Posted
on June 4, 2015
I'm
pretty sure that "Old Maids" Day is way too old fashioned to still be
celebrated...right?
 |
| Actress, director, producer, screenwriter Diane Keaton |
It
used to be that the established wisdom was that all women wanted to
get married, needed to get married, should get married.
And
if a woman got to be a certain age and still hadn't married, she was sometimes called an “old maid.” And, honestly, she was seen by
many as an object of pity. “Oh, poor dear. She never married, you
know...”
 |
| Queen Elizabeth I famously never married |
Of
course, some men and women DO want to find someone special, share
their life with that one special someone, and make it all official by
getting married.
But
some don't.
And
some men and women who want to get married never find the special
someone who thinks that they are a special someone as well...and some
people are disappointed.
But
we know now that humans are important and can make huge contributions
whether they are male or female, married or single. Humans can be
happy and fulfilled no matter what, too!
Okay?
Okay...but
what about this “Old Maid's” Day?
Apparently,
on this date in 1948, a woman who worked at a shirt factory in
Norristown, Pennsylvania, secretly put a greeting card and a corsage
of flowers on the work tables of unmarried women who were 30 years
old or older.
Naturally,
the women who got the cards and flowers wondered what was going on.
And the women who didn't get anything wondered, too.
Whenever
Marion Richards was asked if she knew what was going on, she would
whisper, “Shhh, this is Old Maid's Day.”
So
soon everyone knew that Richards had been the gift giver.
And
that day was super fun at the shirt factory. Someone brought out ice
cream as a special treat. That night some married women and young
single girls gave a party for the “Old Maids,” and Richards was
asked to give a speech; she said she hoped that Old Maids Day would
never be called “Spinsters Day” and that it would never be
commercialized. Everyone agreed that recognition of unmarried women
should happen once a year in Norristown.
And
there was a bit of newspaper coverage – and soon Richards and “Old
Maids Day” secretary Dora McCracken were inundated with letters
from people wanting to privately celebrate their own unmarried
friends and relatives on June 4 or who wanted to start a public
celebration in their own town. Letters came even from other
countries, such as Germany, Canada, England, and Finland.
By
the way...
Can
you think of a reason that there were more unmarried women in the
late 1940s?
Many
women had been waiting for men that they loved to return back from
World War II. And the tragic truth about war is that some soldiers do
not come back home.
Also
on this date:
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