Father's Day is a holiday honoring one's father, or relevant father figure, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The single most common date among world countries is the third Sunday of June, which was founded in the state of Washington, United States, by Sonora Smart Dodd in 1910.
The day is held on various dates across the world, and different regions maintain their own traditions of honoring fatherhood. In some Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. Sikhs celebrate Father's Day (ਪਿਤਾ ਦਿਵਸ) on 29 December, birthday of Guru Gobind Singh. In some Islamic countries, it is set following the months of the Islamic calendar.
Father's Day is a recognized public holiday in Lithuania and some parts of Spain and was regarded as such in Italy until 1977. It is a national holiday in Estonia, Samoa, and equivalently in South Korea, where it is celebrated as Parents' Day. The holiday complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day and, in the United States, Siblings Day, and Grandparents' Day.
Early history
For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasizing the patriarch Abraham, to whom God said,
This feast can fall between 11 and 17 December. This feast includes the ancestors of Mary, mother of Jesus and various prophets.
A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is usually celebrated on 19 March, as the feast day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini ("Nourisher of the Lord") in Catholicism and "the putative father of Jesus" in southern European tradition. This celebration was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese. The Catholic Church actively supported the custom of a celebration of fatherhood on St. Joseph's Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans.
In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the celebration of fatherhood is also observed on St Joseph's Day, but the Copts observe this on 20 July. The Coptic celebration may date back to the fifth century.
Whether to celebrate this day worldwide or not remained a debatable topic. In 1908, Grace Golden Clayton proposed the day to honor those men who had died in a mining accident in the US. Though it was not accepted then, in 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd, who along with her five brothers was raised by her father alone, after attending Mother's Day in a church, convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association to celebrate Father's Day worldwide.
In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on 19 November in honor of both men and boys.
Spelling
"Father's Day" is spelled as a singular possessive following the precedent established by its predecessor, Mother's Day. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase "Second Sunday in May, Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Founder." Jarvis specifically noted that "Mother's" should "be a singular possessive, for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world."
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