Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day...!


Many of you have a special day today...Father's Day!

I do hope you have a great day and that someone remembers you on this wonderful holiday! Here is a little history of this tradition I thought you might enjoy!

Let's All Cheer for Fathers!
by Aurelia C. Scott


The year 2010 marked the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day in America. While it wasn’t made a national holiday until 1972, the efforts of one woman in Washington sparked a movement to celebrate Dad’s long before then.

Sonora Dodd and the first Father's Day

In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was inspired to create a holiday honoring fathers. William Jackson Smart, her father, was a farmer and Civil War veteran that raised Sonora and her five younger brothers by himself after his wife, Ellen, died giving birth to their youngest child in 1898. While attending a Mother’s Day church service in 1909, Sonora, then 27, came up with the idea.

Within a few months, Sonora had convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside a Sunday in June to celebrate fathers. She proposed June 5, her father’s birthday, but the ministers chose the third Sunday in June so that they would have more time after Mother’s Day (the second Sunday in May) to prepare their sermons. So it was that on June 19, 1910, Sonora delivered presents to handicapped fathers, boys from the YMCA decorated their lapels with fresh-cut roses (red for living fathers, white for the deceased), and the city’s ministers devoted their homilies to fatherhood.

A National Holiday

The widely publicized events in Spokane struck a chord that reached all the way to Washington, D.C., and Sonora's celebration started it's path to becoming a national holiday.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson and his family personally observed the day. Eight years later, President Calvin Coolidge signed a resolution in favor of Father’s Day “to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order that the holiday be celebrated on the third Sunday in June. Under President Richard Nixon, in 1972, Congress passed an act officially making Father’s Day a national holiday. (Six years later, Sonora died at age 96.)

Different Days for Different Dads

North America is not the only place where Father’s Day is celebrated.

In traditionally Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal, Father’s Day is observed on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph.

Taiwanese celebrate Father’s Day on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month, because the Mandarin Chinese word for eight sounds like the word for “Papa.”

In Thailand, Father’s Day occurs on the king’s birthday, which for current King Bhumibol Adulyadej is December 5.

My Father has long passed on, as has my step-father! Both were very special men and, in my eyes, great fathers! Sadly, I don't think I told them that enough. I can only hope that they knew it without me telling them!

Around my house, Father's Day is just another day. I have two sons, but they have chosen not to do Father's Day, or Christmas, or birthdays, or family reunions, or any such thing along those lines!

Their choice, freely made...so I celebrate quietly by myself. Take this opportunity to talk or visit with your Father today, if he is still here! It will mean a lot, believe me, and often he'll be gone way too soon!

Coffee on the patio this morning! We can make a toast to Dads everywhere!

14 comments:

mike in Indy said...

Hermit Jim i hope you have a wonderful fathers day and thank you for all the laughs, smiles and knowledge you have brought us.

Anonymous said...

We don´t have it over here until the autumn.
Interesting history lesson!

Have a great day!
Christer.

Momlady said...

I wish you a most enjoyable day. Your sons are missing a lot.

Gorges Smythe said...

I'm just a step-dad, so I get no thought on Father's Day. (No one ever remembers my birthday, either.) We ARE taking my step-son and his daughters to lunch today, so that will be enjoyable. I understand why folks don't celebrate the pseudo-Christian holidays, but your sons may wish they'd re-thought Father's Day eventually.

QPT said...

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
http://thegreatquotes.com/2011/06/fathers-day/

HermitJim said...

Hey Mike...
I thank you for that, my friend, and for coming by today!

You have a good one!


Hey Christer...
A lot of countries celebrate it on different days. I guess the important thing is that so many countries have it at all!

Thanks, my friend, for coming by today!


Hey Momlady...
I really appreciate your kind words today.

Hope the weather is doing you right there!

Enjoy the day, and thanks for coming by this morning, my friend!


Hey Gorges...
I hope you have a great day with your family! After all, family is the most important thing we have!

Happy Father's Day...and thanks for coming by!


Hey QPT...
Thanks for the great quote this morning! It's one I haven't heard before!

You have a great day, and thanks for dropping in!

JoJo said...

Happy Father's Day My Special One,
Those boys will be sorry some day believe me. As you know my dad passed 3 fathers day ago and I miss him so much. And we were very close. You friend can be my Dad any day. Lets have a cup together and enjoy the company.
Luv Ya

Michael Ultra said...

You know, kids can be real boneheads. Mine are the same way. I should have beat them when they were young. Happy Father's Day, Jim.

HermitJim said...

Hey JoJo...
Has it really been three years already? Man, time really flies, doesn't it?

I guess the main thing is...as long as they are happy and healthy, that's the important thing!

Hey, thanks for coming over, sweetie!


Hey Michael...
No matter how old or young they are, kids are going to do what they want!

It's a mystery why, but I guess that's they way things always are!

Many thanks for the visit today!

Anonymous said...

Het Ultra, mine did, good riddance.

Sixbears said...

Had a nice long chat on the phone with my dad in FL. We both enjoyed it. I do get a kick out of hearing from my daughters and my little grandkids.

Good history lesson, as always.

TROUBLEnTX said...

Is it my imagination, or are kids just a lot more thoughtless today. The family tradition is going to end with my generation, and there's nothing to do about it.

HermitJim said...

Hey Anon 11:24...
Have a great day...and thanks for coming over today!


Hey Sixbears...
Hearing from the kids and grands is always nice, never happens here!

Glad you got a chance to visit with your Dad!

I appreciate you coming by today!


Hey Trouble...
When I was younger, we always looked forward to the family reunions. A chance to visit with the cousins and aunts and uncles was a big treat!

Right you are about the family traditions slowly being lost!

I really am glad you came by today!

MamaHen said...

I hope you had a nice day today Jim and know that a lot of people thought about you and wished you well, even if we are not family. Father's Day has never been much of a day for me either, although I usaully always got my Dad a card or something. I tried to make an effort but he was just not a nice person. He was fairly hateful and rarely spoke to me. I have seen so many people today talk about how they love and miss their father so and wish that I had had a better experience. But, we don't all get to have everything. We just have to make a good situation out of what we do have.