Why is Taiwan celebrating Father's Day on Aug 8? Google Doodle delves into time-honored tradition
TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Many people around the globe celebrate Father's Day on the third Sunday of June but it’s not the same everywhere. The Taiwanese celebrate Father’s Day on August 8—the eighth day of the eighth month—because the Mandarin dialect of the Chinese language which many people speak in Taiwan, make the sound ‘ba ba’ for the numbers for this date – 8/8, the same sound as the word father. And the latest Google Doodle honors that.
From holding hand to painting together, the new illustration by Google Doodle gives a peek into how during the WWII, Father's Day was celebrated on August 8. Because the Republic of China government wanted to celebrate and honor the soldiers, the fathers who died, as per China Highlights. However, this tradition stopped in the Chinese mainland, but continued in Taiwan under the Republic of China government.
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Father's Day in Taiwan
The day first started out to be celebrated exclusively for the soldiers who died in the battle, although it is not regarded as an official public holiday. Taiwan celebrates Father's Day twice a year, third Sunday in June, but unofficial celebration falls on August 8 with traditional customs where people take their father out for dinner, give gifts, greet them, among others. In Taiwanese, the day is also called 'Baba Jie,' which means Father's Day.
World history of Father's Day
In the US, the first Father's Day celebration took place on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia. Initially, it was celebrated as a church service at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, which at present is known as Central United Methodist Church, according to Office Holidays. Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a minister, proposed the church service to honor all fathers, especially those who had died. However, it did not become an annual event, and it was not promoted, as per Almanac. The website mentions that in 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was inspired by the idea of Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day in the United States. Her father, William Jackson Smart, a farmer and Civil War veteran, was a single parent who raised Sonora and her five brothers after Sonora's mother died. She came up with this idea while attending a Mother’s Day church service.
Following this, she convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside a Sunday in June. She proposed June 5, her father’s birthday, but the ministers chose the third Sunday in June so that there is ample time after Mother’s Day, which falls on the second Sunday in May. On June 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day events commenced. The website also indicates that this day was not immediately accepted when it was proposed and it did not become a national holiday in the US until the year 1972 during President Richard Nixon’s administration.