Father’s Day occurs on different dates in different countries. However, the most common date for celebrating Father’s Day is on the third Sunday in June. This is the date on which it is celebrated in both India and the United Kingdom, for example, as well as in the United States.
Father’s Day is an important festival with a fascinating yet surprisingly little known origin. Here, we explain all about Father’s Day and what it means to families across the globe.
The origins of Father’s Day.
Father’s Day originated as a counterpart to Mother’s Day – a festival which is also known as Mothering Sunday. Mother’s Day is thus a more ancient festival than Father’s Day – indeed, it has its roots in Ancient Greece and then came to modern society via a Christian festival in the medieval times which celebrated the Virgin Mary and then, later, all mothers. The origins of Father’s Day, however, are just over a century in the past. On June 19th, 1910, a young woman decided to hold a Father’s Day party for her dad, who was a war veteran in the US army. She held her party in the local YMCA. Her name was Sonora Dodd, and she wished to celebrate her father in this way because he had raised her and her five siblings as a single parent. When Mother’s Day came around, year after year, Dodd began to wish that there was a similar holiday for celebrating fathers. And so, she created her own. Her idea caught on, and soon other people in the US started celebrating Father’s Day. Then, the celebration spread abroad, to the UK and other nations such as India.
However, there is an alternative origin story for Father’s Day – one that sees it as a festival that is as ancient as the Mother’s Day celebration. This is the feast day of St Joseph, which falls on March 19th. St Joseph was the husband of the Virgin Mary and so he does have an important fatherly role in the Catholic tradition. For this reason, many predominantly Catholic countries (especially nations in Latin America, and Spain and Portugal) celebrate Father’s Day on the feast day of St Joseph. So, if you feel more of an affinity with the Catholic tradition, you may want to choose to celebrate Father’s Day in March instead. Or, you could celebrate two Father’s Days each year!
The significance of Father’s Day.
Father’s Day is a significant festival because it enables us to appreciate all of the fathers and father figures in our lives. That might mean our biological father, or it might be an uncle, grandparent, or step father who brought us up, or helped to do so.
We might also want to take the opportunity to thank all of the men in our lives who have been like father figures to us. Fathers and father figures are significant for many reasons. For example, as well as helping to bring us up, they love us and support us throughout our adult lives. They often make big sacrifices to help us, and they can be a friend to us like no other. Every father is unique of course, so yours will have his own amazing qualities that you want to celebrate on the third Sunday of June.
Father’s Day is an opportunity for families to spend some real quality time together. Even though we may love and appreciate our fathers every single day of the year, often with our other work and family commitments we may not always have the time or the motivation to show our feelings. The official celebration of Father’s Day gives us the impetus to take some time out to focus on our dad and to really make some real time and effort to make the day special for him.
Father’s Day can be an occasion when our bonds with our fathers are strengthened for the rest of the year.If you are looking for some ways to make the next upcoming Father’s Day special for you and your father, why not read on to the next paragraph which details some common ways of celebrating this day.
Methods of celebration for Father’s Day.
Father’s Day can be celebrated however you please.
- Many children like to give their father a small gift of a card on this special day. Inside the card, you can write a positive message telling your father all of the things that you love about him.
- Another way to celebrate Fathers’s Day is to take your father out for a special treat. Perhaps you could take him to dinner at his favourite restaurant, or take him on an outing to a landmark he would like to see, or to a film that you know that he would enjoy. Alternatively, you might prefer to stay in and cook him dinner at home, or surprise him with a cake or a bunch of flowers in his office at work.
- If you live in a different state – or even in a different country – to your father you could call him or give him a video call so that you can see each other that way. Alternatively, if you do not get to see your dad often, you could use Father’s Day as an excuse to pay him a visit. If you make the visit a surprise, it could be all the more special.
All in all, fathers are totally unique, so it’s time to have a think about what your father would most enjoy so that you can give him the best father’s day ever!
Get ready for Father’s Day.
Now that you know more about the date, origin, and significance of this day – as well as some of the key forms of celebration that are used for it – you are all prepared to have the best Father’s Day ever. We hope that you and the men in your life enjoy a brilliant celebration of the next Father’s Day to come around.
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