Father's
Day is
a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating
fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The
tradition was said to be started from a memorial service held for a large group
of men who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in 1907. It was first proposed by
Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. It is
currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June.
History
Father's
Day was inaugurated in the United States in the early 20th century to
complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting.
Father's Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at
the YMCA in 1910
by Sonora
Smart Dodd, who was born in Arkansas. Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA
on June 19, 1910. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who
raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about Jarvis'
Mother's Day at Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909, she told her pastor
that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them. Although she
initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the pastors did not have
enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the
third Sunday of June.
