Día del Padre

3rd Sunday in June

Father’s Day was first celebrated in West Virginia to commemorate the lives of 210 miners who died in a mining accident. It appears that it was a single year celebration.

Two years later, Sonora Smart Dodd in Spokane Washington organized Father’s Day on June 19, 1910 to recognize her father. He was a civil War veteran and single parent; his wife died in childbirth to his sixth child. Dodd organized the celebration – originally planned to commemorate her father’s birthday of June 5th, but the date was pushed back to the third Sunday in June because there was not enough time to organize the event.

Three years later the holiday was introduced to the US Congress and in 1916 then President Woodrow Wilson traveled to Spokane to celebrate the day. Congress refused to recognize the holiday until 1966 when President Lyndon B Johnson issued a presidential proclamation designating Father’s Day as the third Sunday in June. President Richard Nixon signed it into law and Father’s day became a US National holiday.

While most nations celebrate Father’s Day on the 3rd Sunday in June, many others recognize dad’s on other dates. In Mexico, the celebration began to become popular in the late 50’s and became a commercially promoted day at that time.

In Mexico it is an opportunity for the family to unite and give special recognition to papas.