and seek their blessings. They also exchange tokens of Good Wishes for healthy and prosperous year ahead.
The New Year's Day Parade is held in London. Performers include acts from each of the city's 32 boroughs, as well as entertainment from around the world.
Since 2008, the National Hockey League has held its annual Winter Classic, an outdoor regular season hockey game, on New Year's Day.
In the southern United States, people traditionally prepare a meal of collard greens, black-eyed peas and pork for a year of good luck. A dime is often placed beneath the plate as a part of the tradition.
Ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, a part of the Four Hills Tournament.
In Pennsylvania and Ohio, mostly in or near Pennsylvania "Dutch" (Deitch/German) areas, it is common to celebrate New Year's Day with a meal of pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. The practice comes from a Pennsylvania "Dutch" tradition that dictates these foods will bring good luck in the new year.
[edit] New Year's Eve
Main article: New Year's Eve
Friday, October 16, 2009
April Fool's Day
This article is about the informal holiday. For other uses, see April Fool's Day (disambiguation) or April Fool.
April Fools' Day
April 1 2001 in Denmark, regarding Copenhagen's new metro
Also called All Fools' Day
Date April 1
Observances Humor
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, the jokes only last until noon: like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] Elsewhere, such as in Ireland, Russia, France, and the U.S., the jokes last all day.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 Well-known pranks
2.1 By radio stations
2.2 By television stations
2.3 By magazines, newspapers, and books
2.4 By game shows
2.5 By websites
3 Real news on April Fools' Day
4 Other prank days in the world
5 April Fools' Day in media
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] Origins
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2009)
Wikipedia's Main Page on April 1, 2007. The featured article write-up purposely confuses U.S. President George Washington with an inventor of the same name.The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced.[2] In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool may have been someone who did this prematurely. Another possible origin lies in the fact that when King Charles IX of France officially changed the first day of the year from April 1 to January 1, some of his subjects continued using the old system. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the time of Noah. According to an English newspaper article published April 13, 1789, the day had its origin when Noah sent his dove off too early, before the waters had receded; he did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April.[3] A possible reference to April Fools' Day can be seen in the Canterbury Tales (ca 1400) in the Nun's Priest's tale, a tale of two fools (Chanticleer and the fox), which took place on March 32.[4]
[edit] Well-known pranks
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (January 2009)
Alabama Changes the Value of Pi: The April 1998 newsletter of New Mexicans for Science and Reason contained an article written by physicist Mark Boslough claiming that the Alabama Legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi. This claim originally appeared as a news story in the 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.[5]
Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing Italians harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest, the spaghetti weevil, had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees. It was, in fact, filmed in St Albans.[6]
Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.[7] Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old", right-handed burger.[8]
Taco Liberty Bell: In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.[9]
San Serriffe: The Guardian printed a supplement in 1977 praising this fictional resort, its two main islands (Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse), its capital (Bodoni), and its leader (General Pica). Intrigued readers were later disappointed to learn that San Serriffe (sans serif) did not exist except as references to typeface terminology. (This comes from a Jorge Luis Borges story.)[10]
DT Day: In 2008 fliers were handed on Brigham Young University campus, saying that the last in a series of dorm buildings being torn down was scheduled to be imploded on April 1. Hundreds of people eagerly turned up to see the implosion, but to their consternation it never happened. The culprits of this prank remain unknown. [11]
Metric time: Repeated several times in various countries, this hoax involves claiming that the time system will be changed to one in which units of time are based on powers of 10.[12]
Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odor over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial's success. [13] In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.[14]
Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news reported in the 1950s that the Tower of Pisa had fallen over. Many shocked people contacted the station.[15]
Write Only Memory: Signetics advertised Write Only Memory IC databooks in 1972 through the late 1970s.[16]
The Canadian news site bourque.org announced in 2002 that Finance Minister Paul Martin had resigned "in order to breed prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks."[17]
Annual BMW Innovations[18] see a new "cutting-edge invention" by BMW advertised across British newspapers every year, examples including:
Warning against counterfeit BMWs: the blue and white parts of the logo were reversed
The "Toot and Calm Horn" (after Tutankhamun), which calms rather than aggravates other drivers, so reducing the risk of road rage,
MINI cars being used in upcoming space missions to Mars,
Zoom Impression Pixels ("ZIP") to counter new "Slow Cameras" (2000),
SHEF ("Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration") Technology, which sees the car's GPS systems synchronise with home appliances to perfectly cook a meal for the instant you return home (2001),
Marque-Wiper - mini-wipers for each exterior "BMW" logo coming as standard on all future models (2002),
Tyre Pressure Control - adjust the pressure on the tyres without slowing down (2003),
IDS ("Insect Deflector Screen") Technology - using elastic solutions to bounce insects off the windscreen as you drive (2004),
Midnight in the City - An offer for a 15ft x 5ft ceramic "statuette" (sic) by "legendary Prussian ceramist, Loof Lirpa" (2005),
"Uninventing the wheel" to counter the "EU ban" on right-hand drive cars (2006),
"BMW Instant Messaging" - using Reactive User Sound Electronic (RUSE) particles to display the driver's words to the car in front on the windscreen (2007),
Canine Repellent Alloy Protection (CRAP)- a means of discouraging dogs from urinating on car wheels. (2008)
BMW Magnetic Tow Technology (MTT) - 'This ingenious new system locks onto the car in front via an enhanced magnetic beam. Once your BMW is attached, you are free to release your foot from the accelerator and turn off your engine. The vehicle in front will then 'do the pulling' without noticing any change in manoeuverability. When turning off MTT, we suggest a curteous flick of the headlights to let the obliging driver in front know you are leaving them. It is important to note that MTT does not work without another vehicle. Please email Uve.Vollenvorit@bmw.co.uk (you've fallen for it)' (2009) [19]
A compact disc available to all BMW owners, which when played over the audio system performed minor service and diagnostic checks; when flipped over it played soothing classical music (Australia).
[edit] By radio stations
BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today Programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed their theme tune to an upbeat disco style.[20]
Death of a mayor: In 1998, local WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony reported that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending credence to the prank as he could not be reached. The rumor spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly thereafter.[21]
Phone call: In 1998, UK presenter Nic Tuff of West Midlands radio station Kix 96 pretended to be the British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then South African President Nelson Mandela for a chat. It was only at the end of the call when Nic asked Nelson what he was doing for April Fools' Day that the line went dead.[22]
Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect: In 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 a.m. that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience "a strange floating sensation." Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.[23]
"National Public Radio" Every year National Public Radio in the United States does an extensive news story on April 1. These usually start off more or less reasonably, and get more and more unusual. A recent example is the story on the "iBod" a portable body control device.[24] In 2008 it reported that the IRS, to assure rebate checks were actually spent, was shipping consumer products instead of checks.[25] It also runs false sponsor mentions, such as "Support for NPR comes from the Soylent Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is People.”[26]
Three-dollar coin: In 2008, CBC Radio program As It Happens interviewed a Royal Canadian Mint spokesman who broke "news" of plans to replace the Canadian five-dollar bill with a three-dollar coin. The coin was dubbed a "threenie", in line with the nicknames of the country's one-dollar coin (commonly called a "loonie" due to its depiction of a common loon on the reverse) and two-dollar coin ("toonie").[27]
U2 Live on Rooftop in Cork: In 2009 hundreds of U2 fans were duped in an elaborate prank when they rushed to a shopping centre in Blackrock in Cork believing that the band were playing a surprise rooftop concert. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. The band were in fact just a tribute band called U2opia. [28]
Country to Metallica: Country and gospel WIXE in Monroe, North Carolina does a prank every year. In 2009, midday host Bob Rogers announced he was changing his show to heavy metal. This resulted in numerous phone calls, but about half were from listeners wanting to request a song.[29]
[edit] By television stations
In 1962 the Swedish national television did a 5-minute special[30] on how one could get color TV by placing a nylon stocking in front of the TV. A rather in-depth description on the physics behind the phenomena was included.
After over fifty years, the 1957 BBC report of the purported bumper annual spaghetti harvest (see Spaghetti trees above) remains one of the most successful TV hoaxes of all time.
In 1980, the BBC reported a proposed change to the famous clock tower known as Big Ben. The reporters stated that the clock would go digital. [31]
The Trouble with Tracy: In 2003, The Comedy Network in Canada announced that it would produce and air a remake of the 1970s Canadian sitcom The Trouble with Tracy. The original series is widely considered to be one of the worst sitcoms ever produced. Several media outlets fell for the hoax.[32]
In 2004, British breakfast show GMTV produced a story claiming that Yorkshire Water were trialing a new 'diet tap water' that had already helped one customer lose a stone and a half in four months. After heralding the trial as successful, it was claimed that a third tap would be added to kitchen sinks, allowing customers easy access to the water. Following the story, Yorkshire Water received 10,000 enquiries from viewers.[33]
In 2006, the BBC reported that the door to No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, had been painted red. They showed footage of workmen carrying a red door. Red was the official colour of the political party which formed the government at the time. The same story was also reported in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail which credited the new design to April Fewell. The door is in fact black.[34]
In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest. [35]
On Comedy Central, the creators of South Park aired a fake episode of Terrance and Phillip titled "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" instead of running the season premiere which was supposed to reveal the father of Eric Cartman.
[edit] By magazines, newspapers, and books
George Plimpton wrote a 1985 article in Sports Illustrated about a New York Mets prospect named Sidd Finch, who could throw a 168 mph (270 km/h) fastball with pinpoint accuracy. This kid, known as "Barefoot" Sidd[hartha] Finch, reportedly learned to pitch in a Buddhist monastery. The first letter of each word in the article subhead spelled out the fact of its being an April Fool joke.[36]
Lies to Get You Out of the House: In 1985, the L.A. Weekly printed an entire page of fake things to do on April Fools' Day, by which hundreds of people were fooled.[37]
Comic strip switcheroo: Cartoonists of popularly syndicated comic strips draw each others' strips. In some cases, the artist draws characters in the other strip's milieu, while in others, the artist draws in characters from other visiting characters from his own. Cartoonists have done this sort of "switcheroo" for several years. The 1997 switch was particularly widespread.[38]
Coldplay to back the Tories - On April 1 2006 the UK Guardian journalist "Olaf Priol" claimed that Chris Martin of rock band Coldplay had decided to publicly support the UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron due to his disillusionment with previous Labour Party prime minister Tony Blair,[39] even going so far as to produce a fake song, "Talk to David", that could be downloaded via the Guardian website.[40] Despite being an obvious hoax, the Labour Party's Media Monitoring Unit were concerned enough to circulate the story throughout "most of the government".[41]
President Barack Obama pulls fundings for NASCAR - On the heels of the auto industry bailout On April 1, 2009, Car and Driver claimed on their website that President Barack Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge to pull NASCAR funding. The article was removed from the website and replaced with an apology to readers, after upset NASCAR fans protested on the Car and Driver website.[42] Conservative pundit Ann Coulter notably fell for the joke. [43]
The Guardian to publish to Twitter: On April 1 2009 The Guardian announced that it would be the first newspaper to publish exclusively on Twitter.[44]
LamePro - Videogame magazine GamePro once featured a gag section entitled "LamePro" in its April issues, featuring joke videogaming articles and reviews. The practice was abandoned after a magazine redesign in 2007.
