In the U.S. the official holiday started in 1972. But the day to honor fathers can be traced to the middle ages. In Catholic Europe, the original celebration was March 15. The feast day of St. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. People would parade through the streets carrying a statue of the saint. The procession would end at the church for mass. Often a feast would follow.
Fathers would be blessed and honored with small gifts and flowers from their children.
In Germeny, all the fathers gathered and were seated in carts to be paraded to the town’s square. There, the man with the most living children was given a prize. It was usually a large ham or sum of money.
In Hawaii, a pig roast was given to fathers by the younger men in the community. Leis were placed around each man’s neck to denote him as a honored guests. In the United States, the day first started in 1910, in Spokane Washington. It was initially a father-daughter breakfast after a church service. It has been celebrated in many parts of the country since then.
Growing up, my family had two grandfathers as well as my dad to honor. I attended a summer recreation program in the summer. I would buy and make plaster of Paris, leather coin purses, and crepe paper to produce a gift for each of them.
Mom baked a sheet cake decorated to resemble a folded dress shirt. My brothers and I vied for the cake piece with the candy tie clip.
We would have a picnic in our back yard with dad charring the hotdogs and hamburgers.
Later, when we had joined the Northville swim club, we spent the day swimming and sunning at the pool. Dad would challenged each of us to race one to two lengths of the pool. He usually won.
In the evening, after a light dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches, we would gather on the front porch. There we would talk and greet neighbors walking by. Often, we would be there until the mosquitoes drove us indoors.
My memories are filled with grilled hotdogs, potato salad and shirt cake.I still hope for the candy tie pin.
Dad’s Day
His day,
celebrating
All the Dad’s in my life.
Lazy days spent with the whole family.
Good times.
carolaspot@aol.com
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