Father's Day is Every Day - 19 June 1858

Who says all new traditions are spurious?

It struck me, being the 3rd Sunday in June tomorrow, that this will be Fathers' Day. So I mentioned to this to Maybold, and wondered why he took no account of this long-cherished tradition.
Anyway, he looked really quite concerned.
"There's no mention of it in the Prayer Book," he said, "but I'll check the Church Fathers, Pusey and the others for you, Lady Eileen."
Anyway, he's had a bit of a root around the most up-to-date literature from Oxford and come to the conclusion that I must have got the idea from my Methodist friends. So it doesn't look like we'll be having it next year either.
But there is the thought that, given the rate of death in childbirth is still fairly severe, and they seem to have 5 or 6 kids in most families, in the 19th century it's still Fathers' Day every day. It's the Mothers who could do with a break.

1 comment: