Significance of Fathers Day

Children honoring parents is an age old tradition. Later various people were of opinion that instead of honoring both the parents at the same time, each of them deserves to be honored separately. So Anna Jarvis decided to celebrate Mothers Day in May, 1908 and promoted it. When a mining tragedy happened in Monongha, West Virginia, two months later, killing a number of fathers, Grace Golden Clayton, a mourning daughter, was determined to have a special day for her father and many other fathers who work hard for their families.

Mother and father are two great supports that build a special and secure abode for their children, with love and care. While the mothers are the home makers, the fathers acquire the role of the bread winners. This is the traditional structure of the human families from the earliest man began to live in a family.

So it is very important to honor the fathers with a special day. Even if Clayton’s efforts to celebrate the Fathers Day later passed in to oblivion, another daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd revived Fathers Day once again in 1910, when she happened to listen to the Mothers Day sermon. Unlike Clayton, Dodd did not allow it to fade away. She gave it strong promotions and many people with commercial interests in the celebration helped her along. As a result, in spite of attacks and skepticism from many quarters, Fathers Day remained and was endorsed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.

Now most of the countries celebrate this day on the third Sunday of June. Many of the Eastern countries like India and China already had days set apart for honoring the fathers. But now a common day is fixed for the celebration. The commercial sector has a hand in it. All the same, it is good to have a day on which the love of the male parent is recognized.

It is customary to have a special sermon in churches on this Sunday and children all over the world express their love and gratitude to their fathers through gifts and special events like arranging special lunches and dinners for their fathers.

A lot of gift items and greeting cards are available in the present market.

Children gift their fathers with electronic gadgets, hobby items and wardrobe items. Fathers Day special cakes also are popular items. The family honoring the efforts of a father by cutting a Fathers Day cake together is an epitome of happiness and security.

In the present world where the family ties are loosening, the celebrations like Fathers Day and Mothers Day have great relevance. Special days to celebrate fatherhood and motherhood have become the necessity of the age. Such celebrations are sure to tighten family ties further.

 by Marina Chernyak