When Is Father's Day 2016 And Why Do We Celebrate It? - Metro

Drawing for Father’s day (Picture: Getty)

When is Father’s Day?

This year Father’s Day will be on Sunday June 19. The date changes each year but is always held on the third Sunday in June.

Next year Father’s Day will be held on Sunday June 18.

Come on then, why do we celebrate it?

Clearly Father’s Day is all about giving your Dad a day to say thank you. But it’s not just that, it’s also a chance to remember fathers who have died and celebrate men who have played an important paternal role in our lives.

How did Father’s Day start?

Compared to Mother’s Day, the date is actually a fairly modern tradition. The date is believed to have started being celebrated after a woman called Sonora Dodd, from Washington, attended a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909 and wondered why people didn’t do the same for fathers.

Sonora’s mother had died during childbirth when she was only 16-year-old. Her father raised both her and the baby and so a day to thank him and other fathers seemed important.

She started a campaign that was supported by the Spokane Ministerial Association and the young Men’s Christian Association and eventually the city agreed to celebrate the date in 1910 on June 19. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared the third Sunday in June a day to celebrate fathers and in 1972 President Nixon made it a permanent holiday in the US.

Sadly, in the UK, the date still isn’t a public holiday.

Arrow MORE: Cheap Father’s Day gifts: Buy Dad these presents on a budget

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