It’s Father’s Day, and marks the day to celebrate your dad. You may love dear old dad, but how much do you actually know about the observance in his honour?
Father’s Day officially began in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, where 27-year-old Sonora Dodd proposed it as a way to honour the man who raised her when her mom died in childbirth.
Dodd was at a church service thinking about how grateful she was for her father when she had the idea for Father’s Day, which would mirror Mother’s Day but be celebrated in June – her dad’s birthday month.
The movement grew for years but didn’t gain national-event status until 1924 under former President Calvin Coolidge.
He said it would: “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children” and “impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations. The day gained traction during World War II, and in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the third Sunday of June to be Father’s Day.
Father’s Day has a passionate following.
