Monday, June 16, 2008

Father's Day

Father's Day has become a day to not only honor father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.

It would be interesting to know how Father's Day came into practice and celebrated worldwide with an equal sincerity and respect as any other significant holidays.

Here's a short history on the holiday, and meaning of the different colors of roses to be worn that Day. (http://theholidayspot.com/fathersday/history.htm)

About 4,000 years ago a young boy named Elmusu wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life by carving a Father's Day message on a card made out of clay. No one knows what happened to Elmesu or his father, but the tradition of having a special day honoring fathers has continued through the years in countries across the world.

Father's Day is celebrated popularly on 3rd Sunday in June in many parts of the world. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington.

A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man.

Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. President Nixon, in 1972, established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June.

So Father's Day was born as a token of love and gratitude that a daughter cherishes for her beloved father.

Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.

Dad, daddy, pop, papa, and pa are some common or familiar words for a father. Many times these terms denote affection or a paternal role in a child's life.

Here here some of the many languages to say 'father':

Dutch - pappie

African - baba

Filipino - tatay, itay, tay

Indonesian - bapa, ayah, pak

Italian - babbo

Japanese - otosan, papa

Old English - faeder

Polish - tata

~ Some quotations for Father's Day ~

How true Daddy's words were when he said:

"All children must look after their own upbringing."