April Fools' Day
April 1 2001 in Denmark, regarding Copenhagen's new metro
Also called All Fools' Day
Date April 1
Observances Humor
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, the jokes only last until noon: like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] Elsewhere, such as in Ireland, Russia, France, and the U.S., the jokes last all day.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 Well-known pranks
2.1 By radio stations
2.2 By television stations
2.3 By magazines, newspapers, and books
2.4 By game shows
2.5 By websites
3 Real news on April Fools' Day
4 Other prank days in the world
5 April Fools' Day in media
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] Origins
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2009)
Wikipedia's Main Page on April 1, 2007. The featured article write-up purposely confuses U.S. President George Washington with an inventor of the same name.The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced.[2] In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool may have been someone who did this prematurely. Another possible origin lies in the fact that when King Charles IX of France officially changed the first day of the year from April 1 to January 1, some of his subjects continued using the old system. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the time of Noah. According to an English newspaper article published April 13, 1789, the day had its origin when Noah sent his dove off too early, before the waters had receded; he did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April.[3] A possible reference to April Fools' Day can be seen in the Canterbury Tales (ca 1400) in the Nun's Priest's tale, a tale of two fools (Chanticleer and the fox), which took place on March 32.[4]
[edit] Well-known pranks
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (January 2009)
Alabama Changes the Value of Pi: The April 1998 newsletter of New Mexicans for Science and Reason contained an article written by physicist Mark Boslough claiming that the Alabama Legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi. This claim originally appeared as a news story in the 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.[5]
Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing Italians harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest, the spaghetti weevil, had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees. It was, in fact, filmed in St Albans.[6]
Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.[7] Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old", right-handed burger.[8]
Taco Liberty Bell: In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.[9]
San Serriffe: The Guardian printed a supplement in 1977 praising this fictional resort, its two main islands (Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse), its capital (Bodoni), and its leader (General Pica). Intrigued readers were later disappointed to learn that San Serriffe (sans serif) did not exist except as references to typeface terminology. (This comes from a Jorge Luis Borges story.)[10]
DT Day: In 2008 fliers were handed on Brigham Young University campus, saying that the last in a series of dorm buildings being torn down was scheduled to be imploded on April 1. Hundreds of people eagerly turned up to see the implosion, but to their consternation it never happened. The culprits of this prank remain unknown. [11]
Metric time: Repeated several times in various countries, this hoax involves claiming that the time system will be changed to one in which units of time are based on powers of 10.[12]
Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odor over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial's success. [13] In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.[14]
Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news reported in the 1950s that the Tower of Pisa had fallen over. Many shocked people contacted the station.[15]
Write Only Memory: Signetics advertised Write Only Memory IC databooks in 1972 through the late 1970s.[16]
The Canadian news site bourque.org announced in 2002 that Finance Minister Paul Martin had resigned "in order to breed prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks."[17]
Annual BMW Innovations[18] see a new "cutting-edge invention" by BMW advertised across British newspapers every year, examples including:
Warning against counterfeit BMWs: the blue and white parts of the logo were reversed
The "Toot and Calm Horn" (after Tutankhamun), which calms rather than aggravates other drivers, so reducing the risk of road rage,
MINI cars being used in upcoming space missions to Mars,
Zoom Impression Pixels ("ZIP") to counter new "Slow Cameras" (2000),
SHEF ("Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration") Technology, which sees the car's GPS systems synchronise with home appliances to perfectly cook a meal for the instant you return home (2001),
Marque-Wiper - mini-wipers for each exterior "BMW" logo coming as standard on all future models (2002),
Tyre Pressure Control - adjust the pressure on the tyres without slowing down (2003),
IDS ("Insect Deflector Screen") Technology - using elastic solutions to bounce insects off the windscreen as you drive (2004),
Midnight in the City - An offer for a 15ft x 5ft ceramic "statuette" (sic) by "legendary Prussian ceramist, Loof Lirpa" (2005),
"Uninventing the wheel" to counter the "EU ban" on right-hand drive cars (2006),
"BMW Instant Messaging" - using Reactive User Sound Electronic (RUSE) particles to display the driver's words to the car in front on the windscreen (2007),
Canine Repellent Alloy Protection (CRAP)- a means of discouraging dogs from urinating on car wheels. (2008)
BMW Magnetic Tow Technology (MTT) - 'This ingenious new system locks onto the car in front via an enhanced magnetic beam. Once your BMW is attached, you are free to release your foot from the accelerator and turn off your engine. The vehicle in front will then 'do the pulling' without noticing any change in manoeuverability. When turning off MTT, we suggest a curteous flick of the headlights to let the obliging driver in front know you are leaving them. It is important to note that MTT does not work without another vehicle. Please email Uve.Vollenvorit@bmw.co.uk (you've fallen for it)' (2009) [19]
A compact disc available to all BMW owners, which when played over the audio system performed minor service and diagnostic checks; when flipped over it played soothing classical music (Australia).
[edit] By radio stations
BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today Programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed their theme tune to an upbeat disco style.[20]
Death of a mayor: In 1998, local WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony reported that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending credence to the prank as he could not be reached. The rumor spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly thereafter.[21]
Phone call: In 1998, UK presenter Nic Tuff of West Midlands radio station Kix 96 pretended to be the British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then South African President Nelson Mandela for a chat. It was only at the end of the call when Nic asked Nelson what he was doing for April Fools' Day that the line went dead.[22]
Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect: In 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 a.m. that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience "a strange floating sensation." Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.[23]
"National Public Radio" Every year National Public Radio in the United States does an extensive news story on April 1. These usually start off more or less reasonably, and get more and more unusual. A recent example is the story on the "iBod" a portable body control device.[24] In 2008 it reported that the IRS, to assure rebate checks were actually spent, was shipping consumer products instead of checks.[25] It also runs false sponsor mentions, such as "Support for NPR comes from the Soylent Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is People.”[26]
Three-dollar coin: In 2008, CBC Radio program As It Happens interviewed a Royal Canadian Mint spokesman who broke "news" of plans to replace the Canadian five-dollar bill with a three-dollar coin. The coin was dubbed a "threenie", in line with the nicknames of the country's one-dollar coin (commonly called a "loonie" due to its depiction of a common loon on the reverse) and two-dollar coin ("toonie").[27]
U2 Live on Rooftop in Cork: In 2009 hundreds of U2 fans were duped in an elaborate prank when they rushed to a shopping centre in Blackrock in Cork believing that the band were playing a surprise rooftop concert. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. The band were in fact just a tribute band called U2opia. [28]
Country to Metallica: Country and gospel WIXE in Monroe, North Carolina does a prank every year. In 2009, midday host Bob Rogers announced he was changing his show to heavy metal. This resulted in numerous phone calls, but about half were from listeners wanting to request a song.[29]
[edit] By television stations
In 1962 the Swedish national television did a 5-minute special[30] on how one could get color TV by placing a nylon stocking in front of the TV. A rather in-depth description on the physics behind the phenomena was included.
After over fifty years, the 1957 BBC report of the purported bumper annual spaghetti harvest (see Spaghetti trees above) remains one of the most successful TV hoaxes of all time.
In 1980, the BBC reported a proposed change to the famous clock tower known as Big Ben. The reporters stated that the clock would go digital. [31]
The Trouble with Tracy: In 2003, The Comedy Network in Canada announced that it would produce and air a remake of the 1970s Canadian sitcom The Trouble with Tracy. The original series is widely considered to be one of the worst sitcoms ever produced. Several media outlets fell for the hoax.[32]
In 2004, British breakfast show GMTV produced a story claiming that Yorkshire Water were trialing a new 'diet tap water' that had already helped one customer lose a stone and a half in four months. After heralding the trial as successful, it was claimed that a third tap would be added to kitchen sinks, allowing customers easy access to the water. Following the story, Yorkshire Water received 10,000 enquiries from viewers.[33]
In 2006, the BBC reported that the door to No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, had been painted red. They showed footage of workmen carrying a red door. Red was the official colour of the political party which formed the government at the time. The same story was also reported in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail which credited the new design to April Fewell. The door is in fact black.[34]
In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest. [35]
On Comedy Central, the creators of South Park aired a fake episode of Terrance and Phillip titled "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" instead of running the season premiere which was supposed to reveal the father of Eric Cartman.
[edit] By magazines, newspapers, and books
George Plimpton wrote a 1985 article in Sports Illustrated about a New York Mets prospect named Sidd Finch, who could throw a 168 mph (270 km/h) fastball with pinpoint accuracy. This kid, known as "Barefoot" Sidd[hartha] Finch, reportedly learned to pitch in a Buddhist monastery. The first letter of each word in the article subhead spelled out the fact of its being an April Fool joke.[36]
Lies to Get You Out of the House: In 1985, the L.A. Weekly printed an entire page of fake things to do on April Fools' Day, by which hundreds of people were fooled.[37]
Comic strip switcheroo: Cartoonists of popularly syndicated comic strips draw each others' strips. In some cases, the artist draws characters in the other strip's milieu, while in others, the artist draws in characters from other visiting characters from his own. Cartoonists have done this sort of "switcheroo" for several years. The 1997 switch was particularly widespread.[38]
Coldplay to back the Tories - On April 1 2006 the UK Guardian journalist "Olaf Priol" claimed that Chris Martin of rock band Coldplay had decided to publicly support the UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron due to his disillusionment with previous Labour Party prime minister Tony Blair,[39] even going so far as to produce a fake song, "Talk to David", that could be downloaded via the Guardian website.[40] Despite being an obvious hoax, the Labour Party's Media Monitoring Unit were concerned enough to circulate the story throughout "most of the government".[41]
President Barack Obama pulls fundings for NASCAR - On the heels of the auto industry bailout On April 1, 2009, Car and Driver claimed on their website that President Barack Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge to pull NASCAR funding. The article was removed from the website and replaced with an apology to readers, after upset NASCAR fans protested on the Car and Driver website.[42] Conservative pundit Ann Coulter notably fell for the joke. [43]
The Guardian to publish to Twitter: On April 1 2009 The Guardian announced that it would be the first newspaper to publish exclusively on Twitter.[44]
LamePro - Videogame magazine GamePro once featured a gag section entitled "LamePro" in its April issues, featuring joke videogaming articles and reviews. The practice was abandoned after a magazine redesign in 2007.
