Father's Day - San José

¡Muchas felicidades a todos los padres y todos los José y Josefas!

Establishment of the holiday: The first Father´s day celebration was held in Spokane, Washington in 1910. It was started by Sonora Smart Dodd who after hearing a sermon about Mother`s day in 1909 told the pastor that fathers should have a similar day. Several local clergymen accepted the idea, and on 19th of June 1910, the first father`s Day, ‘sermons honouring fathers were presented throughout the city.’

In the 1930s, Dodd began to promote the idea at a national level. She had help of those trade groups that would benefit most from the holiday, for example the manufacturers of ties, tobacco pipes, and any traditional present to fathers and by 1938 she had help from the Father`s Day Council.In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honouring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father`s Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

Traditional activities in English-speaking countries: In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration. It is also common for Catholics to honor their "spiritual father," their parish priest, on Father's Day. In most English-speaking areas it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June. Nevertheless, in Ireland and the UK, Father's Day is not a public holiday; Being a recent commercial invention imported from the USA, it has no historical or cultural relevance.

In the US it is a more traditional festivity. Typically, families gather to celebrate the father figures in their lives. In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by promoting greeting cards and traditionally masculine gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.