National Celebrate Your Marriage Day
The second Sunday in February is observed as World Marriage Day each year, which may sometimes fall on St. Valentine's Day. This year, it will be observed on February 9. World Marriage Day is observed for the first time in 1983 in the USA. Promoted by the Catholic Church mainly through different activities, they honor marriages by praising the beauty of marriage and paying tribute to the enduring commitment and sacrifices made by all couples.
The commemoration of World Marriage Day is a concept that emerged as a branch of Worldwide Marriage Encounteran, an organization whose main objective is to ensure that couples lead happy and fulfilling marriages. This day is not only a celebration of the male and female through sacred union as a couple but it illustrates that family is the smallest social unit. In addition, this annual occasion recognizes the honorable aspects of indissolubility, fidelity, loyalty, thanksgiving and happiness in marriage.
The institution of marriage as we have known it has undergone radical changes in history. To the younger generation, marriage between one man and one woman for life, surely appears like an antiquated norm. However, it is a recent idea in its own right. It was only in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two that the practice of polygamy was criminalized in the United States.
For the Church, marriage is understood in a more profound way as just the coming together of two persons. It is the very fabric of society and the birthplace of civilization. There is a call to the society on that day to celebrate their marital status with happiness and faith fully and to ensure that homely life becomes their greatest concern.
World Marriage Day provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the disintegration of families in the contemporary world. There is need for parishes on such a day to solicit and assist the married couples in every way possible and encourage them to embrace the sanctity of the church. This is also about the acceptance of the evolving concept of marriage, the mixing of different cultures which enhances the creation of God.
Inception of World Marriage Day goes back to 1981 when a group of wedded individuals living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana requested the city’s mayor, the State’s governor, and the church’s Bishop to declare February 14 (St. Valentine’s Day) as a day called ‘We Believe in Marriage’. After the success of the event, it was later proposed and accepted by the National Leadership of Worldwide Marriage Encounter that the day be celebrated every year.
The following year, which was 1982, 43 governors of the United States signified their approval and subsequently declared the day as We Believe in Marriage Day. Ultimately, some US military installations situated in various other countries also engaged in the celebrations. In the year 1983, the day experienced two notable alterations; the first one being that its title was altered to World Marriage Day and the second being that it was assigned to take place on the second Sunday in February every year. Many years later, in 1993, the International Event was also endorsed by the canonized Pope John Paul II… who gave his Apostolic Blessing on the Occasion. As far as the Catholic church is concerned, World Marriage Week is still celebrated every February 7-14.
As of today, World Marriage Day is marked every second Sunday of February in many countries across the globe, particularly by the Catholic church. Once in a while, and like its first edition, the day still lands on February 14, which is also celebrated as Valentine's day.
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