50 Fun Facts About Grandparents Day

In the United States, National Grandparents Day is observed on which day?

Because it is tied to Labor Day, the date drifts between early and mid-September from year to year.

Which US president signed the proclamation creating National Grandparents Day?

He signed it on 3 August the following year, after the Senate's February 1977 joint resolution requesting an annual proclamation.

Marian McQuade, founder of National Grandparents Day, was a housewife from which state?

Her state's governor, Arch Moore, proclaimed a statewide Grandparents Day at her urging before the national holiday existed.

Which senator introduced a 1973 resolution to make Grandparents Day a national holiday?

That first resolution died in committee; a 1977 joint resolution with broad support finally got through.

After the 1973 resolution died, McQuade gathered proclamations from how many states?

She mailed copies of every proclamation to Senator Randolph as proof the idea had national support.

In 1969, nine-year-old Russell Capper suggested a Grandparents Day to which president?

The president's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, wrote back explaining that proclamations normally needed a Congressional resolution first.

What is the official flower of US National Grandparents Day?

Because that flower blooms in spring, people usually give seasonal flowers instead on the September holiday. It is also Alaska's state flower.

The US statute says the day should also make children aware of what?

McQuade also urged young people to "adopt" a grandparent, not for one day a year but for life.

Which country celebrated a Grandparents' Day first, back in 1965?

Grandma's Day there falls on January 21, with Grandpa's Day the very next day.

France's Grandmothers' Day was launched in 1987 by what kind of company?

Café Grand'Mère invented the day, which now sits on the first Sunday in March in French calendars.

Italy's Festa Nazionale dei Nonni on October 2 coincides with which Catholic feast?

Italy made the day official in 2005, pairing grandparents with the angels said to watch over children.

Spain, Portugal and Brazil all mark Grandparents' Day on July 26. Whose feast day is that?

Tradition names them as the parents of Mary, which makes them the grandparents of Jesus.

When is the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, declared by Pope Francis in 2021?

Catholics can earn a plenary indulgence by attending a Mass for the elderly or by visiting someone who is alone.

Japan's Respect for the Aged Day became a national holiday in which year?

It was fixed on September 15 until 2003, when the Happy Monday System moved it to the third Monday of September for a long weekend.

Which country began celebrating Grandparents' Day in 1979, a year after the United States?

It lands on the fourth Sunday in November there, and since 2004 working parents can claim a tax relief when grandparents mind the kids.

In the Philippines, Grandparents' Day has been celebrated since 1987 on which day?

Businesses treat it as a family day, laying on free concerts, meal discounts and medical checkups for seniors.

Mexico celebrates Día de los Abuelos on which date?

Unlike the floating US date, Mexico's day is fixed on the calendar in late summer.

The day came to the United Kingdom in 1990 through which charity?

It never quite caught on with the British public, and has been held on the first Sunday in October since 2008.

Which Canadian MP moved the 1995 Commons motion proposing a National Grandparents' Day?

The motion asked the government to designate the second September Sunday to recognise grandparents' role in raising children.

The Dutch Opa en Oma Dag, created in 2004, falls on which date?

Many Dutch people have never heard of it; one idea it promotes is "adopting" a grandma or grandpa for the day or for life.

Which Polish magazine created Dzień Babci (Grandma's Day) in 1964?

The magazine's name means "Woman and Life"; the day was popularised from 1965 onwards and Grandpa's Day followed on January 22.

Which organisation introduced the first Grandparents' Day in Hong Kong in 1990?

Hong Kong marks it on the second Sunday in October, the same Sunday Germany uses for its Grandmothers' Day.

Which country's Grandparents' Day on October 28 is said to date back to the ancient Slavs?

The day was meant to strengthen people's connection with their ancestors and bring the generations together.

A person who is not a genetic chimera has at most how many genetic great-grandparents?

The count doubles every generation back: 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, and so on.

Roughly what share of their genes do grandparents share with a grandchild?

That makes grandparents second-degree relatives, the same genetic distance as a half-sibling or an aunt.

About how long ago did the number of humans living long enough to be grandparents rise?

