Yesterday Father’s Day was celebrated in many countries around the world but is not deemed to be as popular as Mother’s Day, why is that? Did you treat your dad on his special day?
Father’s Day was founded in the US in 1910, however, it did not become official until 1966, three years after Mother’s Day, although in many countries it was not celebrated until much later. In the UK it was recognised after World War II. It has, however, been celebrated by various religions under different names for much longer.
According to Wikipedia, a customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is usually celebrated on March 19, as the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini (“Nourisher of the Lord”) in Catholicism and “the putative father of Jesus” in southern European tradition. This celebration was taken to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese. The Catholic Church actively supported the custom of a celebration of fatherhood on St. Joseph’s Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans.
Whether to celebrate this day worldwide or not remained a debatable topic. In 1908, Grace Golden Clayton proposed the day to honour those men who had died in a mining accident in the US. Though it was not accepted then, in 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd, who along with her five brothers was raised by her father alone, after attending Mother’s Day in a church, convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association to celebrate Father’s Day worldwide, according to Wikipedia.
It seems that the suggestion of celebrating Father’s Day in many countries was met with resistance mainly because dads do not have the same emotional appeal as mums and flowers and chocolates are not really their thing.
So, how do you celebrate Father’s Day? Do you take him out for a meal that he pays for, or do you treat him, or do you buy him a gift?
Not all dads are the same, are they? Some work from home, some are stay at home dads looking after the family while mum works, some have gruelling jobs that keep them away from home for long periods of time and some have regular 9 to 5 jobs. What about yours?
Whichever type of dad you have they are all important members of the family and deserve the same respect and love as your mum.
Until my dad died in 2002, I was always a “daddy’s girl” and spent most of my time with him, and growing up he always encouraged me to experience new things and taught me a lot about life. He was a military man for over 30 years and was always strict but fair, something all his young soldiers also said.
I can remember doing something he said I should never do and when I asked for his help he came and picked my friends and I up in the car at 2 a.m. from a remote village and when we got home, I rushed upstairs to bed and spent a sleepless night fretting about the trouble I would be in in the morning. When I did get up and go downstairs, he was laughing with my mum about my escapade and didn’t tell me off at all. He reckoned that I had punished myself enough all night.
My dad was and still is my hero, although we celebrated Father’s Day with homemade cards and perhaps a new pipe and tobacco, as far as I was concerned everyday was a special day with my dad.
You should think the same about yours.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
