Observed in the month of June, Father's Day is the
occasion dedicated to every man who has ever had the joy of procreation and the fortune of hearing himself being addressed by that sweet three letter word - "dad".
Contrary to what many assume it to be, Father's Day is not a card holiday. It stems from the natural desire of every affectionate man/woman to
honor and express thankfulness to his/her father for all the efforts and troubles that he takes to fulfill his paternal duties. For any loving offspring, every day is Father's Day as is the case with Mother's Day.
The tradition of appreciating fathers is said to have begun about 4,000 years ago, when a young Babylonian boy named Elmusu carved a message of love on a card made out of clay wishing his father good health and a long life. No one remembers the date of composition of this message, but it is regarded as the first recorded evidence of someone making a wish for his father.
In later time, the appreciation of fathers were restricted to the worship of God or saintly beings or individual celebrations. But the actual designation of a holiday in
honor of fathers began due to the efforts of a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd. Though Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia is believed to have conducted the first Father's Day service in 1908 at the Central Church of Fairmont, it was Dodd's efforts that led to the founding of this beautiful
occasion. Sonora lost her mother as a little child in 1898 and she witnessed the immense sacrifices that her father Henry Jackson Smart made when he single-handedly raised herself and her siblings. In 1909, while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane, Washington, Sonora felt that fathers should be
honored and appreciated in the same way as mothers were. She wanted her father to know how special he was to her. Henry Jackson Smart was born on the 19th of June and in 1910 Sonora held the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the same date. She made her desire of having an official Father's Day observance known to the public. But the idea was not
received as well as Mother's Day and it became a subject of many jokes, satire and parody. However, these negative reception brought more and more public attention to the holiday.
In 1913, that a bill was introduced with the objective of establishing an official Father's Day. The idea was approved three years later by US President Woodrow Wilson. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge issued a formal
proclamation declaring the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. 2 years later, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. In 1956, a Joint Resolution of Congress gave recognition to Father's Day. But it was not until 1972 that Father's Day was made a permanent national
occasion by President Nixon, to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
Thus Father's Day became an annual holiday dedicated to fathers and remains a token of a daughter's immense love and respect for her father. Every year, the
occasion is observed in the U.S. and in many other Western nations on the third Sunday of June. The holiday has children as well as adults showering their dads with flowers, gifts, cards, gifts and other small appreciative treats or items that show their love and respect for them. In the countries where the Catholic Church holds a dominant influence, Father's Day is celebrated on St. Joseph's Day (March 19).
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