Havana.- In Cuba, as in most Latin American countries, as well as in the United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom and Afghanistan, we celebrate Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. However, we also find other dates around the world to celebrate fatherhood.
For example, on March 19, the Catholic saint’s day of Saint Joseph, adoptive father of Jesus in the Christian tradition, they congratulate parents in Bolivia, Spain, Honduras, Mozambique, Italy and Portugal. In Brazil, on the other hand, it is celebrated on the second Sunday in August; in the Dominican Republic last July and in Guatemala and El Salvador every June 17th. In South Korea on May 8; in Denmark, June 5; in Egypt, Jordan and Syria on June 21; in Uruguay on the second Sunday of July and in Taiwan on August 8th. And there are those who celebrate it in the last quarter of the year. This is the case in Luxembourg, where it is celebrated on the first Sunday in October; Indonesia on November 12th or Thailand on December 5th.
ORIGIN OF A PARTY
Many point to the first modern celebration of Father’s Day in the United States on June 19, 1910. They say that Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd attended a Mother’s Day Mass and it occurred to her to hold another in honor of Mother’s Day The Father, a widowed Civil War veteran, was given responsibility for the five children and raised them in an exemplary manner.
Originally it was planned to celebrate the fair on June 5, the birthday of Mister Wise, but due to the rush in the preparations, it was decided to push back the date by two weeks. The first Father’s Day took place on June 19, 1910 in Washington. Word got around and people joined in the celebrations. In other cities in the United States, Masses were dedicated in homage to the fathers. It has been officially celebrated across the country since 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge declared it a national holiday. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation officially declaring the third Sunday in June to be Father’s Day.
OUR FATHER’S DAY
According to the Cuban Collaborative Encyclopedia securedThe first celebration of the date on the island took place on June 19, 1938, at the initiative of the writer and artist Dulce María Borrero, who advocated the generalization of the tribute to parents in Cuba.
In our country, it is a family celebration with characteristics similar to the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day. Gifts, meetings, walks and family dinners are held. In many schools in the country, it is customary to take children’s photos with motifs and allegorical posters to give away as souvenirs to parents. Of course, there are also postcards with poems and special messages of congratulations on the date.
AROUND THE WORLD ON FATHER’S DAY
In 1948, the teacher Manuela Vicente Ferrero, known by her literary pseudonym Nely, decided to hold a festival at her school to entertain her students’ parents. The idea came about at the express request of some parents who were “jealous” and expressed their desire to have a day when they would be the award winners. The first day in honor of parents included a mass, the presentation of gifts made by the girls themselves, and a children’s festival with poems, dances and drama. Her religiosity led her to choose the day of Saint Joseph, considered by believers to be the role model for parents and head of the humble and hard-working Christian family.
The idea took off and the teacher spread her initiative on the pages of the following year The Zamora Mail and the Spanish teaching degree, publications he worked for. During an interview on the show National Radio titled Latest news hour He personally explained the history of this day to the audience, and little by little other important figures of Spanish society of the time joined until the celebration spread throughout the country.
In Germany there are two festivals associated with Father’s Day. On the one hand, Father’s Day is celebrated on May 21, the Ascension Day of Jesus, and is a national holiday. On the other hand, Lord’s Day is a traditional festival where only men take a mountain ride in carts with wine or beer and local food.
In the case of the Dominican Republic, a very practical reason led to changing the date of this celebration: in previous decades it was celebrated on the last Sunday in June, just a month after Mother’s Day, but a legislative decree caused a delay. a month to save time for the domestic economy to recover, after Mother’s Day is spent giving gifts and parties, so it is possible to treat parents more justly or splendidly on their day.
In Argentina, it was first celebrated on August 24, 1958 in honor of José de San Martín, Father of the Nation, but then it was moved to the third Sunday in June, when it is currently celebrated.
In Korea, the carnation is the most important gift on Father’s Day. Italians have a signature dessert on this day, a kind of donut dough nest filled with custard and fruit pickled in syrup and coated with powdered sugar.