Today is Father's Day! | Sunday Observer

Today is Father's Day!

The Father's Day is usually held on the third Sunday of June. This year, it falls on Sunday, June 18. Father's Day is a worldwide occasion in celebration of your dad. Falling on the third Sunday in June, it celebrates the impact fathers and father figures have on the lives of their children. Although it is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide, it's an internationally recognised event. Father's Day began around 100 years ago over in the US and has since made its mark all over the world.

The exact origin has been dusputed. Most believe it began with Sonora Dodd, from Washington, who came up with the idea after hearing the Mother's Day sermon in 1910 and thinking (not without good reason) why the dads didn't have their own day too. She and her siblings had been raised by their father after their mum died in childbirth. Dodd began a campaign...and well, the rest is history.

Other people argue it was Grace Golden Clayton from West Virginia, who suggested celebrating the day in 1908. She apparently put the suggestion forward after a mine explosion in a nearby town killed more than 360 men - the idea being it was a day for children to remember their fathers. Whatever the reason, we're glad of it.

In Germany it's called Vatertag or Mannertag (or men's day). It is traditional in some places for men to go into the woods with a wagon of beer, wine and meats. In China it's marked on the 8th August because eight in Chinese is ‘ba’ and a colloquial way of saying father is ‘ba-ba’ - so eighth day of the eighth month sounds like father.