This Sunday is Father's Day but how did it become a celebrated event? Before the socks are bought and breakfast-in-bed are cooked, we look back at where it all began.
When is Father's Day?
Father's Day is this Sunday, 19th of June 2022 in Ireland, the UK, Canada, and America. However, the celebration falls on different days in other countries.
Where did Father's Day come from?
Father's Day started in America but its origins are a little unclear.
One story claims that the day first began when a woman in West Virginia by the name of Grace Golden Clayton lobbied her local Methodist church to have a service in honour of fathers in 1908 following the deaths of hundreds of men, many of whom were fathers, in a mining accident.
Another story attributes the day to Sonora Smart Dodd from Arkansas who wanted to honour her civil war veteran father who raised his six children alone. Sonora campaigned her Methodist church for the celebration and she was granted her wish. Father's Day was officially celebrated in Spokane, Washington on June 19th, 1910.
No matter the origin, and despite its popularity, it wasn't until 1966 that President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers every year on the third Sunday in June. Six years later, President Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
Want last minute pressie ideas?
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