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities.
The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on June 19, 1910 through Sonora Dodd's efforts of Spokane.
Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church at Spokane,[1] and she arranged a tribute for her father on June 19, 1910. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance to honor all fathers.
It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar.[2] Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter.[2] The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokesman-Review.[2] Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like "Grandparents' Day", "Professional Secretaries' Day", etc., all the way down to "National Clean Your Desk Day."[2]
A bill was introduced in 1913,[3] US President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea in 1924,[citation needed] and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday.[4] It was made a federal holiday when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation in 1966.
In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries, most often on November 19.
[edit] Commercialization
The Associated Men's Wear Retailers formed a National Father's Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s, which was renamed in 1938 to National Council for the Promotion of Father's Day and incorporated several other trade groups.[4] This council had the goals of legitimizing the holiday in the mind of the people and managing the holiday as a commercial event in a more systematic way, in order to boost the sales during the holiday.[4] This council always had the support of Dodd, who had no problem with the commercialization of the holiday and endorsed several promotions to increase the amount of gifts.[5] In this aspect she can be considered the opposite of Anna Jarvis, who actively opposed all commercialization of Mother's Day.[5]
The merchants recognized the tendency to parody and satirize the holiday, and used it to their benefit by mocking the holiday on the same advertisements where they promoted the gifts for fathers.[6] People felt compelled to buy gifts even though they saw through the commercial façade, and the custom of giving gifts on that day became progressively more accepted.[6] By 1937 the Father's Day Council calculated that only one father in six had received a present on that day.[6] However, by the 1980s, the Council proclaimed that they had achieved their goal: the one-day event had become a three-week commercial event, a "second Christmas".[6] Its executive director explained back in 1949 that, without the coordinated efforts of the Council and of the groups supporting it, the holiday would have disappeared.[6]
[edit] Spelling
Although the name of the event is usually understood as a plural possessive (i.e. "day belonging to fathers"), which would under normal English punctuation guidelines be spelled "Fathers' Day", the most common spelling is "Father's Day", as if it were a singular possessive (i.e. "day belonging to Father"). Dodd used the "Fathers' Day" spelling on her original petition for the holiday,[1] but the spelling "Father's Day" was already used in 1913 when a bill was introduced to the US Congress as the first attempt to establish the holiday,[3] and it was still spelled the same way when its creator was commended in 2008 by the U.S. Congress.[7]
[edit] Dates around the world
The officially recognized date of Father's Day varies from country to country. This section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance.
Gregorian calendar
Definition Sample dates Country
January 6
Serbia ("Paterice")*
February 23
Russia (Defender of the Fatherland Day)*
March 19
Andorra (Dia del Pare)
Bolivia
Honduras[8]
Italy (Festa del Papà)
Liechtenstein
Macao (Dia do Pai)
Portugal (Dia do Pai)
Spain (Día del Padre, Dia del Pare, Día do Pai)
May 8 South Korea (Parents' Day)
Third Sunday of May
May 17, 2009
May 16, 2010
Tonga
Ascension Day
May 21, 2009
May 13, 2010
Germany
First Sunday of June
June 7, 2009
June 6, 2010
Lithuania
June 5 (Constitution Day)
Denmark
Second Sunday of June
June 14, 2009
June 13, 2010
Austria
Belgium
Third Sunday of June
June 21, 2009
June 20, 2010
June 19, 2011
June 17, 2012
Antigua
Argentina[9]
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
People's Republic of China**
Colombia
Costa Rica[10]
Cuba[11]
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Ecuador
Ethiopia
France
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Ireland
Jamaica
Japan
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico[12]
Myanmar
Netherlands
Pakistan
Panama[13]
Paraguay
Peru[14]
Philippines[15]
Puerto Rico
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
June 17
El Salvador[16] Guatemala[17]
June 21
Egypt Lebanon Jordan Syria Uganda
June 23
Nicaragua Poland
Last Sunday of June
June 28, 2009
June 27, 2010
Haiti[18]
Second Sunday of July
July 12, 2009
July 11, 2010
Uruguay
Last Sunday of July
July 26, 2009
July 25, 2010
Dominican Republic
Second Sunday of August
August 9, 2009
August 8, 2010
Brazil
Samoa
August 8
Taiwan
First Sunday of September
September 6, 2009
September 5, 2010
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Kushe Aunshi – Bwaako Mukh Herne Din बुवाको मुख हेर्ने दिन (कुशे औंशी)
August 20, 2009
Nepal
First Sunday of October
October 4, 2009
October 3, 2010
Luxembourg
Second Sunday of November
November 8, 2009
November 14, 2010
Estonia
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
December 5
Thailand
December 26
Bulgaria
Islam calendar
Definition Sample dates Country
13 Rajab
June 18, 2008
Iran[19][20] Pakistan
*Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrate people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and women). But the congratulations are traditionally, nationally accepted by all fathers, other adult men and male children as well.[citation needed]
**In China (under the title of Republic of China, still under Nationalist rule at the time), Father's Day on August 8 was first held in Shanghai in 1945.
[edit] International history and traditions
In a few Catholic countries, it is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph.[citation needed]
[edit] Argentina
Father's Day in Argentina is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there have been several attempts to change the date to August 24, to commemorate the day on which the "Father of the Nation" José de San Martín became a father.[9]
In 1953 the proposal to celebrate Father's Day in all educational establishments on August 24, in honor of José de San Martín, was raised to the General Direction of Schools of Mendoza Province. The day was celebrated for the first time in 1958, on the third Sunday of June, but it was not included in the school calendars due to pressure from several groups.[21]
Schools in the Mendoza Province continued to celebrate Father's Day on August 24, and, in 1982, the Provincial Governor passed a law declaring Father's Day in the province to be celebrated on that day.[21]
In 2004, several proposals to change the date to August 24 were presented to the Argentine Camara de Diputados as a single, unified project.[21] After being approved, the project was passed to the Senate of Argentina for final review and approval. The Senate changed the proposed new date to the third Sunday of August, and scheduled the project for approval. However, the project was never addressed during the Senate's planned session, which caused its ultimate failure.[22]
[edit] Australia
In Australia, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday.
[edit] Costa Rica
In Costa Rica the Unidad Social Cristiana party presented a bill to change the celebration of the day from the third Sunday of June to 19 March, the day of Saint Joseph.[23] That was in order to give tribute to this saint, who gave the name to the capital of the country San José, Costa Rica, and so family heads will be able to celebrate the Father's Day at the same time as the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.[10] The official date is still third Sunday of June.
[edit] Germany
Hiking/drinking tour on HerrentagIn Germany Father's Day is celebrated differently from other parts of the world.[24][25] There are two terms and/or events of an older origin that while similar in name, have entirely different meanings. Vatertag is always celebrated on Ascension Day (the Thursday forty days after Easter), which is a federal holiday. Regionally, it is also called men's day, Männertag, or gentlemen's day, Herrentag. It is tradition to do a males-only hiking tour with one or more smaller wagons, Bollerwagen, pulled by manpower. In the wagons are wine or beer (according to region) and traditional regional food, Hausmannskost, which could be Saumagen, Leberwurst (Liverwurst), Blutwurst (Blood Sausage), vegetables, eggs, etc. Many men will use this holiday to get very drunk, to the point of having gangs of drunk people roaming the streets, causing much embarrassment to more conservative German people who don't participate.[25][26] Police and emergency services are in high alert during the day, and some left-wing and feminist groups have asked for the banning of the holiday.[26]
Some parts of Germany (such as Bavaria and the northern part of Germany) call this particular day "Vatertag", which is the literal equivalent to Father's Day.
[edit] New Zealand
In New Zealand, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday.
[edit] The Philippines
In the Philippines, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on the 3rd Sunday of June. Most Filipinos born in the 1960s and 1970s did not celebrate Father's day but due to being under the influence of the United States as seen on television, the Filipinos most likely imitate this tradition and other American holidays. The advent of the internet also helps in promoting this holiday to the Filipinos.
[edit] Roman Catholic tradition
In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration.[27]
[edit] Singapore
In Singapore, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June but is not a public holiday.
[edit] Taiwan
In Taiwan, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month of the year. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of the number 8 is bā. This pronunciation is very similar to the character "爸" "bà", which means "Papa" or "father". The Taiwanese, therefore, usually call August 8 by its nickname, "Bābā Day" (爸爸節).
[edit] Thailand
In Thailand, Father's Day is set as the birthday of the king. December 5 is the birthday of the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Thais celebrate by giving their father or grandfather a Canna flower (Dok put ta ruk sa) which is considered to be a masculine flower. Thai people will wear yellow on this day to show respect for the king. This is because yellow is the Color of the day for Monday, the day on which king Bhumibol Adulyadej was born.
It started being celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by Prime Minister of Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda to promote Thailand's Royal family. Mother's Day is celebrated in the birthday of Queen Sirikit.[28]
[edit] United States of America
In the US, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. Its first celebration was in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.[29] Other festivities honoring fathers had been held in Fairmont and in Creston, but the modern holiday didn't emerge from those.
Modern Father's Day was invented by Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington, who was also the driving force behind its establishment. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington.[1] She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA, at the Spokane YMCA.
Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.
In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by promoting greeting cards and male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.
[edit] Antecedent
The first modern celebration of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton chose the Sunday nearest to the birthday of her father, Methodist minister Fletcher Golden. The city was overwhelmed by other events and the celebration was never promoted outside of the town itself and no proclamation was made in the City Council. Two events overshadowed this event: the celebration of the Independence Day in 4 July, with 12,000 attendants and several shows including a hot air balloon event, which took over the headlines in the following days, and the death of a 16 year old girl on 4 July, that became known on 5 July. The local church and Council were overwhelmed and they didn't even think of promoting the event, and it wasn't celebrated again for many years. The original sermon was not reproduced in press and it was lost. Additionally, Clayton was a quiet person, who never promoted the event or even talked to other persons about it.[30][31][32]
Clayton was mourning the loss of her father, and on December of that year the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand of fatherless children. Clayton suggested her pastor Robert Thomas Webb to honor all those fathers.[30][31][32]
Clayton also might have been inspired by Anna Jarvis' crusade to establish Mother's Day, since two months ago she had held a celebration for her dead mother in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles (24 km) away from Fairmont.[30]
The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on June 19, 1910 through Sonora Dodd's efforts of Spokane.
Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church at Spokane,[1] and she arranged a tribute for her father on June 19, 1910. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance to honor all fathers.
It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar.[2] Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter.[2] The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokesman-Review.[2] Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like "Grandparents' Day", "Professional Secretaries' Day", etc., all the way down to "National Clean Your Desk Day."[2]
A bill was introduced in 1913,[3] US President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea in 1924,[citation needed] and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday.[4] It was made a federal holiday when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation in 1966.
In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries, most often on November 19.
[edit] Commercialization
The Associated Men's Wear Retailers formed a National Father's Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s, which was renamed in 1938 to National Council for the Promotion of Father's Day and incorporated several other trade groups.[4] This council had the goals of legitimizing the holiday in the mind of the people and managing the holiday as a commercial event in a more systematic way, in order to boost the sales during the holiday.[4] This council always had the support of Dodd, who had no problem with the commercialization of the holiday and endorsed several promotions to increase the amount of gifts.[5] In this aspect she can be considered the opposite of Anna Jarvis, who actively opposed all commercialization of Mother's Day.[5]
The merchants recognized the tendency to parody and satirize the holiday, and used it to their benefit by mocking the holiday on the same advertisements where they promoted the gifts for fathers.[6] People felt compelled to buy gifts even though they saw through the commercial façade, and the custom of giving gifts on that day became progressively more accepted.[6] By 1937 the Father's Day Council calculated that only one father in six had received a present on that day.[6] However, by the 1980s, the Council proclaimed that they had achieved their goal: the one-day event had become a three-week commercial event, a "second Christmas".[6] Its executive director explained back in 1949 that, without the coordinated efforts of the Council and of the groups supporting it, the holiday would have disappeared.[6]
[edit] Spelling
Although the name of the event is usually understood as a plural possessive (i.e. "day belonging to fathers"), which would under normal English punctuation guidelines be spelled "Fathers' Day", the most common spelling is "Father's Day", as if it were a singular possessive (i.e. "day belonging to Father"). Dodd used the "Fathers' Day" spelling on her original petition for the holiday,[1] but the spelling "Father's Day" was already used in 1913 when a bill was introduced to the US Congress as the first attempt to establish the holiday,[3] and it was still spelled the same way when its creator was commended in 2008 by the U.S. Congress.[7]
[edit] Dates around the world
The officially recognized date of Father's Day varies from country to country. This section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance.
Gregorian calendar
Definition Sample dates Country
January 6
Serbia ("Paterice")*
February 23
Russia (Defender of the Fatherland Day)*
March 19
Andorra (Dia del Pare)
Bolivia
Honduras[8]
Italy (Festa del Papà)
Liechtenstein
Macao (Dia do Pai)
Portugal (Dia do Pai)
Spain (Día del Padre, Dia del Pare, Día do Pai)
May 8 South Korea (Parents' Day)
Third Sunday of May
May 17, 2009
May 16, 2010
Tonga
Ascension Day
May 21, 2009
May 13, 2010
Germany
First Sunday of June
June 7, 2009
June 6, 2010
Lithuania
June 5 (Constitution Day)
Denmark
Second Sunday of June
June 14, 2009
June 13, 2010
Austria
Belgium
Third Sunday of June
June 21, 2009
June 20, 2010
June 19, 2011
June 17, 2012
Antigua
Argentina[9]
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
People's Republic of China**
Colombia
Costa Rica[10]
Cuba[11]
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Ecuador
Ethiopia
France
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Ireland
Jamaica
Japan
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico[12]
Myanmar
Netherlands
Pakistan
Panama[13]
Paraguay
Peru[14]
Philippines[15]
Puerto Rico
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
June 17
El Salvador[16] Guatemala[17]
June 21
Egypt Lebanon Jordan Syria Uganda
June 23
Nicaragua Poland
Last Sunday of June
June 28, 2009
June 27, 2010
Haiti[18]
Second Sunday of July
July 12, 2009
July 11, 2010
Uruguay
Last Sunday of July
July 26, 2009
July 25, 2010
Dominican Republic
Second Sunday of August
August 9, 2009
August 8, 2010
Brazil
Samoa
August 8
Taiwan
First Sunday of September
September 6, 2009
September 5, 2010
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Kushe Aunshi – Bwaako Mukh Herne Din बुवाको मुख हेर्ने दिन (कुशे औंशी)
August 20, 2009
Nepal
First Sunday of October
October 4, 2009
October 3, 2010
Luxembourg
Second Sunday of November
November 8, 2009
November 14, 2010
Estonia
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
December 5
Thailand
December 26
Bulgaria
Islam calendar
Definition Sample dates Country
13 Rajab
June 18, 2008
Iran[19][20] Pakistan
*Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrate people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and women). But the congratulations are traditionally, nationally accepted by all fathers, other adult men and male children as well.[citation needed]
**In China (under the title of Republic of China, still under Nationalist rule at the time), Father's Day on August 8 was first held in Shanghai in 1945.
[edit] International history and traditions
In a few Catholic countries, it is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph.[citation needed]
[edit] Argentina
Father's Day in Argentina is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there have been several attempts to change the date to August 24, to commemorate the day on which the "Father of the Nation" José de San Martín became a father.[9]
In 1953 the proposal to celebrate Father's Day in all educational establishments on August 24, in honor of José de San Martín, was raised to the General Direction of Schools of Mendoza Province. The day was celebrated for the first time in 1958, on the third Sunday of June, but it was not included in the school calendars due to pressure from several groups.[21]
Schools in the Mendoza Province continued to celebrate Father's Day on August 24, and, in 1982, the Provincial Governor passed a law declaring Father's Day in the province to be celebrated on that day.[21]
In 2004, several proposals to change the date to August 24 were presented to the Argentine Camara de Diputados as a single, unified project.[21] After being approved, the project was passed to the Senate of Argentina for final review and approval. The Senate changed the proposed new date to the third Sunday of August, and scheduled the project for approval. However, the project was never addressed during the Senate's planned session, which caused its ultimate failure.[22]
[edit] Australia
In Australia, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday.
[edit] Costa Rica
In Costa Rica the Unidad Social Cristiana party presented a bill to change the celebration of the day from the third Sunday of June to 19 March, the day of Saint Joseph.[23] That was in order to give tribute to this saint, who gave the name to the capital of the country San José, Costa Rica, and so family heads will be able to celebrate the Father's Day at the same time as the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.[10] The official date is still third Sunday of June.
[edit] Germany
Hiking/drinking tour on HerrentagIn Germany Father's Day is celebrated differently from other parts of the world.[24][25] There are two terms and/or events of an older origin that while similar in name, have entirely different meanings. Vatertag is always celebrated on Ascension Day (the Thursday forty days after Easter), which is a federal holiday. Regionally, it is also called men's day, Männertag, or gentlemen's day, Herrentag. It is tradition to do a males-only hiking tour with one or more smaller wagons, Bollerwagen, pulled by manpower. In the wagons are wine or beer (according to region) and traditional regional food, Hausmannskost, which could be Saumagen, Leberwurst (Liverwurst), Blutwurst (Blood Sausage), vegetables, eggs, etc. Many men will use this holiday to get very drunk, to the point of having gangs of drunk people roaming the streets, causing much embarrassment to more conservative German people who don't participate.[25][26] Police and emergency services are in high alert during the day, and some left-wing and feminist groups have asked for the banning of the holiday.[26]
Some parts of Germany (such as Bavaria and the northern part of Germany) call this particular day "Vatertag", which is the literal equivalent to Father's Day.
[edit] New Zealand
In New Zealand, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday.
[edit] The Philippines
In the Philippines, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on the 3rd Sunday of June. Most Filipinos born in the 1960s and 1970s did not celebrate Father's day but due to being under the influence of the United States as seen on television, the Filipinos most likely imitate this tradition and other American holidays. The advent of the internet also helps in promoting this holiday to the Filipinos.
[edit] Roman Catholic tradition
In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration.[27]
[edit] Singapore
In Singapore, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June but is not a public holiday.
[edit] Taiwan
In Taiwan, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month of the year. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of the number 8 is bā. This pronunciation is very similar to the character "爸" "bà", which means "Papa" or "father". The Taiwanese, therefore, usually call August 8 by its nickname, "Bābā Day" (爸爸節).
[edit] Thailand
In Thailand, Father's Day is set as the birthday of the king. December 5 is the birthday of the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Thais celebrate by giving their father or grandfather a Canna flower (Dok put ta ruk sa) which is considered to be a masculine flower. Thai people will wear yellow on this day to show respect for the king. This is because yellow is the Color of the day for Monday, the day on which king Bhumibol Adulyadej was born.
It started being celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by Prime Minister of Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda to promote Thailand's Royal family. Mother's Day is celebrated in the birthday of Queen Sirikit.[28]
[edit] United States of America
In the US, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. Its first celebration was in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.[29] Other festivities honoring fathers had been held in Fairmont and in Creston, but the modern holiday didn't emerge from those.
Modern Father's Day was invented by Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington, who was also the driving force behind its establishment. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington.[1] She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA, at the Spokane YMCA.
Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.
In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by promoting greeting cards and male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.
[edit] Antecedent
The first modern celebration of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton chose the Sunday nearest to the birthday of her father, Methodist minister Fletcher Golden. The city was overwhelmed by other events and the celebration was never promoted outside of the town itself and no proclamation was made in the City Council. Two events overshadowed this event: the celebration of the Independence Day in 4 July, with 12,000 attendants and several shows including a hot air balloon event, which took over the headlines in the following days, and the death of a 16 year old girl on 4 July, that became known on 5 July. The local church and Council were overwhelmed and they didn't even think of promoting the event, and it wasn't celebrated again for many years. The original sermon was not reproduced in press and it was lost. Additionally, Clayton was a quiet person, who never promoted the event or even talked to other persons about it.[30][31][32]
Clayton was mourning the loss of her father, and on December of that year the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand of fatherless children. Clayton suggested her pastor Robert Thomas Webb to honor all those fathers.[30][31][32]
Clayton also might have been inspired by Anna Jarvis' crusade to establish Mother's Day, since two months ago she had held a celebration for her dead mother in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles (24 km) away from Fairmont.[30]
Mother's Day
The modern Mother's Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, as a day to honor mothers and motherhood; especially within the context of families, and family relationships.[1] It is now celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, some of which have a much older tradition than the modern holiday (e.g. dating to the 16th century in the UK). Father's Day is a corresponding holiday honoring fathers.
