Yahoo Finance Father’s day 2021: When did the tradition start and why?
Father’s Day takes place on Sunday 20 June this year and like every year, sons and daughters will be searching for the perfect gifts to mark the occasion.
But when did this tradition begin and why?
Father’s Day began in the United States in the early 20th century as a result of the success of Mother’s Day.
Anna Jarvis from West Virginia created a committee to establish a ‘Mother’s Friendship Day’ in an attempt to reunite families that had been divided during the American Civil War.
Father’s day was set up as a complement to the first successful mother’s days a few years after the celebrations began gaining traction.
The first observance of a ‘Father’s Day’ was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South.
The holiday initially failed to achieve as much popularity as Mother’s day, but was formally recognised In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honouring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
In the United Kingdom, Father’s Day is not a public holiday, but follows the American rule of falling on the third Sunday of June.
