On March 14, 2019, the government approved an amendment to the flag ordinance. It makes Father’s Day an official flag day. In the past, Father’s Day has been an established flag day, while Mother’s Day has been an official flag day. The change eliminates the distinction between raising the flag on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
With the government’s decision to make Father’s Day an official flag day in 2019, Finland has taken a leap forward in celebrating gender equality.
Father’s Day has been in the Finnish almanac since 1970, while Mother’s Day has been celebrated since 1918. Mother’s Day became an official flag day in 1947.
Both parental celebrations, however, share the same country of origin: The United States.
Anna Jarvis is widely credited with the creation of Mother’s Day. After losing her mother, she began promoting a celebration to honor the sacrifices mothers make for their children.
Jarvis wanted her holiday added to the national calendar. Eventually, through her efforts, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill in 1914 making the second Sunday in May official Mother’s Day.
The origin of Father’s Day was inspired by the celebration of mothers, but the idea spread slowly.
According to history books, Sonora Smart Dodd was moved to tears in 1909 while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon with her father, who had raised her and five brothers alone after their mother died in childbirth.
There should be a day to celebrate fathers, too, she thought.
Dodd’s idea gained momentum across the country, and when it became a subject of political debate, U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith said:
“Either we honor both our parents, mother and father, or let us desist from honoring either one. But to single out just one of our two parents and omit the other is the most grievous insult imaginable.”
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day.
The idea of a day to honor fathers slowly spread to Europe. The general feeling seemed to be that fathers didn’t have the same sentimental appeal as mothers.
In Finland, it wasn’t until 1979 that a few nationally minded unions managed to sell the idea that it might be nice to fly flags for fathers, too. Eight years later, an unofficial Flag Day was established.
And now, 32 years later, it’s an official Flag Day on the second Sunday in November.
Sources: History, Uusi ajantieto (WSOY, 1989)