The holiday eventually became so commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Anna eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create.[1][2]
Contents [hide]
1 Historical antecedents
2 Spelling
3 Dates around the world
4 International history and traditions
4.1 Religion
4.2 Countries
4.2.1 African countries
4.2.2 Bangladesh
4.2.3 Bolivia
4.2.4 Canada
4.2.5 China
4.2.6 Greece
4.2.7 India
4.2.8 Iran
4.2.9 Japan
4.2.10 Mexico
4.2.11 Nepal
4.2.12 Thailand
4.2.13 Romania
4.2.14 United Kingdom and Ireland
4.2.15 United States
4.2.16 Vietnam
5 Commercialization
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
[edit] Historical antecedents
Lamberts thought[who?] this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
In Europe and the UK there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar is marked as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church". Traditionally the day was marked by the giving of token gifts and the relinquishing of certain traditionally female tasks such as cooking and cleaning to other members of the family as a gesture of appreciation.[citation needed]
In addition to Mother's Day, International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries on March 8.
The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
[edit] Spelling
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.[1][3]
"She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world."[1]
This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in the U.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills,[4][5] and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.[6]
Common usage in English language also dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day" is the preferred spelling, although "Mothers' Day" (plural possessive) is not unheard of.
[edit] Dates around the world
As the US holiday was adopted by other countries and cultures, the date was changed to fit already existing celebrations honouring motherhood, like Mothering Sunday in the UK or the Orthodox celebration of Jesus in the temple in Greece. In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majoritary religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of prophet Muhammad in Islamic countries. Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle where women participated. See the "International history and traditions" section for the complete list.
Note: Countries that celebrate the International Women's Day instead of Mother's Day are marked with a dagger '†'.
Gregorian calendar
Occurrence Dates Country
February 2
Greece
Second Sunday of February
February 8, 2009
February 14, 2010
Norway
Shevat 30
(Falls anywhere between January 30 and March 1)
Israel
March 3
Georgia
March 8
Afghanistan
Albania†
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus†
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria†
Kazakhstan†
Laos
Macedonia†
Moldova
Montenegro
Romania
Russia†*
Serbia
Ukraine†
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2009
March 14, 2010
Ireland
Nigeria
United Kingdom
March 21
(vernal Equinox)
Bahrain
Egypt
Jordan
Kuwait
Libya
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Somalia
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen (All Arab countries in general)
March 25
Slovenia
April 7
Armenia
April 24 +/- 5 days Baisakh Amavasya (Mata Tirtha Aunsi)
Nepal
First Sunday in May
May 3, 2009
May 2, 2010
Hungary†
Lithuania
Mozambique
Portugal
Macao
Spain
May 8
Albania (Parents' Day)
South Korea (Parents' Day)
May 10
El Salvador
Guatemala
Mexico
Second Sunday of May
May 10, 2009
May 9, 2010
Anguilla
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bermuda
Bonaire
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
People's Republic of China†[7]
Taiwan
Colombia
Croatia
Cuba[8]
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominica
Ecuador
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Honduras
Hong Kong
Iceland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Latvia*
Liechtenstein*
Malaysia
Malta
Myanmar
Netherlands
New Zealand
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Peru[9]
Philippines
Puerto Rico
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Singapore
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Switzerland
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe
May 15
Paraguay
May 26
Poland "Dzień Matki"
May 27
Bolivia
Last Sunday of May
May 31, 2009
May 30, 2010
Algeria
Dominican Republic
France (First Sunday of June if Pentecost occurs on this day)
French Antilles (First Sunday of June if Pentecost occurs on this day)
Haiti[10] Mauritius
Morocco
Sweden
Tunisia
May 30
Nicaragua
June 1
Mongolia† (The Mothers and Children's Day.)
Second Sunday of June
June 14, 2009
June 13, 2010
Luxembourg
Last Sunday of June
June 28, 2009
June 27, 2010
Kenya
August 12
Thailand (the birthday of Queen Sirikit)
August 15 (Assumption Day)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Costa Rica
August 19 (Pâthâre Prabhu in Southern India)
India[11]
Second Monday of October
October 12, 2009
October 11, 2010
Malawi
October 14
Belarus
Third Sunday of October
October 18, 2009
October 17, 2010
Argentina (Día de la Madre)
Last Sunday of November
November 29, 2009
November 28, 2010
Russia
December 8
Panama
December 22
Indonesia
Islamic calendar
Occurrence Dates Country
20 Jumada al-thani[n 1]
14 June 2009 Iraq [12]
Iran [13]
[edit] International history and traditions
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in North America and Europe. When it was adopted by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings, associated to different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated in a different date or dates.
Some countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, like giving carnations and other presents to your own mother.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali in the UK and the United States).
[edit] Religion
In the Catholic Church, the holiday is strongly associated with reverencing the Virgin Mary.[14]
In Hindu tradition it is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", and it is celebrated in countries with Hindu population, especially in Nepal.
[edit] Countries
[edit] African countries
Many African countries adopted the idea of one Mother's Day from the British tradition, although there are many festivals and events celebrating mothers within the many diverse cultures on the African continent that long pre-date the colonization of Africa by European powers.
[edit] Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May. In observance of the day discussion programs are organized by government and non-governmental organizations. Few mothers are given Ratnagarva Ma Award which aims to recognize mothers and the important role that they play in society of Bangladesh. The mothers were awarded for the commendable role that they played in rearing their children who became worthy citizens of the country in later life is sponsored by Grand Azad Hotel. Besides, reception programs, cultural programs are organized to mark the day in the Capital city. Television channels aired special programs and newspapers published special features and column to mark the day. Greeting cards, flowers and gifts featuring mother’s specialty to the children were on high demand at the shops and markets.
[edit] Bolivia
In Bolivia, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 27. This was passed into law on November 8, 1927 to commemorate the battle of Coronilla which took place in what is now the city of Cochabamba on May 27 1812. In this battle, women fighting for the country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army.
[edit] Canada
This section requires expansion.
See Public holidays in Canada#Other observances
The Mother's Day holiday, like St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Father's Day and Halloween, is traditionally observed in Canada.[citation needed] In almost all features, it is identical to the US version of Mother's Day.
[edit] China
In China, Mother's Day is becoming more popular, and carnations are a very popular gift and the most sold type of flower.[15] In 1997 it was set as the day to help poor mothers, specially to remind people of the poor mothers on rural areas such as China's west.[15] In the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's journal, an article explained that "despite originating in the United States, people in China take the holiday with no hesitance because it goes in line with the country's traditional ethics -- respect to the elderly and filial piety to parents."[15]
In recent years Communist Party of China's member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption of Mother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ, and formed a Non-governmental organization called Chinese Mothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucian scholars and lecturers of ethics.[16][17] They also ask to replace the Western gift of carnations with lilies, which, on ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home.[17] It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
[edit] Greece
Mother's Day in Greece corresponds to the Eastern Orthodox feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Since the Theotokos (The Mother of God) appears prominently in this feast as the one who brought Christ to the Temple at Jerusalem, this feast is associated with mothers.[citation needed]
[edit] India
Mother's Day is celebrated nationally in 19th of August.[11]
The festival of Pâthâre Prabhu is celebrated in the same day only in Bombay and the Southern part of India (concretely Konkan and the districts below the Western Ghats). It is based on a legend about a mother whose children kept dying after only one year of living and it has a very remote origin. Although it's also called "Mother's Day", it is unrelated to the modern celebration, which is copied from the US and is celebrated in the whole country. The Pathare prabhu caste always celebrates this holiday.[11]
[edit] Iran
Celebrated on 20 Jumada al-thani, the birthday anniversary of Fatima, Muhammad's daughter.[13] It was changed after the Iranian revolution, the reason having been theorized as trying to undercut feminist movements and promoting role models for the traditional model of family.[18][19] It was previously 25 Azar on Iranian calendar during the Shah era[citation needed]
[edit] Japan
Mother's Day in Japan was initially commemorated during the Shōwa period as the birthday of Empress Kōjun (mother of Emperor Akihito). Nowadays it is a marketed holiday, and people typically give flowers such as carnations and roses as gifts.
[edit] Mexico
See also: Public holidays in Mexico#Festivities
The government of Álvaro Obregón imported the holiday from the US in 1922, with the newspaper Excelsior making a massive promotion campaign that year.[20] The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role of mothers in families, which was criticized by the socialists as promoting an irrealistic image of a woman that wasn't worth for much more than breeding.[20]
In the mid-1930s the government of Lázaro Cárdenas promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival". The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday a vehicle for various efforts: remarking the important that families had into national development, benefiting from the loyalty that mexicans had towards their mothers, introducing new morals into the mexican women and reducing the influence that the church and the Catholic right had in them.[21] The government sponsored the holiday in the schools.[21] However, the theatre plays ignored the strict guidelines from the government and they were filled with religious icons and themes, and the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.[21].
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President Manuel Ávila Camacho, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, making it into an important state-sponsored celebration.[22] The 1942 celebration lasted a whole week, including an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines out from Monte de Piedad at no cost.[22]
The catholic National Synarchist Union (UNS) started paying attention to the holiday around 1941, due to Orozco's promotion.[23] The members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (nowadays PRI) that owned shops had a custom where women from humble classes could go to their shop in mother's day, pick a gift for free, and bring it home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoting both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn reinforcing the sistemic social problematics of the country.[24] While nowadays we see those holiday practices as very conservative, the 1940s' UNS was viewing the holiday as a part of the larger debate on modernization that was happening at the time.[25] This economic modernization was inspired in US models and was sponsored by the state, and the fact that the holiday was originally imported from the US was only seen as one more evidence that it was an attempt at imposing capitalization and materialism in Mexican society.[25]
Also, the UNS and the clergy of the city of León saw in the government actions an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role of women in society, with the long term goal of weakening men spiritually when women abandoned her traditional roles at home.[25] They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to dechristianize several holidays, and they tried to counter this by organizing massives masses and asking religious women to assist to the state-sponsored events and try to "depaganize" them.[26] In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of the holiday, the clergy organized in León the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a big parade.[26]
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiaves during the 1940s, including efforts to influence Mother's Day.[23] Nowadays the holiday in Mexico is a celebration of both mothers and the Virgin Mary.
Nowadays the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on May 10th.[27]
[edit] Nepal
"Mata Tirtha Aunshi", translated as "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", falls in the month of Baishak dark fortnight (April). This festival falls in the time of dark moon’s time which is why this called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" derived from words: “Mata” meaning mother; “Tirtha” meaning pilgrimage. This festival is observed in the commemoration and respect of the mother which is celebrated by worshipping and gifting living mother or remembering mothers who have become immortal and are resting in peace. Going to Mata Tirtha Pilgrimage located towards the Kathmandu valley’s eastern side at Mata Tirtha Village development committee’s periphery is another tradition common in Nepal.