One theory is that three living generations let crucial knowledge survive, such as where to find water in a drought.

What do you call two people whose grandparents were siblings?

Third cousins share great-great-grandparents, and each extra generation adds one more "great".

The "grand-" in grandparent, first recorded in the 13th century, came from which language?

Old English had its own system: a great-grandfather was a "third father" and a great-great-grandfather a "fourth father".

In the Philippines, what are a grandfather and grandmother called?

The other pairs are Italian, Dutch/German, and the Hindi-Urdu words for paternal grandparents.

Which language has no single word for "grandmother", using mormor and farmor instead?

Mormor is literally "mother's mother" and farmor "father's mother"; Danish and Norwegian use the same words plus a general term.

In Bangladesh, Pakistan and much of India, Nana and Nani are grandparents on which side?

The paternal pair are Dada and Dadi, and the great-grandparents simply add "Par-" in front.

Which French writer published L'Art d'être grand-père (The Art of Being a Grandfather)?

A century earlier Diderot had coined the verbs grandpériser and grandmériser; the doting grandparent was a newish idea in France.

The "grandmother hypothesis" is an evolutionary explanation for what?

The idea is that women who stop reproducing and help feed their grandchildren end up passing on more of their genes.

Grandmothers of which Tanzanian foraging people are key evidence for that hypothesis?

Post-menopausal women there gather staple foods that young children cannot get for themselves, freeing mothers to care for infants.

Grandma Moses began painting in earnest at what age?

Arthritis had made her embroidery painful, so she switched to paint and kept going until she died at 101.

Which 1943 Grandma Moses painting became a bestselling Hallmark Christmas card?

Christie's sold it in 2006 for $1.36 million, an auction record for the artist.

Maria Ann Smith grew the first Granny Smith apple from a chance seedling in which country?

She found it in Eastwood, now a Sydney suburb, in 1868, having emigrated from East Sussex in England.

The term "grandfather clock" for a longcase clock comes from an 1876 song by which writer?

The same songwriter wrote the Civil War marching song "Marching Through Georgia".

In The Princess Bride (1987), who plays the grandfather reading to his sick grandson?

Fred Savage played the grandson and won a Youth in Film Award for it; at a 2011 live reading, director Rob Reiner took the grandfather role.

What happens to bedridden Grandpa Joe when Charlie finds his Golden Ticket?

In an early draft Dahl had Charlie's mother take him to the factory instead, a chapter his publisher cut.

Which actor voices Grampa Simpson, as well as Grampa's son Homer?

Grampa is a World War II veteran and retired farmer who was packed off to the Springfield Retirement Castle by Homer.

In Heidi, what do the villagers call the grandfather who raises her in the Alps?

The book appeared in two parts in 1880 and 1881, the first of which follows five-year-old Heidi in her paternal grandfather's care.

Who first published Little Red Riding Hood, ending with the wolf simply falling asleep?

The Grimms added the woodcutter who cuts the sleeping wolf open with an axe.

Pixar's Coco, about a boy and his musical ancestors, is inspired by which holiday?

The film's title character is actually Miguel's great-grandmother, whose fading memory drives the plot.

Looney Tunes' Granny is best known as the owner of which character?

Bea Benaderet voiced her from 1950 to 1955, then June Foray took over for almost 60 years.

On The Waltons, grandparents Zeb and Esther were played by Will Geer and which actress?

Her real-life stroke was written into the show, which is why Grandma Walton barely speaks in later seasons.

Grandpa on The Munsters, played by Al Lewis, is given what full name?

He is a vampire and the doting but sarcastic father of Lily Munster.

"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" was first recorded in 1979 by which duo?

Randy Brooks wrote it and pitched it to the couple after a show at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe; Elmo appeared in drag as Grandma on the cover.

In Roald Dahl's The Witches, the boy narrator's grandmother comes from which country?

Dahl's own parents were Norwegian, and the 1983 novel is split between Norway and England.

Grandfather Mountain, the Blue Ridge's highest eastern escarpment peak, is in which state?

It rises to 5,946 feet near Linville and is both a state park and a non-profit attraction.