This Sunday is Father’s Day. Like many other holidays, this day has lost its real meaning over the years among the myriad of ads leading up to the third Sunday of June. Online and offline we are bombarded by special offers to buy dad a smart phone, a home theater system, gift cards, golf clubs, tools, clothing…you name it. It’s a highly commercialized day – just like Mother’s Day and the other holidays.
Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in 55 of the world’s countries and on other days elsewhere. Father’s Day got its start back in 1910 when a young woman in Spokane, Washington thought it a good idea to honour fathers. Her father was a widow who had raised six young children after his wife died.
She had originally picked June 5 to celebrate Father’s Day since it was her father’s birthday. There wasn’t enough time to organize the event so quickly so they settled on the third Sunday of June. It took many years to make the holiday official. Except for the churches and theYMCA, there wasn’t much support for a Father’s Day.
Where Mother’s Day was met with enthusiasm, the idea of a Father’s Day was often met with laughter. People saw it as the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions.
The Associated Men’s Wear Retailers formed a National Father’s Day Committee in New York City in the1930s. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnston signed a proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June Father’s Day in the United States.
Father’s Day in Canada
In Canada, Father’s Day is celebrated with enthusiasm and fanfare, but not nearly as much as Mother’s Day. Since the tradition of celebrating Father’s Day moved to Canada from the U.S., Father’s Day in Canada is also celebrated on the third Sunday of June. Canadians also wear roses to express gratitude for their father. Traditionally, if the person is wearing a red rose, it symbolizes the person’s father is alive. Likewise, white rose means that the person’s father has passed away.
Children in Canada expressed affection and honour for their father by presenting him with cards, flowers and chocolates. In modern times, several other gifts of love including neckties, shirts, electronic gadgets, tools, etc., are also gifted to fathers by children and their mothers. Dining out with family is another popular Father’s Day tradition in Canada. No wonder, restaurants and eating joints witness a bumper rush on the occasion.
Now if you can’t decide what to give your good ol’ dad, here’s my idea. Why not forget gift cards, greeting cards, leather wallets, gimmicky things, tools he doesn’t need and that cost money and spend time with your father instead. It’s free. Don’t text him, go visit him. Suggest going fishing, if he fishes. Go for a walk with him. Go on an outing. Talk. Reminisce. Tell him you love him. Give him a hug. As years go by both of you will fondly remember the great times you spent together on the Father’s Days, long after the gift card is forgotten.
