Father's Day
- This article is about the celebration. For the Doctor Who episode, see Father's Day (Doctor Who).
Father's Day is a holiday to celebrate fatherhood and parenting by males, as Mother's Day celebrates motherhood and mothering. Retailers encourage the giving of hardware, tools and other stereotypically male gifts on the day. It is also a typical day for father-and-son forays or no-girls-allowed get-togethers in some countries.
Date
Almost all over the world, a Father's Day exists to honor and commemorate fathers or forefathers. In Christian/Catholic tradition, Father's Day is celebrated on St. Joseph's Day. Other cultures have different days to celebrate their fathers, and even in many traditionally Christian/Catholic countries a more 'secular/non-religious' Father's day is also held.
- Austria: second Sunday in June
- Australia and New Zealand: the first Sunday in September
- Argentina, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela: the third Sunday in June (June 19 in 2005).
- Belgium: St Joseph's day (which is March 19), and the second Sunday in June ("Secular")
- Brazil: the second Sunday in August
- Bulgaria: June 20
- Denmark: June 5, same day as Constitution Day
- Germany: on Ascension Day (originally intended by socialists to replace the Christian holiday, but now the two are generally combined)
- Korea, Republic of: May 8, Parents' Day.
- Lithuania: the first Sunday in June
- Republic of China (Taiwan): August 8
- The word for the date, ba ba, (8/8) is a homophone of the word for father in Mandarin Chinese, "爸爸" bàba.
- Norway, Sweden, Finland: the second Sunday in November
- Portugal, Spain, Italy: March 19
- Thailand: December 5, birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej
- Turkey: second Sunday in June
History
United States
In the United States, the driving force behind the establishment of the celebration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd whose father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, had as a single parent raised his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday in June. Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. Woodrow Wilson was personally so feted by his family in 1916, and Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. The all-male U.S. Congress, however, was mindful that passing a measure so favorable to males could be seen as a conflict of interest. Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday in 1966, but the holiday was not officially recognized until the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1972.