Children's Day Commemoration: A Little Known Holiday

Sandwiched between Mother's Day and Father's Day is the little known holiday of Children's Day that occurs on the second Sunday of June. Am I the only one who remembers such a day? Research leaves me with a feeling of frustration as I look for the origin of this holiday. There are many references to a Sunday in October and a Sunday in November being known as Children's Day. Even many desk and wall calendars fail to note this holiday which is perplexing. It seems that the holiday has lost its significance through the years. I have been hard pressed to find any of my colleagues at work who knew or had ever heard of Children's Day although they agreed it was an excellent sentiment. However, I do have a calendar book that lists Children's Day as June 10th this year proving that I am not chasing an esoteric figment of a confused and befuddled mind!

Significance
While I am uncertain as to how the holiday originated I do have fond memories of Children's Day celebrations long past. When I was a young girl, our church always celebrated Children's Day by including the youth of the church in the worship services. We would attend church with our family, dressed in our finest garb. Perhaps the youth choir would sing youth oriented hymns, another youth would deliver the morning prayer, and the youth pastor might deliver the sermon with a message directed to the youth. Parents and friends would be in attendance proudly beaming as their offspring participated in the service. I vividly remember delivering the prayer for a Children's Day worship service and though nervous, I was told I did an excellent job by many of the parishioners. That positive experience has forever remained with me through the years. There is no formalized way to acknowledge Children's Day but the significance of the holiday is to relay to the youth that they are loved, appreciated and expected to fully develop their God given talents and abilities to benefit others and become responsible adults.

A time to receive gifts and Special attention
After the service, traditionally our family would return home from church and have dinner together. Then our parents would give us a gift as a token of their love. The excitement and anticipation of what we would be given was second only to Christmas! We would excitedly open our gifts and then express our gratitude to our parents. We felt special as children and were treated as royalty. Depending upon family traditions, each family would continue the celebration in its own way. Our family loved to go on Sunday rides so Children's Day was sometimes celebrated by going on a family ride in our station wagon with our ever burgeoning family (10 children being the final count).

Legacy continued
At some point, one becomes grown up or at least that is the hope of our parents. While there is no official age for ending the Children's Day celebration for the individual child, for most of us it ended as we entered late adolescence, conveniently coinciding with our not wanting to be referred to as children. We followed the scriptural admonition " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (l Corinthians 13:11). When I became of age, I determined that if I ever married and had a family I would continue the tradition of celebrating Children;s Day. Thankfully, I did marry and was blessed with a daughter and son affording me the opportunity to lavish upon them the love and joy I received as a youth. My children were introduced to Children's Day but none of their friends had parents who observed the holiday because they had never heard of it. Perhaps it was more commonly observed in Afro American households than in other ethnic groups. Nevertheless, our children were included each year in our own family Children's Day celebrations and seemed to enjoy the attention bestowed upon them. My husband and I would give them a token of our love which would be enthusiastically received. Now that my daughter is the mother of a three year son and a 10 month old daughter, we expect to continue the tradition! My husband and I will once again make the trek to nearby retail stores to purchase just that special gift for our two grandchildren. We have had a hiatus of many years since our children are grown; we now look forward to continuing the legacy of celebrating Children's Day with our grandchildren.

Celebration
While I was not successful in finding out the origin of Children's Day I did find that Target, one of our country's largest retailers has scheduled a Children's and Family festival on June 10th to commemorate Children's Day. It will be held in New York City from Noon to 10 pm at Pier 17 South Street Seaport. Fun activities will be held for children and the "young at heart" as well as a free outdoor concert to name a few of the events. According to the website information, this will be the thirteenth year of the festival (Further confirmation that there really is a Children's Day). For those of you who are fortunate enough to live in the New York City area, further information is available at www.childrensdayNYC.com or call 212-SEA-PORT. Above all remember to honor your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on June 10th.