When is Father’s Day? From gift ideas to the date’s history, everything you need to know
- The UK celebrates the holiday on June 18, 2023, the third Sunday of the month
- The day has a long history and took over 50 years to be recognised
- Here is everything you need to know about Father’s Day 2023
Father’s Day is fast approaching in the UK and falls in June, a couple of months after Mother’s Day, the annual holiday is a chance to celebrate father’s and father figures.
The holiday is now hugely popular and is celebrated at different times all over the world.
However the day has not always been welcomed, and took over half a century to be recognised.
Here is everything you need to know about Father’s Day 2023, including gift ideas and the history behind it.
Unlike Mother’s Day, Father’s Day has not always been celebrated and was declared a holiday in 1972 by U.S. president Richard Nixon
When is Father’s Day 2023?
Father’s Day falls on the third Sunday of June and changes annually. This year the date falls on June 18, a day earlier than last year’s.
Along with many other countries, the UK follows the US timing of father’s day, but other countries celebrate at different points throughout the year.
Australia celebrates the day in September, which falls on September 3 this year. Meanwhile, Finland, Iceland and others honour their Father’s in November.
Father’s Day gift ideas
If you haven’t thought about Father’s Day yet, no need to panic, there is just over two weeks to find a gift in time.
If you don’t have time to search the shops, Amazon has a huge Father’s Day collection with plenty of gifts from screwdriver sets to dressing gowns.
To opt for something more personal, Funky Pigeon and Etsy have various custom gifts with the option for next day delivery.
The first Father’s Day service was held in West Virginia in 1908 following the Monongah Mine Disaster, one of the worst mine disaster’s in American history
What is the history of Father’s Day?
Unlike Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is much more modern and was not recognised as a holiday until US President Richard Nixon signed the date in 1972.
The first known Father’s Day service occurred decades earlier in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908, following a mining accident which killed hundreds of men in the U.S.
Grace Clayton organised the event to honour the men who died, including her father, attendees offered flowers to respect both the surviving and dead fathers.
A year later the US had widespread Father’s Day celebrations across churches in Spokane, Washington organised by Sonora Dodd, who conceived the idea after attending a Mother’s Day service.
Dodd petitioned the government to create a national holiday which she originally wanted to be on June 5 – her father’s birthday.
Washington state celebrated its first Father’s Day three weeks later on June 16, 1910.
Father’s Day World War II connection
Father’s Day did not reach equal popularity to Mother’s Day until World War II, which saw many fathers on the front lines.
The day rose to significance as a way to support and show appreciation for the men fighting.
Years later Nixon declared the day a national holiday, by this time the UK had already been celebrating Father’s Day alongside the U.S. for years.
Father’s Day Controversy
In the 1930s in America, a campaign launched in New York to replace both Father’s Day and Mother’s Day with ‘Parent’s Day’.
The campaign failed partly due to economic interests, which benefitted from celebrating the holidays separately.
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