Father's Day
Fathers Day in 2009 is on the 21st June Fathers Day is now approaching its centennial year as an informally celebrated holiday and its 42st year as a nationally celebrated official holiday. It is a time to celebrate fatherhood, and show appreciation to fathers.

Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide, and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities. The officially recognized date of Father's Day varies from country to country. This section lists some significant examples.

13 Rajab Iran

Ascension Day Germany

August 8 Taiwan

December 5 Thailand

February 22 Russia

First Sunday of June Lithuania

First Sunday of September Australia, New Zealand

July 7 Vietnam

June 17 Guatemala

June 23 Nicaragua, Poland, Uganda

June 5 Denmark

Last Sunday of July Dominican Republic

March 19 Belgium, Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland

May 5 Romania

May 8 South Korea (Parents' Day)

Second Sunday of August Brazil

Second Sunday of June Austria, Costa Rica

Second Sunday of November Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden

Third Sunday of June Argentina, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

Although Father's Day enjoys the giving of gifts, it's still considered a quiet, holiday involving family getting together, in gardens, relaxing with enjoyable dinners or BBQ’s. father’s Day is a Dad’s day off.

Sonora Smart Dodd helped establish a day to celebrate fathers and fatherhood. Sonora, one of six children raised by her father, William Smart, after his wife died giving birth. Smart, a Civil War veteran cared for his children on their and his farm in Washington State.

The Father's Day ideal set in June was accepted in the same way Mother's Day was celebrated in May.

A lead was given to the movement by the family of president Woodrow Wilson who organised a Father's day celebration in 1916. In 1966 when president Lyndon Johnson established Father's Day as a national holiday in the USA. Congress approved the idea in 1972, Richard Nixon signed the law officially creating a Father's Day holiday.

Many countries along with USA have set the third Sunday in June as Fathers Day. However 19th March is Father's Day in Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In Scandinavia, Finland and other Baltic States celebrate Father's Day on the second Sunday in November. Taiwan celebrates with a Chinese, festival on August 8 (or 8/08) and is pronounced as "Ba Ba,".

Some other thoughts of Fathers and their part in all our lives

"A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again." -- Enid Bagnold

"It no longer bothers me that I may be constantly searching for father figures; by this time, I have found several and dearly enjoyed knowing them all." -- Alice Walker

"None of you can ever be proud enough of being the child of SUCH a Father who has not his equal in this world-so great, so good, so faultless. Try, all of you, to follow in his footsteps and don't be discouraged, for to be really in everything like him none of you, I am sure, will ever be. Try, therefore, to be like him in some points, and you will have acquired a great deal." -- Victoria, Queen of England That is the thankless position of the father in the family-the provider for all, and the enemy of all." -- J. August Strindberg

"It is a wise father that knows his own child." -- William Shakespeare

"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." -- Anne Sexton

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." -- English Proverb

"To be a successful father . . . there's one absolute rule: when you have a child, don't look at it for the first two years." -- Ernest Hemingway

"A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father." -- Gabriel García Márquez

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud

"I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example." -- Mario Cuomo

"Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, Who loved thee so fondly as he? He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, And joined in thy innocent glee." -- Margaret Courtney

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!" -- Lydia M. Child

History of Father's Day The idea of celebrating Father's Day Festival was given by Ms Sonora Dodd, a loving daughter from Spokane. Her father Henry Jackson Smart single-handedly raised Sonora and five of her siblings after the death of her mother during childbirth. When Sonora attended a Mother's Day Sermon in 1909, she thought that if there is the day to honour mother then there should also be a corresponding day to honour fathers. Sonora worked relentlessly for years to ensure that the idea of Father's Day becomes a reality. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge first recognized Father's Day. In view of the massive popularity of the festival, in 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June.

Over the years, the concept of celebrating Father's Day spread beyond geographical boundaries. Today, millions of children across the world express gratitude for their dads as they celebrate Father's Day festival.

Significance of Father in our Lives Many people laughed at Sonora Dodd when she gave the concept of having a Father's Day, as traditionally, only mother is regarded as the sole nurturer of a child. The role of father is often relegated to a secondary status as compared to a mother. But all of us know that father is just as important for a child as the mother is. If mothers are the heroes of child rearing, significance of father in the development and emotional well being of a child is no less. Children depend on their father for their spiritual, emotional, physical, financial and social well being. For daughters, father is the ideal man in the world and also the first man they adore, while for sons, father is an idol and the strongest man they aspire to emulate.

Though traditionally father is seen more as a provider and guide for children, the scenario appears significantly changed in nuclear family culture of today. With most husband and wife working, fathers in present times are as involved in child rearing job as the mothers are. Today, most fathers do not shy away from changing nappy or taking the difficult task for putting the baby to sleep. This cultural change is helping in strengthening father-child relationship and consequently in emotional development of a child and building of stronger family bonds.

Significance of Father's Day Festival Father's Day festival give us the opportunity to express thanks to our Daddy for all their unconditional love and affection. Observance of Father's Day makes fathers feel that their contributions are acknowledged in the society and also by their children. They feel proud of themselves ! Besides by celebrating Father's Day, children come closer to their father. For, most often children take love of their parents for granted. Celebration of Father's Day makes them ponder for a while on the important role their father play in their life. This helps them appreciate the selfless care and protection provided by their father and hence they come emotionally closer to their dad.

Children must therefore take full opportunity of the day and express their gratitude for fathers with all their heart. The best way to do so is to do small things that daddy appreciates and by saying “I love you, Papa” with a gift of beautiful flower.

Father's Day in UK Father's Day in UK is celebrated in much the same way as it is celebrated in US. In UK too, Father's Day festival is celebrated on the third Sunday of June and therefore the date of the festival is never fixed. People celebrate the occasion by honouring their father and expressing affection for them by presenting popular gifts like cards, flowers, chocolates and neckties. Little children often give handmade gifts to their dad.

Several clubs, schools and cultural societies in United Kingdom organize Fathers Day parties and get-togethers and provide people an opportunity to celebrate the day. Games and fun-filled add joy to such celebrations.

It may also be noted that Father's Day festival has been commercialized in England to a great extent. Days before the festival marketers launch an aggressive advertising campaign to lure people and cash in on the sentimental value of the occasion. Though critics are very much against rude commercialization many people feel that marketing of the festival helps to create awareness about the day and therefore strengthen the bond of love shared between father and a child