Father's Day is a holiday honoring one's father, or relevant father figure, as well as fatherhood,
paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The single most common date among world
countries is the third Sunday of June, which was founded in the state of Washington, United
States, by Sonora Smart Dodd in 1910.
The day is held on various dates across the world, and different regions maintain their own
traditions of honoring fatherhood. In some Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on
19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. Sikhs celebrate Father's Day (ਪਿਤਾ ਦਿਵਸ) on
29 December, birthday of Guru Gobind Singh. In some Islamic countries, it is set following the
months of the Islamic calendar.
Father's Day is a recognized public holiday in Lithuania and some parts of Spain and was regarded
as such in Italy until 1977. It is a national holiday in Estonia, Samoa, and equivalently in South
Korea, where it is celebrated as Parents' Day. The holiday complements similar celebrations
honoring family members, such as Mother's Day and, in the United States, Siblings Day,
and Grandparents' Day
For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as
the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh,
starting with Adam and emphasizing the patriarch Abraham, to whom God said,
This feast can fall between 11 and 17 December.This feast includes the ancestors of Mary, mother
of Jesus and various prophets.
A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at
least 1508. It is usually celebrated on 19 March, as the feast day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to
as the fatherly Nutritor Domini ("Nourisher of the Lord") in Catholicism and "the putative father
of Jesus" in southern European tradition. This celebration was brought to the Americas by the
Spanish and Portuguese. The Catholic Church actively supported the custom of a celebration of
fatherhood on St. Joseph's Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th
century, apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans.
In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the celebration of fatherhood is also observed on St Joseph's Day,
but the Copts observe this on 20 July. The Coptic celebration may date back to the fifth century.
Whether to celebrate this day worldwide or not remained a debatable topic. In 1908, Grace Golden
Clayton proposed the day to honor those men who had died in a mining accident in the US.
Though it was not accepted then, in 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd, who along with her five brothers
was raised by her father alone, after attending Mother's Day in a church, convinced the Spokane
Ministerial Association to celebrate Father's Day worldwide.
In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on 19
November in honor of both men and boys
"Father's Day" is spelled as a singular possessive following the precedent established by its
predecessor, Mother's Day. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase "Second Sunday in May,
Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Founder."Jarvis specifically noted that "Mother's" should "be a singular
possessive, for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all
mothers in the world
