The third Sunday of June has been traditionally celebrated as Father’s Day. Although it may not be as flamboyant or commodified compared to Mother’s Day, it is still a significant occasion to pay homage to the most loyal men in our lives – our fathers.
Because fathers are themselves unique individuals with their own idiosyncrasies and brand of characteristics, allow us to deviate from the ordinary and the usual and, instead, provide our dear readers with some fun facts about this worldwide celebration of Father’s Day. While we celebrate it in the Philippines, the occasion actually originated from the West with its attendant culture and customs.
Credit is accorded to an Ilongga pediatrician, Dr. Alice Dumlao, who now resides in Brisbane, Australia with her family, who graciously shared these vignettes of information on her social network site.
To add a dash of extra amusement to Father’s Day and fatherhood celebrations, here are some fun facts:
More than one-third of Father’s Day cards are funny in nature.
The term, “Great White Father,” refers to the US President.
A study came up with the fact that female shoppers spend approximately 50 percent more than men, while buying gifts for their Dads.
The youngest father crown was barged by 13-year-old Alfie Patten, in February 2009, when he fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend.
The world’s oldest father was an Indian farmer named Nanu Ram Jogi, who fathered his 21st child at the age of 90, in 2007.
In 2006, 66 percent of children younger than 6 were praised three or more times a day by their fathers.
Fifty-three percent of children younger than 6 ate dinner with their father every day in 2006.
Martin Luther King Jr. was originally named Michael, like his father. When Junior was 5, Dad changed both their names to Martin.
Hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers feature high on the list of Father’s Day gifts in the United States.
To add to Dr. Dumlao’s rundown of facts, it may be interesting to note that the first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in the state of Washington. However, it was not until 1972 – 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official – that the day honoring fathers became a nationwide holiday in the United States.
Unlike the highly commercialized celebration of Mother’s Day, the campaign to celebrate fathers – which is more of an American tradition and which we, Filipinos, just followed suit – did not meet with the same enthusiasm – perhaps because, as one florist explained, “fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.”
On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, but it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday.
The next year, a Spokane, Washington woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful. Washington State celebrated its first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910.
Today, Filipinos follow the celebration in the United States which is on the third Sunday of June, thus, this year, Father’s Day is on June 20. In other countries, especially in Europe and Latin America, fathers are honored on St. Joseph’s Day, a traditional Catholic holiday that falls on March 19.
In whatever manner we refer to our “old man” – Daddy, Tatay, Papa, Ama, and others – the unchanged fact is that he is our guardian, our protector, our shield, our knight of shining armor, and most importantly, that we love him.
A shoutout and three loud cheers for all fathers and the concept of fatherhood! – NWI