There is a legend regarding this pilgrimage. In ancient times Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki walked out her house to sight-see. She visited many places and delayed a lot to return back at her house. Lord Krishna became very unhappy because of his mother’s disappearance. So he went out in search of his mother to many places without success. Finally, when he reached “Mata Tirtha Kunda”, he happened to see his mother taking bath there in the spouts of that pond. Lord Krishna was very happy to find her there and narrated all of his tragedies in the absence of his mother. Mother Devaki said to lord Krishna that “oh! Son Krishna let then, this place be the pious rendezvous of children to meet their departed mothers”. So legends believe that since then this place had become a noted holy pilgrimage to see back a devotees’ deceased mother. Also legend believes that a devotee saw his mother’s image inside the pond and he happened to die falling there down. So still there is a small pond fenced by the iron rods in the place even on this present day as well. After the worship the pilgrimage enjoy there singing and dancing throughout the day in the festive mood. There is not evidence of happening of this legend as these are coming from elders based on ancient readings.
[edit] Thailand
Mother's day in Thailand is celebrated on the birthday of the Queen of Thailand Sirikit (12 Aug).[28] It started being celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by Prime Minister of Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda to promote the Thailand's Royal family. Father's Day is celebrated in the King's birthday.[29]
[edit] Romania
In Romania it's celebrated as two separate holidays: Mother's Day and Ladies Day.[citation needed]
[edit] United Kingdom and Ireland
Main article: Mothering Sunday
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday (March 22 in 2009). It is believed to have originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day. Most historians believe that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters that weekend in order to visit their families.[30] As a result of secularization, it is now principally used to show appreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church'.
Mothering Sunday can fall at the earliest on 1 March (in years when Easter Day falls on 22 March) and at the latest on 4 April (when Easter Day falls on 25 April).
[edit] United States
Main article: Mother's Day (US)
The United States and Canada celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.
[edit] Vietnam
Mother's Day in Vietnam is called Lễ Vu-lan and celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls.[citation needed]
[edit] Commercialization
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.[1]
Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made her criticisms explicitly known throughout her time.[1][2] She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".[2]
Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the commercially most successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.[31]
For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.[32]
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's rings.[33]
It's possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, like Children's Day and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity.[34]
The holiday eventually became so commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Anna eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create.[1][2]
Contents [hide]
1 Historical antecedents
2 Spelling
3 Dates around the world
4 International history and traditions
4.1 Religion
4.2 Countries
4.2.1 African countries
4.2.2 Bangladesh
4.2.3 Bolivia
4.2.4 Canada
4.2.5 China
4.2.6 Greece
4.2.7 India
4.2.8 Iran
4.2.9 Japan
4.2.10 Mexico
4.2.11 Nepal
4.2.12 Thailand
4.2.13 Romania
4.2.14 United Kingdom and Ireland
4.2.15 United States
4.2.16 Vietnam
5 Commercialization
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
[edit] Historical antecedents
Lamberts thought[who?] this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
In Europe and the UK there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar is marked as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church". Traditionally the day was marked by the giving of token gifts and the relinquishing of certain traditionally female tasks such as cooking and cleaning to other members of the family as a gesture of appreciation.[citation needed]
In addition to Mother's Day, International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries on March 8.
The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
[edit] Spelling
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.[1][3]
"She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world."[1]
This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in the U.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills,[4][5] and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.[6]
Common usage in English language also dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day" is the preferred spelling, although "Mothers' Day" (plural possessive) is not unheard of.
[edit] Dates around the world
As the US holiday was adopted by other countries and cultures, the date was changed to fit already existing celebrations honouring motherhood, like Mothering Sunday in the UK or the Orthodox celebration of Jesus in the temple in Greece. In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majoritary religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of prophet Muhammad in Islamic countries. Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle where women participated. See the "International history and traditions" section for the complete list.
Note: Countries that celebrate the International Women's Day instead of Mother's Day are marked with a dagger '†'.
Gregorian calendar
Occurrence Dates Country
February 2
Greece
Second Sunday of February
February 8, 2009
February 14, 2010
Norway
Shevat 30
(Falls anywhere between January 30 and March 1)
Israel
March 3
Georgia
March 8
Afghanistan
Albania†
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus†
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria†
Kazakhstan†
Laos
Macedonia†
Moldova
Montenegro
Romania
Russia†*
Serbia
Ukraine†
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2009
March 14, 2010
Ireland
Nigeria
United Kingdom
March 21
(vernal Equinox)
Bahrain
Egypt
Jordan
Kuwait
Libya
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Somalia
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen (All Arab countries in general)
March 25
Slovenia
April 7
Armenia
April 24 +/- 5 days Baisakh Amavasya (Mata Tirtha Aunsi)
Nepal
First Sunday in May
May 3, 2009
May 2, 2010
Hungary†
Lithuania
Mozambique
Portugal
Macao
Spain
May 8
Albania (Parents' Day)
South Korea (Parents' Day)
May 10
El Salvador
Guatemala
Mexico
Second Sunday of May
May 10, 2009
May 9, 2010
Anguilla
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bermuda
Bonaire
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
People's Republic of China†[7]
Taiwan
Colombia
Croatia
Cuba[8]
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominica
Ecuador
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Honduras
Hong Kong
Iceland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Latvia*
Liechtenstein*
Malaysia
Malta
Myanmar
Netherlands
New Zealand
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Peru[9]
Philippines
Puerto Rico
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Singapore
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Switzerland
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe
May 15
Paraguay
May 26
Poland "Dzień Matki"
May 27
Bolivia
Last Sunday of May
May 31, 2009
May 30, 2010
Algeria
Dominican Republic
France (First Sunday of June if Pentecost occurs on this day)
French Antilles (First Sunday of June if Pentecost occurs on this day)
Haiti[10] Mauritius
Morocco
Sweden
Tunisia
May 30
Nicaragua
June 1
Mongolia† (The Mothers and Children's Day.)
Second Sunday of June
June 14, 2009
June 13, 2010
Luxembourg
Last Sunday of June
June 28, 2009
June 27, 2010
Kenya
August 12
Thailand (the birthday of Queen Sirikit)
August 15 (Assumption Day)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Costa Rica
August 19 (Pâthâre Prabhu in Southern India)
India[11]
Second Monday of October
October 12, 2009
October 11, 2010
Malawi
October 14
Belarus
Third Sunday of October
October 18, 2009
October 17, 2010
Argentina (Día de la Madre)
Last Sunday of November
November 29, 2009
November 28, 2010
Russia
December 8
Panama
December 22
Indonesia
Islamic calendar
Occurrence Dates Country
20 Jumada al-thani[n 1]
14 June 2009 Iraq [12]
Iran [13]
[edit] International history and traditions
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in North America and Europe. When it was adopted by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings, associated to different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated in a different date or dates.
Some countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, like giving carnations and other presents to your own mother.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali in the UK and the United States).
[edit] Religion
In the Catholic Church, the holiday is strongly associated with reverencing the Virgin Mary.[14]
In Hindu tradition it is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", and it is celebrated in countries with Hindu population, especially in Nepal.
[edit] Countries
[edit] African countries
Many African countries adopted the idea of one Mother's Day from the British tradition, although there are many festivals and events celebrating mothers within the many diverse cultures on the African continent that long pre-date the colonization of Africa by European powers.
[edit] Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May. In observance of the day discussion programs are organized by government and non-governmental organizations. Few mothers are given Ratnagarva Ma Award which aims to recognize mothers and the important role that they play in society of Bangladesh. The mothers were awarded for the commendable role that they played in rearing their children who became worthy citizens of the country in later life is sponsored by Grand Azad Hotel. Besides, reception programs, cultural programs are organized to mark the day in the Capital city. Television channels aired special programs and newspapers published special features and column to mark the day. Greeting cards, flowers and gifts featuring mother’s specialty to the children were on high demand at the shops and markets.
[edit] Bolivia
In Bolivia, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 27. This was passed into law on November 8, 1927 to commemorate the battle of Coronilla which took place in what is now the city of Cochabamba on May 27 1812. In this battle, women fighting for the country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army.
[edit] Canada
This section requires expansion.
See Public holidays in Canada#Other observances
The Mother's Day holiday, like St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Father's Day and Halloween, is traditionally observed in Canada.[citation needed] In almost all features, it is identical to the US version of Mother's Day.
[edit] China
In China, Mother's Day is becoming more popular, and carnations are a very popular gift and the most sold type of flower.[15] In 1997 it was set as the day to help poor mothers, specially to remind people of the poor mothers on rural areas such as China's west.[15] In the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's journal, an article explained that "despite originating in the United States, people in China take the holiday with no hesitance because it goes in line with the country's traditional ethics -- respect to the elderly and filial piety to parents."[15]
In recent years Communist Party of China's member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption of Mother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ, and formed a Non-governmental organization called Chinese Mothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucian scholars and lecturers of ethics.[16][17] They also ask to replace the Western gift of carnations with lilies, which, on ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home.[17] It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
[edit] Greece
Mother's Day in Greece corresponds to the Eastern Orthodox feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Since the Theotokos (The Mother of God) appears prominently in this feast as the one who brought Christ to the Temple at Jerusalem, this feast is associated with mothers.[citation needed]
[edit] India
Mother's Day is celebrated nationally in 19th of August.[11]
The festival of Pâthâre Prabhu is celebrated in the same day only in Bombay and the Southern part of India (concretely Konkan and the districts below the Western Ghats). It is based on a legend about a mother whose children kept dying after only one year of living and it has a very remote origin. Although it's also called "Mother's Day", it is unrelated to the modern celebration, which is copied from the US and is celebrated in the whole country. The Pathare prabhu caste always celebrates this holiday.[11]
[edit] Iran
Celebrated on 20 Jumada al-thani, the birthday anniversary of Fatima, Muhammad's daughter.[13] It was changed after the Iranian revolution, the reason having been theorized as trying to undercut feminist movements and promoting role models for the traditional model of family.[18][19] It was previously 25 Azar on Iranian calendar during the Shah era[citation needed]
[edit] Japan
Mother's Day in Japan was initially commemorated during the Shōwa period as the birthday of Empress Kōjun (mother of Emperor Akihito). Nowadays it is a marketed holiday, and people typically give flowers such as carnations and roses as gifts.
