Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

A Weekend of Noteworthy Days

by Neighborhood-Kids.com6/13/2008 2:32:54 PM

This weekend features three holidays. Well, perhaps “notable days” is a better phrase, since none of them warrant a federal holiday, but we still thought this would be interesting to take a quick look at three special days with almost nothing in common except that they all happen to take place over the next three days.

Friday the 13th
Every year has at least one Friday the 13th and three at the most. But why do people associate Friday the 13th with bad luck? What makes Friday the 13th different than any other date?

The only Friday the 13th of 2008 occurs in June.

First of all, the number 13 has long had associations with unluckiness, going back to ancient stories of Norse mythology and early numerology (systems or beliefs that study the relationship between numbers and things, including people). In a National Geographic article by John Roach (“Friday the 13th Rooted in Ancient History”), associate policy scientist Thomas Fernsler of the University of Delaware pointed out that 12 was considered to be a perfect or “complete” number and having 1 more would go beyond that perfectness.

The unluckiness associated with Friday can be traced back to Christian traditions of Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday. So when the day of the week and date occur simultaneously, it’s not good for anyone.

Superstition of this day is a largely 20th century phenomenon, perhaps propelled by a series of scary movies with the same name. Friday the 13th is taken so seriously that millions of dollars are supposedly lost on this day because people are too afraid to participate in business as usual.

So if you’re a bit superstitious, Friday the 13th would be a good day to avoid black cats, walking under open ladders, and opening umbrellas while indoors.

Flag Day
Flag Day was first proclaimed on June 14 by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and National Flag Day was officially established by Congress in August 1949. During the week of June 14, Americans can observe the holiday by flying the flag throughout the week and taking part in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the National Anthem.

Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner

June 14 was designated as Flag Day because it commemorates the Flag Resolution, passed by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. This resolution decreed that the standard for the United States would be alternating 13 red and white stripes and 13 stars, representing the original states in the union. In 1795, two stripes and two stars were added to the design to symbolize the addition of new states, Vermont and Kentucky.

In 1818, U.S. Naval Captain Samuel S. Reid proposed that the flag’s number of stripes remain constant (and revert back to 13 to represent for the original colonies) and that new states would be represented by adding stars to the flag. Since then, there have been 26 variations of the flag, including today’s current flag with 50 stars.

An interesting note about the American flag is that many historians do not give much credence to the popular story that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag based on a sketch by George Washington. There isn’t enough evidence to support or disprove the theory, but the myth has become an American folk legend and provided an American Revolution heroine for girls. Read Betsy's story and learn more colonial life in Alexandra Wallner’s book for early elementary readers, Betsy Ross.

Father's Day
Obviously a counterpart to Mother’s Day, the first American Father's Day celebration took place in 1908 in West Virginia as part of a memorial service for 361 men, many of them fathers, that had been killed in a recent mine explosion.

Spend some quality time with the kids this weekend for Father's Day.

Across the country in Spokane, Washington, Sonora Dodd was inspired by Anna Jarvis’ Mother’s Day efforts and decided to organize a Father’s Day celebration in June of 1910 to honor her father, a Civil War veteran who raised six children on his own.

The holiday was quickly embraced across the country. In 1972, Father’s Day became a permanent national observation to be celebrated annually on the third Sunday of June.

Since Mother’s Day is the most popular holiday for eating out, Father’s Day is a good kind of day to stay at home, enjoy some Bar-B-Que, and have a game of catch as a family after dinner.