I'm not talking about long-established/"official"/"Hallmark" or religious holidays that most people know about & celebrate (and sometimes get a day off work for), like Halloween and Christmas and Valentine's Day and Easter and Mother's Day, but these lesser-known ones that you primarily find out about because everyone is posting about them on social media.
Case in point: Friday was apparently "National Daughters Day," and EVERYONE was posting/showing off photos of their daughters on Facebook & Instagram. Even my high school girlfriend, who lost her 29-year-old daughter in a car accident last fall, posted a couple of goofy old photos of the two of them together. Her grief over her daughter is accepted. Mine (for a baby nobody else ever saw, stillborn 22 years ago) is not. :( I was soooooo tempted to post a photo of Katie's marker at the cemetery. Or, if I REALLY wanted to make people squirm, one of my precious hospital Polaroids of me holding Katie (you can't see her face, just the blanket).
(I didn't. I didn't want it to look like I was fishing for sympathy.)(I'm saving it up for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month/Day in October, lol.)
(Someone commented on one post, "Gee, I have a lot of friends with daughters!" TELL ME ABOUT IT. :p)
Someone on a childless forum commented something along the lines of "Why did Facebook have to create Daughters Day??" (There was another comment to the effect of "pronatalism on parade.") I said I didn't think it (or any of these other made-up holidays) was CREATED by Facebook -- although people sure run with it there, and on Instagram.
That got me curious -- so I Googled "National Daughters Day origins." As often happens with social media, the original purpose/meaning of the day/posting trend seems to have been lost/twisted. One site I found suggested it may have started in India, where historically, there has been a stigma attached to having daughters & being a girl. There are still many countries where girls are denied an education, employment or even healthcare, where sons are preferred and given priority. Daughters Day is an opportunity to celebrate and encourage all daughters everywhere.
It was also, apparently (depending on what calendar you checked):
National Quesadilla Day
National One-Hit Wonder Day
National Comic Book Day
National Lobster Day
National Tune-Up Day
National Research Administrator Day
National Brave Day
National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
National YogaFit Day
National Research Administrator Day
National Food Service Employee Day
National Math Storytelling Day
Who knew, right??
Things get even more intriguing, though: my question at the top of this post was "Who gets to decide what gets celebrated, and when?" The answer is -- anyone can, really, although the reality is a little more complicated. There are several different "national day" websites. There's one that appears to be UK-based, National Day Archives, where you can apply to register your special day -- for a fee. (I wasn't able to find how much that fee would be, at least not without submitting an application, it seems.) There's another that appears to be US-based, National Day Calendar. You can apply to have your special day registered and recognized by them too. Nothing is said about a fee, at least up front -- but due to a substantial backlog, they are only accepting requests from companies and organizations at this time.
Personally, I'm marking National Daughters Day on my calendar for 2021... so that I'll remember to avoid social media on that day...!
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
And it seems today is National Sons Day, to boot...!!
ReplyDeleteGood grief!
DeleteI copied and pasted from your post to a friend on Fbk, who was going on about daughters and sons, and wondered aloud how it had begun. She lost one of her daughters when she was in her late teens or early 20s - as you say, her loss was legitimate and she's allowed to talk about her regularly.
ReplyDeleteYes - stay away from Fbk on these days. It's like M's Day and F's Day - they're so full of self-congratulatory messages. Though personally, I'd favour National Gay Men's HIV/AIDs Awareness Day in terms of deserving of publicity.
Or National Lobster Day. Lobster, mmmmm!!
Yes, food-related days are most definitely acceptable! lol
DeleteHugs.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about you when I saw the pictures everyone was sharing that day. I wondered if you'd said anything. I couldn't bring myself to post for either day because I couldn't leave Hannelore out but I knew including her wouldn't go over well.
I really appreciate your research, especially about the source of National Daughter's Day (India) and all the other National Days.
ReplyDeleteI didn't post about it that day, nor did I the next day, which was purportedly National Son's Day.
I can see how days like these would be hurtful to many (that's not why I didn't post, but I wanted to acknowledge the fact).