[edit] Mexico
See also: Public holidays in Mexico#Festivities
The government of Álvaro Obregón imported the holiday from the US in 1922, with the newspaper Excelsior making a massive promotion campaign that year.[20] The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role of mothers in families, which was criticized by the socialists as promoting an irrealistic image of a woman that wasn't worth for much more than breeding.[20]
In the mid-1930s the government of Lázaro Cárdenas promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival". The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday a vehicle for various efforts: remarking the important that families had into national development, benefiting from the loyalty that mexicans had towards their mothers, introducing new morals into the mexican women and reducing the influence that the church and the Catholic right had in them.[21] The government sponsored the holiday in the schools.[21] However, the theatre plays ignored the strict guidelines from the government and they were filled with religious icons and themes, and the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.[21].
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President Manuel Ávila Camacho, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, making it into an important state-sponsored celebration.[22] The 1942 celebration lasted a whole week, including an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines out from Monte de Piedad at no cost.[22]
The catholic National Synarchist Union (UNS) started paying attention to the holiday around 1941, due to Orozco's promotion.[23] The members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (nowadays PRI) that owned shops had a custom where women from humble classes could go to their shop in mother's day, pick a gift for free, and bring it home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoting both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn reinforcing the sistemic social problematics of the country.[24] While nowadays we see those holiday practices as very conservative, the 1940s' UNS was viewing the holiday as a part of the larger debate on modernization that was happening at the time.[25] This economic modernization was inspired in US models and was sponsored by the state, and the fact that the holiday was originally imported from the US was only seen as one more evidence that it was an attempt at imposing capitalization and materialism in Mexican society.[25]
Also, the UNS and the clergy of the city of León saw in the government actions an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role of women in society, with the long term goal of weakening men spiritually when women abandoned her traditional roles at home.[25] They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to dechristianize several holidays, and they tried to counter this by organizing massives masses and asking religious women to assist to the state-sponsored events and try to "depaganize" them.[26] In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of the holiday, the clergy organized in León the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a big parade.[26]
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiaves during the 1940s, including efforts to influence Mother's Day.[23] Nowadays the holiday in Mexico is a celebration of both mothers and the Virgin Mary.
Nowadays the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on May 10th.[27]
[edit] Nepal
"Mata Tirtha Aunshi", translated as "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", falls in the month of Baishak dark fortnight (April). This festival falls in the time of dark moon’s time which is why this called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" derived from words: “Mata” meaning mother; “Tirtha” meaning pilgrimage. This festival is observed in the commemoration and respect of the mother which is celebrated by worshipping and gifting living mother or remembering mothers who have become immortal and are resting in peace. Going to Mata Tirtha Pilgrimage located towards the Kathmandu valley’s eastern side at Mata Tirtha Village development committee’s periphery is another tradition common in Nepal.
There is a legend regarding this pilgrimage. In ancient times Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki walked out her house to sight-see. She visited many places and delayed a lot to return back at her house. Lord Krishna became very unhappy because of his mother’s disappearance. So he went out in search of his mother to many places without success. Finally, when he reached “Mata Tirtha Kunda”, he happened to see his mother taking bath there in the spouts of that pond. Lord Krishna was very happy to find her there and narrated all of his tragedies in the absence of his mother. Mother Devaki said to lord Krishna that “oh! Son Krishna let then, this place be the pious rendezvous of children to meet their departed mothers”. So legends believe that since then this place had become a noted holy pilgrimage to see back a devotees’ deceased mother. Also legend believes that a devotee saw his mother’s image inside the pond and he happened to die falling there down. So still there is a small pond fenced by the iron rods in the place even on this present day as well. After the worship the pilgrimage enjoy there singing and dancing throughout the day in the festive mood. There is not evidence of happening of this legend as these are coming from elders based on ancient readings.
[edit] Thailand
Mother's day in Thailand is celebrated on the birthday of the Queen of Thailand Sirikit (12 Aug).[28] It started being celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by Prime Minister of Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda to promote the Thailand's Royal family. Father's Day is celebrated in the King's birthday.[29]
[edit] Romania
In Romania it's celebrated as two separate holidays: Mother's Day and Ladies Day.[citation needed]
[edit] United Kingdom and Ireland
Main article: Mothering Sunday
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday (March 22 in 2009). It is believed to have originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day. Most historians believe that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters that weekend in order to visit their families.[30] As a result of secularization, it is now principally used to show appreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church'.
Mothering Sunday can fall at the earliest on 1 March (in years when Easter Day falls on 22 March) and at the latest on 4 April (when Easter Day falls on 25 April).
[edit] United States
Main article: Mother's Day (US)
The United States and Canada celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.
[edit] Vietnam
Mother's Day in Vietnam is called Lễ Vu-lan and celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls.[citation needed]
[edit] Commercialization
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.[1]
Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made her criticisms explicitly known throughout her time.[1][2] She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".[2]
Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the commercially most successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.[31]
For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.[32]
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's rings.[33]
It's possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, like Children's Day and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity.[34]
Christmas
Christmas (pronounced /ˈkrɪsməs/), also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.[2][3] The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.[4] The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, is thought to have occurred between 7 and 2 BC.[5] December 25 is not known to be Jesus' actual date of birth, and the date may have been chosen to correspond with either a Roman festival[6] or the winter solstice.[7]
Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, Church celebrations, exchange of Christmas cards, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas for children. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between Saint Nicholas and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.
Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
2.2 Winter festivals
2.3 Patristic developments
2.4 Feast established
2.5 Middle Ages
2.6 Reformation into the 19th century
3 Nativity of Jesus
4 Santa Claus and other bringers of gifts
5 Decorations
6 Christmas cards
7 Christmas stamps
8 Economics of Christmas
9 See also
9.1 Christmas time
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Etymology
Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban MurilloThe word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[3] "Cristes" is from Greek Christos and "mæsse" is from Latin missa. In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.[8] Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
History
For many centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born.[9] However, in the early eighteenth century, scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice,[7] which in ancient times was marked on December 25.[10] In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.[6] In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after the Annunciation (March 25), the traditional date of the Incarnation.[11]
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Main article: Sol Invictus
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.[12] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[13] This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.[14]
The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered." Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[3] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.[3] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"[3]
Winter festivals
Main article: List of winter festivals
Mosaic of Jesus as Christo Sole (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[15] Christians consider Jesus to be the "sun of righteousness" prophesied in Malachi 4:2.A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[16] Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts.[17] Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,[18] a usage first recorded in 900.
Patristic developments
Adoration of the Magi by Don Lorenzo Monaco (1422)The New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus.[3][19] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on Pachon 25.[3] This corresponds to May 20.[20] Tertullian (d. 220) does not mention Christmas as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa.[3] In Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox.[21] The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.[22] De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the nativity.[23] In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays.[24] In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods, which suggests that Christmas was not yet a feast at this time.[3]
Feast established
The earliest reference to the date of the nativity as December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354.[25] In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival emphasized celebration of the baptism of Jesus.[26]
Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.[3]
Middle Ages
In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent.[27] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[27] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[27]
Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England.The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.
By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.[27] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[27] "Misrule"—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.[27]
Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporating ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[28] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[28]
Reformation into the 19th century
Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present, by John Leech. Made for Charles Dickens's novel A Christmas Carol (1843).During the Reformation, some Puritans condemned Christmas celebration as "trappings of popery" and the "rags of the Beast."[29] The Roman Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. Following the Parliamentarian victory over King Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas, in 1647.[29] Pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities, and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[29] The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Presbyterian Scotland, James VI commanded the celebration of Christmas in 1618, however attendance at church was scant.[30]
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[31] George Washington attacked Hessian mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton in 1777. (Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.) By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday.
Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, helped redefine the 'spirit' of Christmas and seasonal merriment.[32][33] Its popularity played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.[34] Prominent phrases in Dickens's classic Yultide tale, 'Bah! Humbug!', and 'Merry Christmas', entered the English language. Also in 1843, the Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole, in an era Christmas as we know it today was created. In America, interest in Christmas was revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and "Old Christmas", and by Clement Clarke Moore's 1822 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[35] Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted holiday traditions he claimed to have observed in England. Although some argue that Irving invented the traditions he describes, they were widely imitated by his American readers. The poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas popularized the tradition of exchanging gifts and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[36] In reaction, this also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England", Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[37] Christmas was declared a United States Federal holiday in 1870, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant.
Nativity of Jesus
Main articles: Annunciation, Nativity of Jesus, and Child Jesus
German painting, 1457The Nativity of Jesus refers to the Christian belief that the Messiah was born to the Virgin Mary. The story of Christmas is based on the biblical accounts given in the Gospel of Matthew, namely Matthew 1:18-Matthew 2:12 and the Gospel of Luke, specifically Luke 1:26-Luke 2:40. According to these accounts, Jesus was born to Mary, assisted by her husband Joseph, in the city of Bethlehem. According to popular tradition, the birth took place in a stable, surrounded by farm animals, though neither the stable nor the animals are mentioned in the Biblical accounts. However, a manger is mentioned in Luke 2:7 where it states "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Early iconographic representations of the nativity placed the stable and manger within a cave (located, according to tradition, under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem). Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child.[38] Many Christians believe that the birth of Jesus fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament.[39]
Remembering is a central way that Christians celebrate Christmas. There is a very long tradition of the Nativity of Jesus in art. The Eastern Orthodox Church practices the Nativity Fast in anticipation of the birth of Jesus, while much of the Western Church celebrates Advent. In some Christian denominations, children perform plays re-telling the events of the Nativity, or sing carols that reference the event. Some Christians also display a small re-creation of the Nativity, known as a Nativity scene or crib, in their homes, using figurines to portray the key characters of the event. Live Nativity scenes and tableaux vivants are also performed, using actors and live animals to portray the event with more realism.[40]
Nativity scenes traditionally include the Three Wise Men, Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar, and who are said to have followed a star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, and arrive at his birth. [41] However, this conflicts with Biblical accounts in that their names and number are never mentioned nor is their arrival at his birth. (Matt. 2:7–8, 16). Likewise, the Bible makes no mention of farm animals, though their presence might be inferred because Mary laid her baby in a manger.
In the U.S., Christmas decorations at public buildings once commonly included Nativity scenes. This practice has led to many lawsuits, as groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union believe it amounts to the government endorsing a religion, which is prohibited by the United States Constitution. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch vs. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene) owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island did not violate the First Amendment.[42]
Santa Claus and other bringers of gifts
Main article: Santa Claus
Santa Claus hands out gifts during the American Civil War in Thomas Nast's first Santa Claus cartoon, Harper's Weekly, 1863Originating from Western culture, where the holiday is characterized by the exchange of gifts among friends and family members, some of the gifts are attributed to a character called Father Christmas (also known as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas or St. Nikolaus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, Joulupukki, Babbo Natale, Weihnachtsmann, Saint Basil and Father Frost).
