Happy Father's Day!

To all father's out there, I wish you a very pleasant Father's Day.  This day is not a national holiday, and it was mostly started because of Mother's Day. 

A woman called Sonora Smart Dodd was an influential figure in the establishment of Father's Day.  Her father raised six children by himself after the death of their mother.  This was uncommon at the time, as most widowers placed their children in the care of others, or quickly remarried. 

Sonora was inspired by the work of Anna Jarvis, who has pushed for Mother's Day celebrations.  Sonora felt her father deserved recognition for what he had done.  The first time Father's Day was held was in 1910.  Father's Day was officially recognized as a holiday in 1972 by President Nixon. 

Father's Day in the U.S. is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.  It celebrates the contributions that fathers and father figures make for their children lives.  Its origins may lie in a memorial service held for a large group of men, many of them fathers, who were killed in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in 1907. 

Many men disdained the holiday.  As one historian writes, they "scoffed at the holiday's sentimental attempts" to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products-often paid by the father himself.  lol  Most men I know are like this, but those same men are there for you when you need them. 

In the 1920's and 1930's there was a movement to scrap Mother's Day and Father's Day for a special day to be called Parent's Day.  The Depression derailed the effort to combine and de-commercialized the holidays.  Struggling retailers and advertisers redoubled their efforts Father's Day a "second Christmas" for men, promoting goods such as neckties, hats, socks, pipes and tobacco, golf clubs and other sporting goods and greeting cards.  

When WWII began, advertisers argued that celebrating Father's Day was a way to honor our American troops and support the war effort.  By the end of the war, Father's Day may not have been a federal holiday, but it was a national institution.  Today, economists estimate that Americans spend more than 1 billion dollars each year on Father's Day gifts.

Here are my sources:  http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/fathers-day and http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/fathers-day

I want to wish my sweetie a Happy Father's Day.  Smooch!  Smile!

Thank you for reading my blog this week.  Have a great week, and I'll see you next Sunday. 

Sandra K. Marshall, Author

@ Eirelander Publishing
http://www.eirelanderpublishing.com
http://www.skaymarshall.com