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Today is Father’s Day in Oz.
A happy Father’s Day to all the Byter dads reading this.
A moment also to reflect, remember, honour and the fathers who may no longer be with us.
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Some Father’s Day miscellany and trivia . . .
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Father's Day is not only about honouring dads, it is also to respect the influence of fathers in society.
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In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages.
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 “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, 22:18).
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In the United States, Father's Day was founded in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, an American whose father raised his six children single handedly after the death of her mother.
Dodd campaigned for a day to celebrate fathers after noticing all the fanfare surrounding Mother's Day, which was started in 1908 by Anna Jarvis. Dodd and her five brothers were raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who became a widower after his wife, Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart, died while giving birth in 1898, when Sonora was 16 years old.
William Jackson Smart
Sonora Dodd
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In the US, Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
The day is held on various dates across the world, and different regions maintain their own traditions of honouring fatherhood.
In Australia it is celebrated on the first Sunday in September, whoch is also the first Sunday of Spring.
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In the US:
In 1916 US President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea of observing an annual Father's Day.
In1924 President Calvin Coolidge made Father's Day a national event.
In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.
In 1972 Father’s Day became a national holiday in the US when it was officially recognized by President Richard Nixon’s administration,
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The rose is the official flower for Father's Day. A red rose signifies a living father while a white rose signifies a deceased father.
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The idea of Father's Day wasn't initially well received in Australia in the 1910s and 1920s. Many thought it was either unnecessary or undermined a father's assumed “supremacy” as head of the household. Newspapers at the time printed satirical poems and critical editorials of the new American tradition.
This paralleled early thinking in the US. The idea of a holiday exalting fatherhood was inconceivable to most people during the early 1900s. Men dominated American society in the early 20th century so establishing a special day to honour fathers was thought of as unnecessary.
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Father’s Day in Australia was originally observed in June, matching the USA date, with church services and the wearing of a red flower.
In June 1925, Janet Heyden of Sydney (who also advocated for Mother's Day celebrations in Australia) began collecting donations to bring cheer to elderly men in nursing homes.
While Mother's Day became instantly popular, it wasn't until the 1930s that Father's Day came to be popularly celebrated in Australia on the first Sunday in September.
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From the vault . . .
The Father's Day Council of Australia was established in 1957 and continues to honour distinguished fathers with an annual Australian Father of the Year award.
Present and past recipients since 2000:
|
Awarded |
Name |
Notes |
|
2022 |
Former Socceroo's
captain and political activist |
|
|
2021 |
Former
Chief Medical Officer of Australia |
|
|
2020 |
Former
Commissioner of the New
South Wales Rural Fire Service and Head of Resilience NSW |
|
|
2019 |
Television
journalist |
|
|
2018 |
Entrepreneur
and philanthropist[4] |
|
|
2017 |
Former Premier of New South Wales |
|
|
2016 |
Lieutenant
General David Hurley |
|
|
2015 |
Doctor,
founder of Australia Muslim Doctors against Violence) |
|
|
2014 |
Basketballer |
|
|
2013 |
Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith |
Soldier |
|
2012 |
Executive
Chairman of Aussie Home Loans.
Chairman of Sydney Opera
House Trust |
|
|
2011 |
Air Chief
Marshal Angus Houston |
Former Chief
of the Defence Force |
|
2010 |
Former
Chief Executive of the Taronga and Western Plains Zoos |
|
|
2009 |
Dancer |
|
|
2008 |
Footballer |
|
|
2007 |
Television
Presenter |
|
|
2006 |
Founder of
Day of Difference Foundation |
|
|
2005 |
Cricketer |
|
|
2004 |
Cochlear Implant Developer |
|
|
2003 |
Scientist |
|
|
2002 |
Media
personality |
|
|
2001 |
Jim Rafter |
Father of
nine including tennis player Pat Rafter |
|
2000 |
Parenting
activist |
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Father's Day traditions in Australia include school crafts with handmade gifts and cards from younger children, taking dad out for lunch, BBQs, and outdoor family activities.
Public schools often hold a Father's Day gift stall with inexpensive presents for fathers, grandfathers, carers, or other role-models.
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A father limerick . . .
Each night Father fills me with dread
When he sits on the foot of my bed;
I'd not mind that he speaks
In gibbers and squeaks,
But for the seventeen years he's been dead.
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Greeting card maker Hallmark has claimed that Father's Day makes up the fifth largest card-sending holiday in the world.
Greeting cards make up the number one gift item on the occasion of Father's Day and one third are funny in nature.
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Research has shown that female shoppers spend approximately 50 percent more than men while buying gifts for their dad.
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