THE ORIGIN OF FATHER'S DAY
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The Origin of Father’s Day

The third Sunday in June is one that is largely celebrated by families around the world. Of course, this day is Father’s Day, a time when we take a moment to appreciate the special men in our lives and thank them for all that they do. And even though store shelves stock up on many different Father’s Day presents almost immediately after Mother’s Day, which falls the month before it, it’s a fairly recent addition to the holiday year.

The first Father’s Day was created by Sonora Dodd in Spokane, Washington. Sonora created the first Father’s Day in 1910. Sonora saw that fathers deserved to be celebrated and appreciated in the same way that mothers are. And so, she reserved this day for it. Sonora wanted to especially thank her dad for raising her and her five siblings after her mother’s death. And although Sonora declared the day as “Father’s Day” in 1910, it wasn’t until Richard Nixon became President of the United States that the day became a national holiday. President Nixon kept the day as the third Sunday in June because this had special meaning for Sonora. It was her father’s birthday.

Even after President Nixon declared the day a holiday however, there were still not the elaborate celebrations that are put into place today. The first Father’s Day celebrations were held in churches and the father’s, or the family of father’s, were given roses. Red roses were handed out to fathers who attended the service while white roses were given out to family members that had lost their fathers. These flowers had also been traditionally used to celebrate the day even before President Nixon’s time. They were so well known in fact that in 1924, a Sunday School class in Pennsylvania dedicated a different flower to commemorate the day. The flower they chose was a dandelion. This flower was chosen for slightly comical reasons as this flower is known for growing the more that it becomes trampled on.

The holiday of Father’s Day has also changed in other ways over the years. Although once it was reserved for only fathers, the modern day family has changed all of that. Today brothers, uncles, and every other kind of special man in a person’s life can be celebrated on Father’s Day.

Men around the world can thank Sonora Dodd and her father for that third Sunday in June when we can all take a moment to appreciate our dads. And this year, why not bring back a little of the old traditions and greet your dad with a red rose – then tell him he should be thankful that it’s not a dandelion!