Mercedes Suleik l June 10, 2022 l The Manila Times
MOTHER’S Day, commonly celebrated in May by many countries in the world, is followed by Father’s Day in June. While both motherhood and fatherhood have been commemorated for centuries, the modern versions have been hijacked by commerce. Despite this, they are beautiful traditions and indeed — even if it is only once a year — honoring fatherhood and male parenting is fitting and is a worthy complement to the celebration of Mother’s Day.
The modern Father’s Day started in the United States, although today practically all countries celebrate it in one way or another, many of them on the third Sunday of June although quite a number celebrate it on different months of the year. It might be mentioned that in the Catholic Church, fathers are celebrated on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, and the patriarch and patron of the Church.
Father’s Day was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd whose father, a Civil War veteran, was a single parent who reared his six children alone in Spokane, Washington. The first Father’s Day celebration was on June 19, 1910.
Unofficial support for it was immediate and widespread but it was only in 1972 when the holiday was officially recognized.
Among the many countries that also celebrate fathers are Argentina (third Sunday of June), Australia (first Sunday of September), Germany (celebrated on Ascension Day, the Thursday 40 days after Easter and is called Mannertag or Men’s Day), Japan (third Sunday of June), New Zealand (first Sunday of September), Singapore (third Sunday of June), Taiwan (August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month of the year) and Thailand (set on the birthday of the current king). Most of the countries, however, do not consider Father’s Day as a public holiday.
The Philippines also celebrates Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June and it is not an official holiday. This was not widely recognized in the past but due to the influence of the United States, especially as seen on television and on social media, Father’s Day has been enthusiastically received as a day for celebration. Of course, the commercialized aspect of it has a lot to do with its celebration: the sending of greeting cards, advertising of male-oriented gifts, and special offers in hotels and other dining establishments are the main and obvious signs of its celebration.
Some years ago, after I had come to terms with the death of my father, I wanted to write a Father’s Day article, joining the many other columns and articles that usually get published around Father’s Day. I recalled that long before, my father had given me a copy of an article by Fr. Reuter and I wanted to reread it, remembering that it had brought tears to my eyes then as I realized how little appreciated fathers were. I wasn’t able to find my yellowed copy of that article easily and the day passed without my having written a tribute to my father.
Instead, I decided to work with a dear friend whose father was a classmate of my father and we co-authored a book we entitled, Mining’s ‘Dirty Dozen’: The Legacy of the First Mining Engineering Graduates of the Philippines. We chronicled the heartwarming stories of the first 12 Filipino graduates of mining engineering in 1937 from the Mapua Institute of Technology, the first school to open a course in the 1930s. The young men were inspired to enroll in the course as the Philippines was then at the height of a mining boom and required home-grown mining engineers. The lives of the 12 who endured the course (the first batch, which started 70-strong, was eventually winnowed to 24 in their senior year and only 12 graduated with a BSEM degree in 1937, called themselves the original “Dirty Dozen”) reflected the values of sacrifice, industry, honesty and love of country.
My father, Victor E. Balota, was one of them and his 11 co-graduates were Arturo Alcaraz, Gregorio Campomanes, Pablo Capistrano, David Cruz, Lazaro Cruz, Honesto Gapud, Jose Licuanan, Ignacio Antonio, Bienvenido Garcia, Lauro Ferrera and Mauro Gonzales. Except for the last four, we were able to write the stories of these wonderful men as we managed to trace their children. We got our book out in June 2007, the month of Father’s Day.
Today, I want to pay tribute once again to my father, of whom I said in the conclusion of my chapter on him in our book: “I like to think that my father was the quintessential person in the mold of St. Joseph the Worker… ” who all his life was happiest prospecting in the mountains, wearing his mining hat, swinging his sample pick, breathing life into new mines, inspiring his employees, colleagues and many young men, and living a simple life with his wife and us his children.
I later found the yellowed article my father gave me. Let me quote what Fr. Reuter said: “This is the vocation of a father. To give and to ask nothing back. He gives life to his children and labor and love. He gives them all he has. Literally, he lays down his life for them, day by day. And when they are grown, he lets them go… The Daddy gives. This is love. This is religion.”
*** The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and Manila Times. You can email the author at merci.suleik@gmail.com. Know more about #FINEXPhils through www.finex.org.ph.