Why is flag day celebrated

Flag Day is celebrated every year on the 14th of June all over the United States of America. The first ever celebration of the Flag Day is believed to have occurred in a school in Waubeka, Wisconsin, as early as in the year 1885. The common belief is that Flag Day is celebrated in an attempt to keep the patriotic spirit in citizens alive. A sense of unity and pride is observed as the US flags are seen flying on porches of houses all over the nation on this day. Although this is all true, the official reason as to why Flag Day is celebrated on the 14th of June is that the Second Continental Congress had declared in 1777, the value and meaning of the US flag and what it symbolizes on this date. What the Flag Day symbolizes is of course freedom. The National Flag Day proclamation was issued officially by President Woodrow Wilson more than a century afterwards on 30th May, 1916. From that year onwards, the hoisting of the flag and the displaying of the national symbol became a standard tradition for the nation.

It did not become a holiday in 1777, that had to wait till 1949; the congress passed the act that made Flag Day a holiday in 1949 but one should note that even today, Flag Day is not a Federal holiday and it depends on the decision of the President whether or not 14th of June would be declared a public holiday on that particular year. Perhaps the only State where Flag Day was celebrated as a state holiday before 1949 was Pennsylvania as 14th June was celebrated here since 1937. Flag Day may not have been a holiday in all the states before the Congress passed the act but it was still celebrated in some of the states from a time much before that.

Today, the biggest celebrations are held at Troy, New York while the celebrations that last the longest in honor of the Flag Day are held at Fairfield Washington. Apart from the parades and the large public gatherings, flag hoisting and displaying the American colors are observed individually across the US.