I AM CELEBRATING – FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL - WEEK ON MY BLOG J
19th June is Father’s Day. I am celebrating ‘FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL WEEK’ until 19th June. This is the first post. More is yet to come so keep following!
A day dedicated to our fathersJ. But how far you know the history of Father’s Day?
Father's Day poses as just the perfect occasion to express feelings of gratitude and thankfulness to every dad in the world. Though the day is celebrated with utmost fervour and enthusiasm in the present times, things were not the same. Father's Day celebration had a modest beginning.
Father's Day, a holiday which honours fathers worldwide, is celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June. It originated in the United States in 1910; a few years after the country began celebrating Mother’s Day. Father’s Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1972.
Father's Day, in the United States, is a holiday (third Sunday in June) to honour fathers. Credit for originating the holiday is generally given to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, whose father, a Civil War veteran, raised her and her five siblings after their mother died in childbirth. She is said to have had the idea in 1909 while listening to a sermon on Mother's Day, which at the time was becoming established as a holiday. Local religious leaders supported the idea, and the first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, the month of the birthday of Dodd's father. Sonora could realize the greatness of her father and wanted to let him know how deeply she was touched by his sacrifices, courage, selflessness and love. To pay a tribute to her great dad, Sonora held the first Father's Day celebration on 19th of June 1910, on the birthday of her father. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance. However, unlike Mother's Day, which was readily accepted, Father's Day was received with mockery and hilarity. Though the day was gaining attention, it was mostly for the wrong reasons. Jokes, satire, parody and derision were all that the day was commemorated for.
In 1913, a bill in accordance with making the day official was introduced. The idea was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Later, in 1924, the idea gained further momentum as it was supported by President Calvin Coolidge. In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. However, it was thirty years later that a Joint Resolution of Congress gave recognition to Father's Day. Another 16 years passed before President Richard Nixon established the third Sunday of June, as a permanent national observance day of Father's Day in 1972.
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge gave his support to the observance, and in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson officially proclaimed it a national holiday. Observance on the third Sunday of June was decreed by law in 1972.
Although it was originally largely a religious holiday, Father's Day has been commercialized with the sending of greeting cards and the giving of gifts. Some observe the custom of wearing a red rose to indicate that one's father is living or a white rose to indicate that he is deceased. Other males—for example, grandfathers or uncles who have assumed parenting roles—are often also honoured on the day. Some Roman Catholics have continued to observe the feast day of Saint Joseph, on March 19, as a tribute to fathers.
So now you know what was the reason that a day is dedicated to our fathers?J
Wait for more posts to come until June 19th, 2011. I am celebrating this week as ‘Father’s Special Week’.
Love you dad!
CheerioJ
