More romantic than Father’s Day with less pressure than Valentine’s Day, Husband Appreciation Day is observed on the third Saturday in April. We love this little known holiday dedicated to the men in our lives who show up for us in bold and subtle ways every day of the year. It’s fun-loving spirit gives us lucky spouses an opportunity to be creative and thoughtful in how we show our appreciation to our partners.
Since the earliest recordings of marriage, husbands, across many cultural and religious traditions, have been established as the protectors and providers of their wives and families. Certain religious traditions believe it is the husband’s role to provide physical or even spiritual protection to their wives. Such protection can extend to one wife for a lifetime or multiple wives at once. The role of husband has traditionally been one of honor with the man leading the household in financial and other family planning decisions.
Major culture shifts over the past three decades have changed how many of us see, feel, and practice marriage. Many marriages are seeing more equality between husbands and their wives with husbands taking on more domestic tasks like cooking, cleaning, and child care while wives take on full time jobs and bring in as much, if not more money than their husbands. Other couples have abandoned gender roles completely as new norms of secularism, spirituality, same sex marriage, and gender nonspecific identities become more interwoven into our cultural fabric. Through our ever evolving history one thing remains true: we love our hubbies.
