Real Time News – Go Fan Boy All the news and information that matters
Related Articles
We all have a father.
But how many of us have stopped to think about exactly what a father is? The dictionary describes a father as a male parent. A parent is described as one who nurtures and raises a child.
But isn’t it more than that?
Isn’t a father a source of strength for the family?
The origin of Father’s day
The stereotype of a father is usually the strong one, the one with the iron hand, while the mother is the soft one. But deep down inside, the father is as loving as the mother. He just shows it in a different way. And that’s why Father’s Day was created.
Some say that Father’s Day observances go back as far as ancient Rome when, every February, the Romans honored their fathers – but only after they’d died. There’s no other record of any kind of Father’s Day until the beginning of the 20th century.
A Mother’s Day sermon spurs Father’s Day
It’s interesting to note that the original idea of having a Father’s Day came to a woman while she was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church. It was 1910, the second year Mother’s Day had been celebrated. The church was in Spokane, Washington, not far from Seattle. The woman was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd.
The sermon Mrs. Dodd was listening to was focusing on the virtues of mothers, and the sacrifices they made to provide love and care for their families.
As she listened, she thought of her own mother, who had died in childbirth years before. But she couldn’t help but think of the sacrifices her father had to make, too, in the absence of her mother. When her mother died suddenly, her father had been left with her five brothers and herself – quite a handful, even for two parents.
Mrs. Dodd’s father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran. After the passing of his wife, he raised his six children on a farm in eastern Washington. The hardships he had to overcome – and did in fine form – were that much harder, being a single parent.
So Sonora Smart Dodd decided to honor her father in the same way she honored her mother on Mother’s Day. She didn’t have the same vision of a national holiday as did her counterpart who created Mother’s Day – she just wanted a local gathering.
The Father’s Day seed is planted
The seed for Mrs. Dodd’s idea had been planted, and didn’t take long to begin to grow. She approached the town’s ministers and members of the Spokane YMCA, who all loved her idea.
Mrs. Dodd wanted to set June 5th, her father’s birthday, as the appointed day of celebration. But that was only three weeks away. And being such a new subject, the ministers felt that they’d need longer than that to prepare a suitable sermon. So the date was moved up to June 19th.
At the time, newspapers across the country were already printing editorials supporting a national Mother’s Day celebration. So it was an easy transition for them to add the story of the Father’s Day observance that had taken place in Spokane. Now there was national interest in Father’s Day.
Others took up the Father’s Day torch
Many famous people latched onto the Father’s Day idea and used their influence to promote it. One of the first was William Jennings Bryan, a political leader who was already in the process of backing the celebration of Mother’s Day.
Mr. Bryan agreed with Mrs. Dodd, that fathers deserved as much recognition as mothers. In a letter to Mrs. Dodd, he stated, too much emphases cannot be placed upon the relation between parent and child.
The idea came to Congress, who’d just accepted Mother’s Day as a suitable observance. However, being male-oriented, they felt that if they promoted Father’s Day, it would be a conflict of interest and would look as though they were blowing their own horns. So Congress passed on the idea of creating this national day of celebration.
Further up the political line, President Woodrow Wilson thought the Father’s Day idea was a wonderful one and decided to celebrate this day with his own family. That was in 1916. Then, several years later, in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge suggested to the states that they could, if they wanted, observe Father’s Day on their own.
In a letter to state governors, he wrote, “the widespread observance of this occasion is calculated to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children, and also to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
Nothing else was officially done about Father’s Day, except on local fronts, until 1957, when Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a strong letter to Congress. Her position was stated like this: “Either we honor both our parents, mother and father, or let us desist from honoring either one. But to single out just one of our two parents and omit the other is the most grievous insult imaginable.”
Her letter didn’t have any immediate effect on Congress, because it wasn’t until 1972 that the government officially recognized Father’s Day.
Father’s Day is finally made official
It took 62 years after it’s seed was planted, for the idea of a national Father’s Day observance to be instituted by Congress. But finally, in 1972, President Richard Nixon officially established Father’s Day, to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
Since then, Father’s Day has become an annual day of thanks all across the nation, as well as in other countries. Father’s Day is now the fifth-largest occasion that’s celebrated with greeting cards – about 85 millions cards are given to deserving fathers every year.
And not only cards are presented to happy fathers on Father’s Day. This day has joined all the other gift-giving days of the year. Here are some ideas for showing your father your appreciation:
- Fishing tackle, reels and fly fishing poles
- Baseball apparel, caps, jerseys and jackets
- Designer sunglasses from Nike, Gucci and Versace
- Men’s coats, sweatshirts and sports coats
- Camping equipment, tents and gear
Take these suggestions to your computer and buy your Father’s Day present online. Click on the links above. No need to go fighting through a busy mall. Get your choice delivered to your door. What could be easier? And think of how much your father will appreciate your appreciation as you present him his card and gift – on Father’s Day.
