As with Mother's Day every May, the world also looks forward to celebrating Father's Day. The event is marked every third Sunday of June, and the date falls on June 21 this year.
The origin of Father's Day is more recent and historians put the date of its inception around July 5, 1908 in West Virginia, according to Daily Post. Back then, a woman, named Grace Golden Clayton, from a small town, called Monogah, wanted to commemorate the death of 360 men due to a mine explosion. More than half of these men were fathers.
Clayton picked July 5 because it was close to her deceased father's birthday. However, her day of remembrance did not have any public support as it had no promotion. The city council did not even know about it. It was also upstaged by an Independence Day festival celebrated the day before.
Two years later, Sonora Smart Dodd from Washington had a similar idea for Father's Day after realizing that only mothers who get a day of honor. To get the public to celebrate the occasion, Dodd involved the townsfolk and her church, which decided that June 19 would be the most appropriate date. Since then, the world has recognized and credited Dodd over Clayton.
However, some believe that the history of the Father's Day dates back as far as the ancient times in Babylon, involving a young boy, named Elmesu, who made the first-ever Father's Day card by carving this in clay. However, there were no records to support this, according to Father's Day Celebration.
By 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made Father's Day a national event, as stated in the Library of Congress. By 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made the date official through a presidential proclamation which announced that Father's Day was going to take place very third Sunday of June.
In other countries, however, Father's Day is celebrated on different dates. Australians observe the holiday every first Sunday of September, while the Finnish mark theirs every second Sunday of November. In Thailand, Father's Day is observed every December 5, in honor of their king's birthday, according to MThai.
According to CNN, this day is the "fourth-largest card-sending occasion" in the United States but over the years, the necktie has become the most popular gift fathers receive from their children. Other popular gifts include socks or hardware and sports supplies. Flowers are also popular on Father's Day as some children honor their dads with roses.
The day is also celebrated through backyard barbecues in many American homes, as Father's Day falls on a crisp and warm summer season.
