Where, when and how this date came about, which today is shared throughout the world. This Sunday a new Father’s Day takes place in Argentina.
Dad. Daddy. Old. Dad. Father. There are many ways to call them, but these words always reflect the same feeling, affection. Celebrated in different countries, it is a way to recognize and thank the love and effort that all dads (whether by blood or heart) put into the lives of their children.
That day gifts, drawings, calls, visits and breakfasts in bed multiply in all parts of the world. But, how did the initiative come about? Why is Father’s Day celebrated? Here, your historywith data and curiosities.
Why is Father’s Day celebrated?
There are several stories about the emergence of this celebration, but the most respected dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, in Washington, USA. Over there, in 1909there lived a woman called Sonora Smart Doddwho, after listening to a sermon on Mother’s Day (which was already celebrated there), He wanted to honor his father, William Smart.
He was a Civil War veteran, widowed after his wife died after giving birth to their sixth child and raising them alone on a rural farm. The date proposed by her was June 5, her father’s birthday, celebrating the first Father’s day of history in 1909.
However, even though the proposal to honor the parents was established, its date was not. It was in 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge made it a national holiday and, only in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson changed it to the third Sunday in June.
Father’s Day in Argentina
In Argentina the Father’s day It is celebrated on the third Sunday of June each year, as in the United States and many other countries, however this was not the original date proposed in the country.
It was in 1958 that the National Council of Education established August 24 as Father’s day in honor of General Don José de San Martín, the “Father of the Country”, since that was the date of the birth of his daughter, Merceditas, in 1816 (Mercedes Tomasa de San Martín y Escalada).
A few years later, already in the ’60s, the day was moved to the third Sunday in June, it is said, because there were few times that the original date coincided with a Sunday. As the years went by, giving gifts and crafts became more and more popular.
The recognition of paternity is one of the most recent celebrations in the country, after Mother’s Day and Children’s Day, but as happened with those celebrations, it is now an immovable date.
Father’s Day Curiosities
Although in several European countries, such as France and England, and in most Latin American countries (such as Peru, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), the American date was adopted, not in all the countries in the world Father’s day It is celebrated on the same day, nor in the same way.
In countries with a European Catholic tradition, such as Spain, it is celebrated on March 19, coinciding with the Day of Saint Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus. On this date they also celebrate in Bolivia, Croatia, Honduras, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Father’s Day is 40 days after Easter. In Russia it is February 23, Defenders of the Fatherland Day, in honor of the soldiers who were fathers and participated in World War II. In Australia and New Zealand, Father’s Day is the first Sunday in September. And in South Korea it is March 8 and there the tradition is to give a carnation.
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