National Umbrella Day is a holiday celebrated on February 10th, commemorating the invention of one of the most used pieces of personal weather protection a person will ever own. Umbrellas are useful for keeping rain or sunlight off a person and are portable enough to take just about anywhere. So why not take the time out of your busy day and spend a few moments celebrating a piece of equipment that many of us use regularly but few people think about.

The History Of Umbrellas

Although we couldn’t uncover the origins of National Umbrella Day—other than people started celebrating it somewhere between 2000 and 2004—we did manage to uncover quite a bit about the history of the umbrella, information that we would like to share with everyone.

Probably the first instance of an umbrella was around 2450 B.C. This is when the Egyptians invented an umbrella out of lotus leaves and/or feathers and attached them to a stick. These umbrellas were used to shield royalty from the sun and, for all intents and purposes, they worked quite well.

Eventually, umbrellas spread throughout Asia and became especially popular in China. As was the case in Egypt, servants in China would use them to shield nobility from rain or sun. These umbrellas were constructed out of leather and silk. However, that didn’t mean that nobles were the only ones who used them. The working classes also used them, although their umbrellas were made of lesser-quality materials than those of the royals.

Umbrellas were used during the late Mycenaean period in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome. For some reason, however, after the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Dark Ages, umbrella use fell drastically. During the medieval period, the umbrella is mentioned very little in important historical documents.

Umbrellas came back into fashion during the Victorian Age and never fell out of popularity again. Now they are as common as any other personal type of weather protection equipment. They’re not as popular as winter coats, but they’re certainly more common than raincoats.

Celebrating National Umbrella Day

Anyone wanting to celebrate this holiday can do so by showing some appreciation for the common umbrella. How can a person do that? Well, they can pull their favorite umbrella out of storage and use it for the day, or they can spend the day shopping for a new one. It’s also a good day to watch a movie that has a famous umbrella scene in it. Both “Singing in the Rain” and “Mary Poppins” feature prominent uses of umbrellas. And while you’re celebrating, why not take a picture of your cool umbrella and post it to social media using the hashtag #NationalUmbrellaDay