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Infobox Holiday

holiday_name=Father's Day
observedby=Many countries
date=Varies regionally
type=Historical
relatedto=Mother's Day, Parents' Day, Children's Day
Father's Day is a widely known celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. It is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in many countries and on other days elsewhere. It complements Mother's Day, the celebration honoring mothers.

History

Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting. It is also celebrated to honor and commemorate our forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities. Contrary to popular belief, the first observance of Father's Day actually took place in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908. The special day was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, who wanted to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongah Mining disaster several months earlier in Monongah, West Virginia, on December 6, 1907. The First Father's Day Church, now the Central United Methodist Church, still stands in Fairmont today. Various other sources believe (possibly because West Virginia did not officially register the holiday.) that the first Father's Day was held nearly two years later on June 19, 1910 through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. After listening to a church sermon at Spokane's Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909 about the newly recognized Mother's Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition, as well. She wanted a celebration that honored fathers like her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was left to raise his family alone when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child when Sonora was 16 years old. The following year with the assistance of Reverend Dr. Conrad Bluhm, her pastor at Old Centenary Presbyterian Church (now Knox Presbyterian Church), Sonora took the idea to the Spokane YMCA. The Spokane YMCA, along with the Ministerial Alliance, endorsed Dodd’s idea and helped it spread by celebrating the first Father’s Day in 1910. Sonora suggested her father’s birthday, June 5, be established as the day to honor all Fathers. However, the pastors wanted more time to prepare, so on June 19, 1910, young members of the YMCA went to church wearing roses: a red rose to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a deceased one. Dodd traveled through the city in a horse-drawn carriage, carrying gifts to shut-in fathers confined indoors by illness. It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA, and churches, Father's Day ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our two parents" In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. In 2010, the Father's Day Centennial Celebration occurs in Spokane with a month of events commemorating the day. In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on November 19 for men and boys who are not fathers.

Commercialization

The Associated Men's Wear Retailers formed a National Father's Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s, which was renamed in 1938 to National Council for the Promotion of Father's Day and incorporated several other trade groups. In this aspect she can be considered the opposite of Anna Jarvis, who actively opposed all commercialization of Mother's Day. The merchants recognized the tendency to parody and satirize the holiday, and used it to their benefit by mocking the holiday on the same advertisements where they promoted the gifts for fathers. Its executive director explained back in 1949 that, without the coordinated efforts of the Council and of the groups supporting it, the holiday would have disappeared.

Spelling

Although the name of the event is usually understood as a plural possessive (i.e. "day belonging to fathers"), which would under normal English punctuation guidelines be spelled "Fathers' Day", the most common spelling is "Father's Day", as if it were a singular possessive (i.e. "day belonging to Father"). In the United States, Dodd used the "Fathers' Day" spelling on her original petition for the holiday,

Dates around the world

The officially recognized date of Father's Day varies from country to country. This section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance. _ *Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrates people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and women). But the congratulations are traditionally, nationally accepted by all fathers, other adult men and male children as well.
**In China during Republican period prior to 1949, Father's Day on August 8 was first held in Shanghai in 1945.

International history and traditions

In a few Catholic countries, it is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph.

Argentina

Father's Day in Argentina is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there have been several attempts to change the date to August 24, to commemorate the day on which the "Father of the Nation" José de San Martín became a father. In 1953 the proposal to celebrate Father's Day in all educational establishments on August 24, in honor of José de San Martín, was raised to the General Direction of Schools of Mendoza Province. The day was celebrated for the first time in 1958, on the third Sunday of June, but it was not included in the school calendars due to pressure from several groups. Schools in the Mendoza Province continued to celebrate Father's Day on August 24, and, in 1982, the Provincial Governor passed a law declaring Father's Day in the province to be celebrated on that day. In 2004, several proposals to change the date to August 24 were presented to the Argentine Camara de Diputados as a single, unified project.

Australia

In Australia, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday. YMCA Victoria continues the tradition of honouring the role fathers, and father figures play in parenting through the annual awarding of Local Community Father of the Year in 32 municipalities in Victoria. The Father's Day Council of Victoria annually recognise fathers in the Father of the Year Award. www.fathersdaycouncil.org.au\ Alan Colgate, a man in Penrith NSW, every 6/7 years has his birthday on Fathers Day.

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the Unidad Social Cristiana party presented a bill to change the celebration of the day from the third Sunday of June to 19 March, the day of Saint Joseph. That was in order to give tribute to this saint, who gave the name to the capital of the country San José, Costa Rica, and so family heads will be able to celebrate the Father's Day at the same time as the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. The official date is still third Sunday of June.

Denmark

In Denmark, Father's Day is celebrated on June 5. It coincides with Constitution Day, which is a public holiday.

