Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

June 13, 2007

Our Beloved Hart is back on the job!

 Fascinating Facts & Trivia:

     I am happy to welcome the month of June that soon will give us summer.  There are a number of special celebrations this month, but some of you may not be old enough to remember this particular celebration.

     The first or second Sunday in June was once Memorial Day, known in some areas as Decoration Sunday.  This tradition was kept long before the days of commercial cemeteries or crematoriums.  At this time, the cemetery was kept either by the church or a small community.  There were no endowment funds to pay for a cemetery caretaker.  As soon as the crops were sown, and the gardens planted, there would be a “cleaning bee” where entire families would work to tidy up the cemetery, cutting the grass and planting annuals on the graves of their forebears.  Then, on the first, second or third Sunday in June, there would be an appropriate memorial service in the cemetery with a village band and guest clergy coming to preach.

     It was always followed by a special supper, either in the church basement or at a parishioner’s home.  It was a time of renewing old friendships as neighbours and relatives came together.

     The tradition is still carried on in some small or remote communities all across Canada.

     Early in June, or July depending on geography and weather, churches of many denominations hold a “Strawberry Social.”  More often than not, these festivals are fundraisers, but all of them are an opportunity to enjoy the delicious fruit and the camaraderie of family and friends.

     In Manitoba, where the strawberries come a little later, Canada’s National Strawberry Festival is one of central Manitoba’s premier events.  Held in Portage la Prairie in late June or early July, it features activities for all anges and, as well, it includes aboriginal shows and a giant flea market.

    The Iroquois celebrate a Strawberry Festival that is a time to give thanks for the “first fruits” and to herald summer’s arrival.  A beautiful part of this thanksgiving is the performance of the “Great Feather Dance,” the dance that is also a part of the MidWinter Festival.

     In Canada’s westernmost province, British Columbia, a double celebration takes place June 13 - 14^th.  On this date in 1792, Captain George Vancouver, leaving his ships moored in Birch Bay, rowed with his men in small boats into Burrard Inlet, where he discovered the site which now bears his name.  Then, on the same day in 1886, the small settlement was burned right to the water’s edge.  The people wasted no time, however, in planning a new and even greater city.  Today, Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia and the shipping capitol of western Canada.

     The third Sunday in June is a day to honour the “King” of the household – Father’s Day.  Mrs. John B. Dodd of Washington was the first to propose the idea of “Father’s Day” in 1910.  William Smart, her father and a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd’s mother) died while giving birth to their sixth child.  Mr Smart was left to raise the baby and the five other children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington State.  It was only after she became an adult that Mrs Dodd realized the strength of character her father had shown raising six children as a single parent.

     Father’s Day was first observed in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.  In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day.  Finally in 1906, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

     Here in Canada, we have followed the American lead and also celebrate the day on the third Sunday each June.  When children can't visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental. Most greeting cards are whimsical so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad.

     Flag Day / Army Day - (Always on June 14th) in the United States.

     On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag.

Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation declaring June 14 Flag Day, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day.

According to legend, in 1776, George Washington commissioned Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross to create a flag for the new nation. There have been twenty-seven versions of the flag over the years. The current version dates to July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the 50th state.

Hartson S. Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net