An Explainer on What Father's Day Is and Why It's Celebrated

One of the biggest events within families is coming up pretty quickly: Father's Day! For 2021, it falls on June 20, a Sunday. That means if you haven't been able to plan celebrations or presents yet, there's still time to do so. Take, for example, the incredibly cost-efficient meme or memes. A few minutes of searching online or creating one with a generator, and you've got a funny gift! You can even go the extra mile and make use of digital screen printing to get that funny image (or a family photo) on a shirt just for him. Little kids will enjoy creating something like a card. There's a lot of ways to go about it.

The Origins of Father's Day

When you look at the history side of things, it was actually Mother's Day that came first. It dates back to the mid-1800s, only becoming a national holiday by 1914. It was this parental movement that opened the door to celebrate another. Father's Day dates back to 1908, when a sermon at a church in West Virginia honored 362 men who died in a coal mining explosion. It was the very first event of the United States of America strictly meant for honoring fathers. However, within that particular community, it was just a one-off.

The next year, Sonora Smart Dodd took it upon herself to get Father's Day turned into a national holiday. A single father raised her alongside six siblings, and she firmly believed that fathers deserved celebration and honor like mothers. It took a year of petitioning both the government and her local community, but she did it: Washington, Dodd's home state, celebrated Father's Day on June 19, 1910. As the years went on, more and more states adopted Father's Day celebrations. It was finally signed into law as a national holiday by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

There was quite a lot that happened in the roughly 60 years between Father's Day being an idea to becoming a holiday. There was a national movement back in the 1920s-1930s that wanted to abolish both Father's and Mother's Day, replacing them instead with a unified parents day.

There were also men who didn't want Father's Day at all. Some people saw it as nothing more than a "Hallmark holiday", largely meant as a commercial gimmick and nothing more. With fathers generally being the lone breadwinners at that time, they weren't open to spending the money they'd worked so hard for on chocolates and flowers.

Father's Day got a boost from an unexpected source: the Great Depression and World War II. During the war, it became a way to honor fathers who served overseas; during the Depression, retailers that were struggling used it to generate income.

It's not just the United States that celebrates, however. Most countries observe it on the third Sunday of June; most Catholic countries let it coincide on March 19, St. Joseph's Day. Pacific countries like Australia celebrate on the first Sunday of September.

Conclusion

It's important to celebrate our loved ones, but especially so parents. Father's Day took a little longer to become a national holiday, but it's just as valid. Great gift ideas include crafts and custom screen printing a shirt with a funny or meaningful image.

Looking for high-quality custom screen printing with no minimums? Reach out to Bauers Boutique today! We offer premium custom t-shirt printing for your dad or all the father figures in your life.