Germany

In Germany, Father's Day (''Vatertag'') is celebrated differently from other parts of the world. some of which reportedly took on the character of drinking sprees as early as in the 17th century. In the streets of urban regions, especially Berlin, "gentlemen parties" take place since the 19th century, excluding women and going along with alcohol consumption. However, some fathers also spend the day with their families and refrain from getting drunk.

Hindu tradition

In countries of Hindu tradition, the western-inspired Father's Day is celebrated on the new moon day (Amavasya) during late August or early September, to fit the existing Hindu worship of fathers. This is common among countries with Hindu majorities like in India and Nepal.

Japan

In Japan, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June and is not a public holiday.

Seychelles

In Seychelles, Father's Day is celebrated on the 16th day of June and is not a public holiday.

Nepal

The Hindu population in Nepal worships fathers in ''Gokarna Aunsi'' (literally "Father's Day"), which happens in late August or early September. In the new moon day (Amavasya) many people go to the Shiva temple of Gokarneswor Mahadev, in Gokarna, a suburb of Kathmandu. The date of the Western-inspired Father's Day was moved in Nepal to 23 August to fit this pre-existing Hindu festival.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and is not a public holiday.

The Philippines

In the Philippines, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on the 3rd Sunday of June. Most Filipinos born in the 1960s and 1970s did not celebrate Father's day but due to being under the influence of the United States (due to its colonization) as seen on television, the Filipinos most likely follow this tradition and other American holidays. The advent of the internet also helps in promoting this holiday to the Filipinos.

Roman Catholic tradition

In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration.

Romania

Beginning with 2010, in Romania, Father's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and it is recognized officially by the state. Out of the 27 states in the European Union, it was the only one without an official Father's Day. Law 319/2009 was passed thanks to the campaigning from the Alliance Fighting Discrimination Against Fathers (TATA).

Singapore

In Singapore, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June but is not a public holiday.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month of the year. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of the number 8 is ''bā''. This pronunciation is very similar to the character "爸" "bà", which means "Papa" or "father". The Taiwanese, therefore, usually call August 8 by its nickname, "Bābā Day" (爸爸節).

Thailand

In Thailand, Father's Day is set as the birthday of the king. December 5 is the birthday of the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Thais celebrate by giving their father or grandfather a Canna flower (Dok put ta ruk sa), which is considered a masculine flower. Thai people will wear yellow on this day to show respect for the king, because yellow is the Color of the day for Monday, the day king Bhumibol Adulyadej was born. It first gained nationwide popularity in the 1980s as part of a campaign by Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda to promote Thailand's royal family. August 12.

United Kingdom

Fathers' Day in the UK is celebrated on the third Sunday of June.

United States of America

In the US, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June. Its first celebration was in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910. Other festivities honoring fathers had been held in Fairmont and in Creston, but the modern holiday did not emerge from those. Modern Father's Day was invented by Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington, who was also the driving force behind its establishment. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA, at the Spokane YMCA. Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon. In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by promoting greeting cards and traditionally male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts. More phone calls are made in the United States during Mother's Day than during Father's Day, but the percentage of collect calls on Father's Day is much higher, making it the busiest day of the year for collect calls. Also, calls during both Mother's Day and Father's Day tend to last longer. Father's Day is accompanied by a smaller total number of phone calls, greeting cards and gifts than Mother's Day. It is speculated that this is due to the greater number of households with a mother than households with a father (due to single mothers), to the greater role of mothers in unpaid household labor, and to different personal or societal expectations. It is also a well known American tradition for companies (especially tax and accounting firms) to allow their workers to dress down the Friday before Fathers day. =

Antecedent

= The first modern celebration of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Clayton was mourning the loss of her father when, on December of 1907, the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand fatherless children. Clayton suggested her pastor Robert Thomas Webb to honor all those fathers. Grace Golden Clayton chose the Sunday nearest to the birthday of her father, Methodist minister Fletcher Golden. The event did not have repercussions outside of Fairmont for several reasons, among them: the city was overwhelmed by other events, the celebration was never promoted outside of the town itself and no proclamation was made in the City Council. Also two events overshadowed this event: the celebration of Independence Day July 4, 1908, with 12,000 attendants and several shows including a hot air balloon event, which took over the headlines in the following days, and the death of a 16 year old girl on the 4th of July. The local church and Council were overwhelmed and they didn't even think of promoting the event, and it wasn't celebrated again for many years. The original sermon was not reproduced in press and it was lost. Finally, Clayton was a quiet person, who never promoted the event or even talked to other persons about it. Clayton also might have been inspired by Anna Jarvis' crusade to establish Mother's Day; two months prior, Jarvis had held a celebration for her dead mother in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles (24�km) away from Fairmont.

See also

Children's Day
International Men's Day
Mother's Day
National Grandparents Day

References

Bibliography

External links

Proclamations by US Presidents on Father's Day, from George W. Bush and Bill Clinton

Fathers day