From Handshake to Hashtag to Holiday
Title: From Handshake to Hashtag to Holiday
[Opening Hook]
One day, you’re holding your annual backyard barbeque, greeting old friends with a handshake. Time passes and the occasion becomes a trending hashtag, as celebrities hop on that bandwagon. And then, somehow, it’s a federal holiday, complete with themed snacks and a three-day weekend.
From handshake to hashtag to holiday?
It’s probably a folk thing.
[Intro Music]
HOST:
Welcome to It’s Probably a Folk Thing – the podcast about everyday stuff that turns out to be older, weirder, and way more meaningful than we realized. I’m Aaron Crawford, and today we’re looking at how holidays evolve – from grassroots gatherings to government mandates.
Segment 1: Culture Has Tiers. Like Cake. Or Castles.
To know how holidays are born, you have to know a wee bit about culture. Culture has tiers. Like cake. Or castles. Or parfaits. Or a really pretentious charcuterie board.
How do you know what tier it’s in? It’s all about how it spreads.
• Folk culture spread informally – from person-to-person. It’s grassroots. It’s messy. It’s your aunt’s casserole that shows up every year, even though no one likes it. The key is that it’s made by real people. That’s what folk means – it literally means the people.
• Popular culture spreads everywhere, all at once. Think pop songs and movie themes that are suddenly everywhere and you can’t escape.
It’s commercial. It’s catchy. And it comes with merch.
• Elite culture spreads from the top-down. Presidents declare it. Governments schedule it. The people in charge say so.
Most holidays don’t start with presidents or pop stars. They start with people. In backyards. With burned hot dogs and questionable crafts. Then they bubble up into pop culture. And once they get big enough – boom. They get – sometimes grudgingly – elite status.
Segment 2: Thanksgiving – Or, Pilgrim Fanfiction Day
Thanksgiving is a perfect example. Thanksgiving started as a folk tradition. Early colonists had local days of thanks. Different dates, different menus.
In the 1800s, Sarah Josepha Hale – coincidentally the lady who wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb" – spent 17 years writing to presidents about making it a national holiday.
Lincoln finally gave in. And thus, Thanksgiving got elite status.
Nowadays? We've still got the folklore of family dinners, along with the pop culture inflatable cartoons, and a government-declared super-long weekend.
I can give other examples:
• Mother’s Day: Started with celebrating one guy’s mom. It ultimately became brunch and the florists' Superbowl.
• Labor Day: was born from labor protests and grew into mattress sales.
And of course, both of these were eventually declared official federal holidays. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day have similar origins.
And it’s not just the US: May Day, St. John’s Day, Carnivale, and the Mid-Autumn Festivals in several Asian countries started the same way. The Folk love their celebrations.
Segment 3: Juneteenth – From Folk to Federal
This is where Juneteenth comes in. In some areas, it’s an old tradition. They’ve celebrated it for over 150 years. In other places, it’s something that seems to have popped up out of nowhere.
It began in Texas in 1865. Word of emancipation finally reached enslaved people two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. They celebrated. And every year after, their descendants kept celebrating.
For decades, it was a folk holiday: cookouts, music, storytelling. Not sponsored by Pepsi. Not mentioned in your planner.
Then, awareness spread. TV specials. Social media posts. Branded shirts. It moved into pop culture.
And finally, in 2021, it became a federal holiday. Elite recognition. Your email auto-reply now includes it.
So if you’re in one of those areas where Juneteenth seems to have suddenly appeared like a holiday fairy dropped it off overnight between Flag Day and the Fourth of July, you should know that Juneteenth was a folk holiday long before it became a federal holiday. Just like Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, and Labor Day.
[Closing Thought]
So next time someone complains that a holiday is "new" or "made up," just remind them:
Every holiday was made up. That’s how culture works.
It starts with people. It spreads. And eventually, someone makes it official.
Try starting a holiday with your family. Maybe it will catch on. Let me recommend “Family Folklore Day” on April 2 (that’s Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday). Whatever happens with your special holiday, though, remember:
It’s definitely a folk thing.
Until Next Time.
