What is the true origin of Father’s Day

In Spain, father’s Day is celebrated every year March, 19, coinciding with the name day to José de Nazaret or Saint Joseph, known as the father of Jesus of Nazareth in the Catholic tradition. This is a day to honor the father figure in which many families gather to celebrate.

Although this celebration is fully integrated into Spain, its true origins are not here and the celebration is not linked to Christianity or religion. Father’s Day was born in the United States of Americaas confirmed by Leigh Eric Schmidt’s book”Consumer Etiquette: Buying and Selling at American Holidays” (nineteen ninety five).

What is the origin of Father’s Day?

It all goes back to twentieth centurywhen the American Sonora Smart Dodd He wanted to pay tribute to his father, a veteran of the Civil War who took care of his six children after the death of his wife. In 1910, the military’s daughter organized different celebrations to formalize the holiday in Spokane (Washington).

From that moment on, Dodd fought for Father’s Day to be celebrated in June, the month in which his father, William Jackson Smart, had his birthday. Even so, he had to wait until 1924, when President Calvin Coolidge endorsed his idea for this approach to arrive and be taken into account in the Government.

42 years later, specifically in 1966, President Lydon Johnson signed the document that proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day in United States. However, it was not officially considered a public holiday until 1971, at which point Richard Nixon signed the official statement.

Little by little, the idea spread throughout the world as a way of paying homage to the father figure and, in some countries such as Spainthe religious aspect was added.

Father’s Day in Spain

In Spain the Zamorana is known Manuela Vicente Ferrero (Nely) like the “inventor” of Father’s Day in Spain. It all started in 1948, when teacher Vicente Ferrero proposed to celebrate Father’s Day with the aim that her students “speak more intensely of her affection, remembering her sacrifices”. This is how Nely herself expressed it in ‘El Correo de Zamora’, a medium in which she collaborated, on March 19, 1965.

Teacher propagated the idea every year in the pages of ‘El Magisterio Español’ with the intention of formalizing it. The first year, in 1948, Manuela Vicente recounted how they lived that day at school: “Everything was natural and simple; the girls, nervous, waited for the moment to deliver their gift and congratulations, putting all the love in the kiss of that moment. of his soul. The parents waited excited and happy”.

The idea gained strength thanks to a campaign that José Fernández Rodríguez, director of Galerías Preciadosspread through the press and radio, as can be seen in the ABC’s March 13, 1953 publication.

Since then the idea was taking a more commercial sense. This is how Nely put it, according to ‘El Correo de Zamora’: “From then on, all the business houses, which saw their income increase because of the gifts given to the father, have continued to promote it.”