Hallmark holiday

In the United States, a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event. The name comes from Hallmark Cards, a privately owned American company, that benefits from such manufactured events through sales of greeting cards and other items. Holidays that have been referred to as "Hallmark holidays" include Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents Day, National Son’s Day, National Daughter’s Day, Sweetest Day, Boss's Day, Administrative Professionals' Day, and Teacher Appreciation Day, Graduation Day, though holidays such as Valentine's Day have been celebrated since the 5th century AD as the Feast of St. Valentine, and Mother's Day observed since the 1780's in England and later America as a day to "Go A'mothering", and others, all observed long before the Hallmark Company was founded (1910). The Hallmark corporation maintains that it "can't take credit for creating holidays."

See also

• Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day
• Christmas in July in the Northern Hemisphere
• Father's Day
• Super Bowl Sunday, an unofficial holiday centered on a commercial product
• Valentine's Day
• List of food days

Further reading

• Mooney, Linda & Brabant, Sarah (1998). "Off the Rack: Store Bought Emotions and the Presentation of Self". Electronic Journal of Sociology. 3 (4). ISSN 1198-3655.
• Schmidt, Leigh Eric (December 1991). "The Commercialization of the Calendar: American Holidays and the Culture of Consumption, 1870–1930". Journal of American History. Organization of American Historians. 78 (3): 887–916. doi:10.2307/2078795. JSTOR 2078795.