Fathers Day
Fathers Day
We have to thank a determined young lady from Spokane, Washington, resident Sonora Smart-Dodd—one of six children being raised by a single dad—who wanted to honour her father by starting Father’s Day.
He was left to raise the children on his own after his wife died with the birth of their youngest child. Ms Dodd campaigned and encouraged local churches to institute the first Father’s Day observance the following year, and the idea caught on. Dodd celebrated the first Father’s Day by delivering gifts to sick fathers all over Spokane.
In most of the countries around the world, Father’s day is celebrated in the month of June. The reason for that is that its birthday of Sonara Dodd’s father’s in June.
Father’s Day in America was made official in 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.
It is believed that Father’s Day actually started almost 4000 years ago when young boy, in Babylon, called Elmesu carved a Father’s Day message on a card made out of clay. On this card he wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life.
50% of Father’s Day cards are given to dads by their children. 20% are given to husbands from their wives. The remaining 30% go to grandfathers, sons, brothers, uncles and “someone special.”
Today, the most popular Father’s Day gift is a tie. With an estimated 90 million cards being sent yearly, makes it is the 4th most popular card sending celebration in the United States after Mother’s Day (141 million), Valentine’s Day (152 million), and Christmas (1.8 billion).It has been estimated that more than one-third of the cards sold on Father’s Day are funny in nature.
Roses are the official flower for Father’s Day. A red rose is worn in the lapel if your father is living, a white rose if he is deceased.
Interesting trivia about Father’s Day:
- Father’s Day is the busiest day of the year for collect phone calls.
- The word “Dad” dates back to the sixteenth century. It may have initiated from the Welsh word “Tad” which means father and eventually it altered to Dad.
- In Germany they don’t only celebrate fathers. They have a celebration called Men’s Day where groups of male friends do hiking tours, pulling a cart along them full of wine, beer and other food stuff.
- There are 1.5bn fathers worldwide. Each year, 122m children are born worldwide.
- In 2008 thousands of primary pupils in Scotland were prevented from making Father’s Day cards at school for fear of embarrassing classmates who lived with single mothers.
- Female shoppers spend 50% more than men on gifts for their Dad.