Father's Day is a mobile commemorative date in Brazil, always celebrated on the second Sunday in August.
It is not a holiday, but the fact that it is celebrated on a Sunday makes it possible for most people to spend the day with their parents.
The date is celebrated internationally, but across the world, the day that honors parents varies. There are countries where the celebration is mobile, although on different dates from Brazil. This is the case in the United States, which celebrates Father's Day on the third Sunday in June.
But in Portugal, for example, the commemoration is fixed. There, it coincides with St. Joseph's Day - March 19, which is the adoptive father of Jesus.
Father's Day Origin
Several events can be attributed to the origin of Father's Day, but effectively, its commemoration arose on June 19, 1910 in the United States.
More than 4,000 years ago, the creation of the first card by a prince in Babylon who offered it to his father is usually attributed to its origin. But the clay card only paid homage to the king.
In the 20th century, the celebration of a date in honor of the fathers was motivated by the existence of one that honored the mothers.
Mother's Day was recently created when, on December 6, 1907, a coal mine accident in the state of West Virginia took the lives of several people. 250 of them were fathers of families.
So, on July 5, 1908, the bereaved families gathered at the Methodist Church in town to pay homage to their parents.
The initiative would have been from Grace Golden Clayton who, moved by the situation of the various children who would grow up without the presence of their father, thought about the need to value the father figure. Grace suggested that it be celebrated on the Sunday around her deceased father's birthday. This tribute was made only once.
However, in 1910, also in the United States, Sonora Smart Dodd questioned the fact that only mothers were honored.
Raised with her five siblings by her father, after her mother died giving birth to her sixth child, Sonora proposed that her father's birthday be celebrated as Father's Day.
Held at the Young Men's Christian Association in Washington on June 19, 1910, this was the first Father's Day celebration that spread across the country the idea of honoring parents.
Thus, the demand for the officialization of the date begins, but without the approval of the American Congress - which, among other allegations, feared the commercial use of the celebration. Only in 1972 did then-President Richard Nixon sign the law that made Father's Day official, which would be celebrated on the third Sunday in June. That's how it happens to this day.
How did the Father's Day celebration come to Brazil?
The first celebration of Father's Day in Brazil dates back to August 16, 1953.
One of the factors that inhibited the officialization of the date in the United States was the motivator in Brazil. In our country, the celebration of Father's Day has a commercial origin, as its objective was to increase sales.
In Brazil, the idea arose at the suggestion of publicist Sylvio Bhering, at the time director of the newspaper and of Globo radio.
Initially, it was celebrated on August 16th, because that is the day the church commemorates Saint Joaquim - the father of the Virgin Mary and, therefore, the grandfather of Jesus.
Later, similarly to Mother's Day, which is celebrated on a Sunday - which facilitates family gatherings, Father's Day was also celebrated on a Sunday. Thus, the second Sunday of the month of August was chosen, a month that was already considered the month of parents.
