When Is Father’s Day Celebrated?

Many parts of the world celebrate Father’s Day on various days, most commonly in the months of March, April, and June. It complements similar celebrations that honor family members, such as Mother’s Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents’ Day.

It honors the contribution that fathers and father figures make to their children’s lives. Father’s Day provides an occasion for you to mark and celebrate the contribution that your own father has made to your life.

Many people send or give cards or gifts to their fathers. Common Father’s Day gifts include sports items or clothing, electronic gadgets, outdoor cooking supplies, and tools for household maintenance. Different families have a range of traditions for this relatively modern holiday.

These traditions can range from a simple phone call or greeting card to large parties that honor all of the ‘father’ figures in a particular extended family. Father figures can include fathers, step-fathers, father-in-laws, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and even other male relatives.

In the days and weeks before Father’s Day, many schools and Sunday schools help their pupils to prepare a handmade card or small gift for their fathers. A range of events may have inspired the idea of Father’s Day.

One of these events started the Mother’s Day tradition in the first decade of the 20th century. Another event was a memorial service that a group held in 1908 for a large group of men, many of them fathers, who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in December 1907.

A woman called Sonora Smart Dodd became an influential figure in establishing Father’s Day. Her father raised six children by himself after the death of their mother.

This was uncommon at that time, as many widowers placed their children in the care of others or quickly remarried. Sonora was inspired by the work of Anna Jarvis, who pushed for Mother’s Day celebrations.

Sonora felt that her father deserved recognition for what he had done. The first time people held Father’s Day in June was in 1910. President Nixon officially recognized Father’s Day as a holiday in 1972.

Slowly, people spread the holiday. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day.

Today, people in the United States celebrate the day honoring fathers on the third Sunday of June: Father’s Day 2017 occurs on June 18; the following year, Father’s Day 2018 falls on June 17.

In other countries–especially in Europe and Latin America–people honor fathers on St. Joseph’s Day, a traditional Catholic holiday that falls on March 19.

Content for this question contributed by Nathan Garner, resident of Amelia, Clermont County, Ohio, USA