TRIVIA: How Fathers Day Started. Now You KNOW !

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June and some are other days.

Father’s Day Around The World

Other countries also picked up on the idea of Father’s Day. While many followed suit by celebrating it on the third Sunday in June, some decided to honor dad on different dates. So, to make sure you know when to pay your respects to dear old dad wherever you may be, here’s a list of the dates Father’s Day is celebrated across the world.

March 14– Iran
March 19– Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Lichtenstein, Portugal, Spain
May 8– South Korea
First Sunday in June– Lithuania
Second Sunday in June– Austria, Ecuador, Belgium
Third Sunday in June– Antigua, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Trinidad, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
June 17– El Salvador, Guatemala
June 23– Nicaragua, Poland, Uganda
Second Sunday in July– Uruguay
Last Sunday in July– Dominican Republic
Second Sunday in August– Brazil
August 8– Taiwan, China
August 24– Argentina
First Sunday in September– Australia, New Zealand
New Moon of September– Nepal
First Sunday in October– Luxembourg
Second Sunday in November– Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden
December 5– Thailand

The History of Father’s Day

First day of Fathers Day

There are two stories of when the first Father’s Day was celebrated. According to some accounts, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Washington state on June 19, 1910. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea of honoring and celebrating her father while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church in 1909. She felt as though mothers were getting all the acclaim while fathers were equally deserving of a day of praise (She would probably be displeased that Mother’s Day still gets the lion’s share of attention).

Sonora Smart Dodd

Sonora’s dad was quite a man. William Smart, a veteran of the Civil War, was left a widower when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. He went on to raise the six children by himself on their small farm in Washington. To show her appreciation for all the hard work and love William gave to her and her siblings, Sonora thought there should be a day to pay homage to him and other dads like him. She initially suggested June 5th, the anniversary of her father’s death to be the designated day to celebrate Father’s Day, but due to some bad planning, the celebration in Spokane, Washington was deferred to the third Sunday in June.

The other story of the first Father’s Day in America happened all the way on the other side of the country in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908. Grace Golden Clayton suggested to the minister of the local Methodist church that they hold services to celebrate fathers after a deadly mine explosion killed 361 men.

While Father’s Day was celebrated locally in several communities across the country, unofficial support to make the celebration a national holiday began almost immediately. William Jennings Bryant was one of its staunchest proponents. In 1924, President Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge recommended that Father’s Day become a national holiday. But no official action was taken.

In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson, through an executive order, designated the third Sunday in June as the official day to celebrate Father’s Day. However, it wasn’t until 1972, during the Nixon administration, that Father’s Day was officially recognized as a national holiday.

This Father’s Day, don’t just buy your Pops a crappy “World’s Best Dad” mug. Write him a card expressing some of the things you love and admire about him. Nothing mushy. Just tell him that you’re glad to be his son or daughter.

Happy Fathers Day to all father out there. Please Share if you love you Father !

Credit: artofmanliness