Currently, like the Mothers Day, O Father's Day is one of the most prestigious dates in the world as a whole and in Brazil in particular. However, little is known about the origin of this date.
In Brazil, it is celebrated on the second Sunday in August, but it has already been fixedly celebrated on the 16th of that month. In the United States and many other nations, the date is celebrated on the third Sunday in June; in Portugal and Spain, on March 19; in Russia on February 23rd. But what is the reason for these differences?
Origin of celebration in the United States
Father's Day started to have worldwide repercussion from the beginning of the 20th century, when the date was institutionalized in the United States of America. The United States celebrated Father's Day for the first time in June 19, 1910. This date was chosen based on the suggestion of a girl named Louis Dodd Sound, who wanted to honor his father, William Jackson Smart.
Smart was a veteran ofAmerican Civil War who, after his wife's death, had to raise Sonora and the other children on his own. Sonora's honor began in 1909, in her hometown of Spokane, Washington state. The day in question, June 19, was her father's birth date. The girl's simple gesture ended up mobilizing many people in the same city to pay the same kind of tribute. From Spokane, the practice spread to other US states.
However, in 1966, there was a change in the commemoration of the date due to other factors. From June 19th, the celebration moved to the third sunday in june. In 1972, the president RichardNixon declared the third Sunday in June as the official day of the Father's Day celebration. This date has been adopted as a model by several Western countries.
Origin of the celebration in Brazil
In Brazil, Father's Day was only celebrated for the first time in 1953, in day August 16th. Contrary to what happened in the USA, this date was not thought of as a form of local and simple homage, which spread later, without planning. In fact, it was designed by a publicist called Sylvio Bhering, at the time director of the newspaper The globe and the homonymous radio.
Bhering's aim was both social and commercial. The initial attempt was to associate the date with the day of Saint joaquim, father of Maria, mother of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated on August 16, in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, as the Brazilian population was predominantly made up of Catholics. However, in subsequent years, the date was also moved to a Sunday, the second sunday of august – and it remains so to this day.
The particular case of other countries
There is the case of other countries where Father's Day is related to very specific cultural aspects. This is the case, for example, of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Andorra, Bolivia and Honduras, which celebrate it in March 19th. This is because such countries, also of Catholic tradition, associate Father's Day with the day of Saint Joseph, husband of Mary.
A curious case is that of Russia, which celebrates Father's Day in February 23. The reason is the fact that this day is also reserved for the commemoration of the Day of the Defender of the Local Homeland – date celebrated since 1919. The two dates ended up intertwining.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/dia-dos-pais-1.htm