Next year marks the 100th Anniversary of Fathers’ Day.
It all started way back in 1910 when a young woman named Sonora Smart Dodd was sitting in a church in Washington, United States listening to a Mothers’ Day sermon. Right then and there she decided she wanted to designate a day for her Dad, William Jackson Smart. He was a Civil War Veteran who was a single parent who raised six children.
In America Fathers’ Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June which is close to the June solstice. However, in Australia it occurs on the first Sunday of September.
It’s a day for people to show their appreciation for fathers and father figures. They may include, stepfathers, father in laws, guardians and family friends.
Here are some Fathers’ Day facts that you may not know:
- There are over 4.6 million Fathers in Australia
- Approximately 144,000 Fathers in Australia are ‘House Hubbies’, Dads who stay at home to look after their kids
- The traditional flower of Fathers’ Day is the Rose
- In the underwater world of the seahorse, it’s the male that gets to carry the eggs and birth the babies
So, going back to the origin of Fathers’ Day, I guess if it wasn’t for his daughter Sonora we may have never had a special day to celebrate Dads. Something must be said for the bond between Fathers and Daughters.