The popular image of Santa Claus was created by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840–1902), who drew a new image annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the form we now recognize. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s.[43]
Father Christmas, who predates the Santa Claus character, was first recorded in the 15th century, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness.[44] In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. The French Père Noël evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In other versions, elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as Mrs. Claus.
It is often claimed that the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus is the Dutch holyman and bringer of gifts Sinterklaas. During the American War of Independence the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city's non-English past.[45] The name Santa Claus supposedly is derived from older Dutch Sinte Klaas. In 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City.[46] However, the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence.[47] Moreover, a study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas.[48] However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in 1978;[49] Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York was alive and well from the early settlement of the Hudson Valley on.[50]
The current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela and Colombia) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.
In Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovakia and Switzerland, the Christkind (Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents. The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsman (who is the German version of Santa Claus). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.[51]
Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, Church celebrations, exchange of Christmas cards, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas for children. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between Saint Nicholas and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.
Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
2.2 Winter festivals
2.3 Patristic developments
2.4 Feast established
2.5 Middle Ages
2.6 Reformation into the 19th century
3 Nativity of Jesus
4 Santa Claus and other bringers of gifts
5 Decorations
6 Christmas cards
7 Christmas stamps
8 Economics of Christmas
9 See also
9.1 Christmas time
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Etymology
Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban MurilloThe word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[3] "Cristes" is from Greek Christos and "mæsse" is from Latin missa. In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.[8] Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
History
For many centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born.[9] However, in the early eighteenth century, scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice,[7] which in ancient times was marked on December 25.[10] In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.[6] In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after the Annunciation (March 25), the traditional date of the Incarnation.[11]
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Main article: Sol Invictus
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.[12] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[13] This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.[14]
The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered." Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[3] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.[3] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"[3]
Winter festivals
Main article: List of winter festivals
Mosaic of Jesus as Christo Sole (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[15] Christians consider Jesus to be the "sun of righteousness" prophesied in Malachi 4:2.A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[16] Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts.[17] Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,[18] a usage first recorded in 900.
Patristic developments
Adoration of the Magi by Don Lorenzo Monaco (1422)The New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus.[3][19] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on Pachon 25.[3] This corresponds to May 20.[20] Tertullian (d. 220) does not mention Christmas as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa.[3] In Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox.[21] The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.[22] De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the nativity.[23] In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays.[24] In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods, which suggests that Christmas was not yet a feast at this time.[3]
Feast established
The earliest reference to the date of the nativity as December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354.[25] In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival emphasized celebration of the baptism of Jesus.[26]
Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.[3]
Middle Ages
In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent.[27] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[27] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[27]
Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England.The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.
By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.[27] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[27] "Misrule"—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.[27]
Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporating ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[28] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[28]
Reformation into the 19th century
Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present, by John Leech. Made for Charles Dickens's novel A Christmas Carol (1843).During the Reformation, some Puritans condemned Christmas celebration as "trappings of popery" and the "rags of the Beast."[29] The Roman Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. Following the Parliamentarian victory over King Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas, in 1647.[29] Pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities, and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[29] The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Presbyterian Scotland, James VI commanded the celebration of Christmas in 1618, however attendance at church was scant.[30]
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[31] George Washington attacked Hessian mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton in 1777. (Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.) By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday.
Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, helped redefine the 'spirit' of Christmas and seasonal merriment.[32][33] Its popularity played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.[34] Prominent phrases in Dickens's classic Yultide tale, 'Bah! Humbug!', and 'Merry Christmas', entered the English language. Also in 1843, the Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole, in an era Christmas as we know it today was created. In America, interest in Christmas was revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and "Old Christmas", and by Clement Clarke Moore's 1822 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[35] Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted holiday traditions he claimed to have observed in England. Although some argue that Irving invented the traditions he describes, they were widely imitated by his American readers. The poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas popularized the tradition of exchanging gifts and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[36] In reaction, this also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England", Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[37] Christmas was declared a United States Federal holiday in 1870, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant.
Nativity of Jesus
Main articles: Annunciation, Nativity of Jesus, and Child Jesus
German painting, 1457The Nativity of Jesus refers to the Christian belief that the Messiah was born to the Virgin Mary. The story of Christmas is based on the biblical accounts given in the Gospel of Matthew, namely Matthew 1:18-Matthew 2:12 and the Gospel of Luke, specifically Luke 1:26-Luke 2:40. According to these accounts, Jesus was born to Mary, assisted by her husband Joseph, in the city of Bethlehem. According to popular tradition, the birth took place in a stable, surrounded by farm animals, though neither the stable nor the animals are mentioned in the Biblical accounts. However, a manger is mentioned in Luke 2:7 where it states "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Early iconographic representations of the nativity placed the stable and manger within a cave (located, according to tradition, under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem). Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child.[38] Many Christians believe that the birth of Jesus fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament.[39]
Remembering is a central way that Christians celebrate Christmas. There is a very long tradition of the Nativity of Jesus in art. The Eastern Orthodox Church practices the Nativity Fast in anticipation of the birth of Jesus, while much of the Western Church celebrates Advent. In some Christian denominations, children perform plays re-telling the events of the Nativity, or sing carols that reference the event. Some Christians also display a small re-creation of the Nativity, known as a Nativity scene or crib, in their homes, using figurines to portray the key characters of the event. Live Nativity scenes and tableaux vivants are also performed, using actors and live animals to portray the event with more realism.[40]
Nativity scenes traditionally include the Three Wise Men, Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar, and who are said to have followed a star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, and arrive at his birth. [41] However, this conflicts with Biblical accounts in that their names and number are never mentioned nor is their arrival at his birth. (Matt. 2:7–8, 16). Likewise, the Bible makes no mention of farm animals, though their presence might be inferred because Mary laid her baby in a manger.
In the U.S., Christmas decorations at public buildings once commonly included Nativity scenes. This practice has led to many lawsuits, as groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union believe it amounts to the government endorsing a religion, which is prohibited by the United States Constitution. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch vs. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene) owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island did not violate the First Amendment.[42]
Santa Claus and other bringers of gifts
Main article: Santa Claus
Santa Claus hands out gifts during the American Civil War in Thomas Nast's first Santa Claus cartoon, Harper's Weekly, 1863Originating from Western culture, where the holiday is characterized by the exchange of gifts among friends and family members, some of the gifts are attributed to a character called Father Christmas (also known as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas or St. Nikolaus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, Joulupukki, Babbo Natale, Weihnachtsmann, Saint Basil and Father Frost).
The popular image of Santa Claus was created by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840–1902), who drew a new image annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the form we now recognize. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s.[43]
Father Christmas, who predates the Santa Claus character, was first recorded in the 15th century, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness.[44] In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. The French Père Noël evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In other versions, elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as Mrs. Claus.
It is often claimed that the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus is the Dutch holyman and bringer of gifts Sinterklaas. During the American War of Independence the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city's non-English past.[45] The name Santa Claus supposedly is derived from older Dutch Sinte Klaas. In 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City.[46] However, the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence.[47] Moreover, a study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas.[48] However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in 1978;[49] Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York was alive and well from the early settlement of the Hudson Valley on.[50]
The current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela and Colombia) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.
In Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovakia and Switzerland, the Christkind (Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents. The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsman (who is the German version of Santa Claus). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.[51]
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.[1] The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th century America, where many Valentine cards are now general greeting cards rather than declarations of love, was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.[2] It's considered one of the Hallmark holidays.
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend on average twice as much money as women.[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Saint Valentine
2 Attested traditions
2.1 Lupercalia
2.2 Chaucer's love birds
2.3 Medieval period and the English Renaissance
2.4 Modern times
3 Antique and vintage Valentines, 1850–1950
3.1 Valentines of the mid-19th and early 20th centuries
3.2 Postcards, "pop-ups", and mechanical Valentines, circa 1900-1930
3.3 Black Americana and children's Valentines
4 Similar days honoring love
4.1 In the West
4.1.1 Europe
4.1.2 Central and South America
4.2 Asia
4.2.1 Similar Asian traditions
5 Conflict with religious fundamentalists
5.1 India
5.2 The Middle East
6 See also
7 References
[edit] Saint Valentine
For more details on this topic, see Saint Valentine.
Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine.[4] Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days.[citation needed] The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae).[5] Valentine of Rome[6] was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome.[7] and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni[8] became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).[9]
The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.[10]
No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the fourteenth century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost.[11]
In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14."[12] The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Vatican II calendar.
The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were excerpted by Bede and briefly expounded in Legenda Aurea.[13] According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.
Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend provided by American Greetings, Inc. to History.com and widely repeated, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved,[14] as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed,[15] or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."[14]
[edit] Attested traditions
[edit] Lupercalia
Main article: Lupercalia
Though popular modern sources link unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St Valentine's Day, Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas argued[16] that prior to Chaucer, no links between the Saints named Valentinus and romantic love existed. In the ancient Athenian calendar the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.
In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13 through 15, was an archaic rite connected to fertility. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier "or "the chaste Juno," was celebrated on February 13-14. Pope Gelasius I (492-496) abolished Lupercalia.
It is a common opinion that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia, and that a commemorative feast was established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, of those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God," among whom was Valentine, was set for the useful day. Alternatively, William M. Green argues that the Catholic Church could not abolish the deeply rooted Lupercalia festival, so the church set aside a day to honor the Virgin Mary. [17]
Geoffrey Chaucer by Thomas Occleve (1412)[edit] Chaucer's love birds
While some claim the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer[18] this may be the result of misinterpretation. Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.[19] A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381.[20] (When they were married eight months later, he was 13 or 14, and she was 14.)
Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out[21] that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307.[22]
Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among eighteenth-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present"[23]
[edit] Medieval period and the English Renaissance
Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a "High Court of Love" was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading.[24][25] The earliest surviving valentine is a fifteenth-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his "valentined" wife, which commences.
Je suis desja d'amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée…
—Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2 [26]
At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415.[27]
Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in Hamlet (1600-1601):
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
Valentine's Day postcard, circa 1910[edit] Modern times
In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That, in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian.[28]
Paper Valentines being so popular in England in early 1800s, Valentines began to be assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in mid 1800's.[29]. The reinvention of Saint Valentine's Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt.[30] As a writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday."[31] In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received, so clearly the practice of sending Valentine's cards had existed in England before it became popular in North America. The English practice of sending Valentine's cards appears in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions (published 1851). Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary." The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.[3]
Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.[1] The mid-nineteenth century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.[32]
In the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman.Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of "Happy Valentine's Day." As a joke, Valentine's Day is also referred to as "Singles Awareness Day." In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and eat sweets. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other.
The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.
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