FATHER'S DAY CELEBRATION TURNS 100

FATHER'S DAY CELEBRATES ITS 100TH
ANNIVERSARY TODAY: HOW DID IT BEGIN?

LiveScience.com - Father's Day is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year on June 19, and it all began when a young woman wanted to honor her dad. In May of 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash., sat in church listening to a Mother's Day sermon. She decided she wanted to designate a day for her dad, William Jackson Smart. Dodd's mother had died in childbirth, and Dodd's father, a Civil War veteran, had taken the responsibility of singlehandedly raising the newborn and his other five children. The following year, Dodd wanted to celebrate Father's Day on June 5th, her father's birthday, and petitioned for the holiday to be recognized in her city. Needing more time to arrange the festivities, Spokane's mayor pushed the date back by two weeks, and the first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910. At that first celebration, young women handed out red roses to their fathers during a church service, and large baskets full of roses were passed around, with attendees encouraged to pin on a rose in honor of their fathers - red for the living and white in memory of the deceased. Dodd then brought her infant son along on a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city, bringing roses and gifts to home-bound fathers.

While Congress was quick to officially declare the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day in 1914, it took much longer for Father's Day to be legally recognized. But thanks to Dodd's celebration, Father's Day steadily gained popularity. A century later, Father's Day has evolved into a nationally recognized holiday. President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers in 1966, but it wasn't until 1972 that President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it a permanent holiday. Since then, Father's Day has become a time to recognize the many different father figures in our lives.


Parents who commit misdeeds and crimes are an easy target for teasing and criticism, but it is important to emphasize the role of men in the family, because without them we would not have civilization. Besides, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has proclaimed in the Bhagavad-gita that He is the father of all living beings without exception.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna is the father of all living entities, who are placed in different high and low positions according to their desires or aspirations. ... As long as the powerful men of the world do not accept the origin of their respective powers, namely the Personality of Godhead, the actions of māyā (illusion) will continue to act. ... The intelligent class of men, therefore, must admit the Lord as the ultimate source of all energies and thus pay tribute to the Lord for His good blessings. ... The obedient son of the father never goes against the will of the father and therefore passes life very peacefully in concurrence with the head of the family, the father. Similarly, the Lord being the father, all living beings should fully and satisfactorily discharge the duty and will of the father, as faithful sons. This very mentality will at once bring peace and prosperity to human society.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 2 - Chapter 6 - Verse 6.