By TR Robertson
I have been fortunate enough to be a father twice with two great sons, Chris and Brian. Soon another Father’s Day will be celebrated throughout the United States, this year on Sunday, June 15th, and as it turns out, the world as well. Father’s Day has been around unofficially for some 4,000 years, but only officially since 1966 in the United States. But interestingly, there is only a small number of facts and trivia associated with this celebration. Wishing all of the fathers out there a Happy Father’s Day and here are some fun facts and trivia about this celebration.
• One historical study says 4,000 years ago in Babylon, a son. called Elmesu. carved a Father’s Day message on a clay tablet wishing his father a long and healthy life.
• Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, of Spokane, Washington, started the tradition of Father’s Day, in honor of her dad, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran. She chose his birthday as the day for the celebration.
• The local YMCA helped Sonora with her father’s celebration.
• This first local celebration was held on June 19, 1910.
• In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea of observing an annual Father’s Day
• The first state to celebrate Father’s Day was Washington
• In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made Father’s Day a national event.
• In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day.
• President Richard Nixon signed the public law making it permanent.
• The following U.S. Presidents never became fathers – George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk and James Buchanan.
• Father’s Day is the fifth most popular card-sending holiday, with an estimated $100 million in card sales, still behind what is spent on Mother’s Day.
• Roses are the official flower for Father’s Day.
• A red rose is worn in the lapel if your father is living, a white rose if he is deceased.
• 72% of all Americans celebrate or acknowledge Father’s Day.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, neckties are still the most popular #1 gift for Father’s Day, followed by tools, golf clubs and fishing gear.
• There are roughly 74 million fathers in the United States and 1.5 billion worldwide
• There are roughly 214,000 “stay at home” dads in the U.S., representing 7% of all dads
• The average age for first time dads in the U.S. is 30.9 years of age
• The oldest recorded father was Les Colley who fathered a son when he was 92 years 10 months old
• The youngest father on record was 12-year-old Sean Stewart from Great Britain
• The father with the most children is said to have been Genghis Khan who may have fathered between 1,000 to 3,000 children
• In Costa Rica, attempts were made to celebrate Father’s Day on March 19, the feast day of St. Joseph.
• It is estimated that the word “Dad” dates back to the sixteenth century
• In Australia, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September.
• Finnish people celebrate Father’s Day on the second Sunday of November
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• In Thailand, the 5th of December is observed as Father’s Day.
• In Brazil Father’s Day is the 2nd Sunday in August.
• In Russia, Russians celebrate Defender of the Fatherland Day on Feb. 23rd.
• In France, the #1 Father’s Day gift for many years was to give him a lighter.
• In German, Father’s Day is celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, Ascension Day.
• Germans celebrate Father’s Day by taking hikes, pulling wagons with alcohol into the woods for a celebration or going on bar crawls.
• In Mexico, a 21K Father’s Day Race is held.
• In Nepal, sons touch their foreheads to their father’s feet and daughters touch their foreheads to their father’s hands.
• The #1 Father’s Day song is “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel. The #2 song is “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin.
• In the animal kingdom the male seahorse becomes pregnant.
• The first father & son to play together on an MLB team were Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr., on the Seattle Mariners in 1990 & 1991.
• In the NBA, LeBron and Bonny James are the first father and son to play together on the same team.
• A.A. Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh for his son Christopher.
• One survey showed what fathers wanted most on Father’s Day was to just have some time to chill and be alone for the day.
Hope you had fun finding out a little more about Father’s Day and however you celebrate Father’s Day, wishing all of you Father’s out there a Great Day and a Fun time with your families.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
