Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide (in the UK it's the third Sunday in June) and typically involves the giving of greeting cards and gifts, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities.
There are contradicting reports as to the origins of Fathers Day. One reports that the first observance of Father's Day took place in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the US on July 5, 1908. Another report says that the first Father's Day was held nearly two years later on June 19, 1910 through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, US. What seems certain is that Fathers Day did indeed originate in the United States.
In 1916 the annual Father's Day celebration met with the approval of US President Woodrow Wilson. However, it was not until 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge announced that Father's Day was to be a yearly national event that it really took off worldwide, including here in the UK.
Article dated 28th July 2010
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