Father's Day and Its Origins

Contrary to popular belief, Father’s Day was not started by the greeting card company but by a woman. Which of two women officially came up with the idea is still disputed, but here are their stories.

The first woman thought to have brought up the idea of Father’s Day was named Sonora Smart Dodd. It is said that Ms. Dodd thought of the idea while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Having been raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. Mr. Smart who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington State. Ms. Dodd felt that it was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Legend goes that Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

The other woman believed to have conceived the idea of Father’s Day was Grace Golden Clayton. Her story goes like this.

Ms. Clayton was inspired to celebrate fathers after a deadly mine explosion in a nearby town called Monongah, West Virginia the prior December. This explosion killed more than 360 men, 210 of whom were fathers. Many of the fathers killed were recent immigrants to the United States from Italy. Ms. Clayton suggested the service to the pastor.

This Father's Day observance was held on July 5, 1908, at Fairmont, West Virginia.

Even though we don’t know which woman came up with the idea first, what we do know is that in 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City and Father's Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June.

Do other countries celebrate Father’s Day? Indeed, but some may not call it ‘Father’s Day’ and others celebrate it on different days. In Germany, Father's Day is called Männertag and is always celebrated on Ascension Day (the Thursday forty days after Easter), which is a federal holiday. Regionally, it is also called men's day, Männertag, or gentlemen's day, Herrentag. It is tradition for the men to take a males-only hiking tour with one or more smaller wagons, Bollerwagen, pulled by manpower. In the wagons are wine or beer (according to region) and traditional regional food, Hausmannskost, which could be Saumagen, Liverwurst, Blutwurst (Blood Sausage), vegetables, eggs, etc.

Männertag and Herrentag are not quite like an American Father’s Day in that the day is centered around either becoming inebriated and/or passing the tradition of extreme alcohol consumption onto young men.

In Taiwan, Father's Day is not an official holiday but is widely observed on August 8, which is the eighth day of the eighth month of the year. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of the number 8 is bā. This pronunciation is very similar to the character "爸" "bà", which means "Papa" or "father". Taiwanese, therefore, usually call August 8 in its nick name as "Bābā Day" (八八節).

In Thailand, Father Day is set as the birthday of the king. December 5 is the birthday of current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

So now you have the true information behind the ever popular and celebrated Father’s Day. The next time somebody asks, how old is Father’s Day and who started it, you can give them the correct answer.

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