1. Father’s Day is a celebration – in about 40 countries worldwide – honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.

2. It’s celebrated on the third Sunday of June in South Africa and the USA (and some other countries) but also on various other days during the year in other parts of the world.

3. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 (St. Joseph’s Day) since the Middle Ages.

4. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother’s Day, Siblings Day and Grandparents Day.

5. Father’s Day was not celebrated in the US, outside Catholic traditions, until the 20th century.

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6. As a civic celebration in the US, it was inaugurated in the early 20th century to complement Mother’s Day by celebrating fathers and male parenting.

7. In 1911, Jane Addams proposed that a citywide Father’s Day celebration be held in Chicago, but she was turned down.

8. In 1912, there was a Father’s Day celebration in Vancouver, Washington, suggested by Methodist pastor J . Berringer of the Irvington Methodist Church. They mistakenly believed that they had been the first to celebrate such a day. They followed a 1911 suggestion by the Portland Oregonian.

9. Harry C. Meek, a member of Lions Clubs International, claimed that he had first come up with the idea for Father’s Day in 1915. Meek said that the third Sunday in June was chosen because it was his birthday.

10. The Lions Club has named him the ‘Originator of Father’s Day’. Meek made many efforts to promote Father’s Day and make it an official holiday.

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