Posted on Wednesday June 13, 2018

Father's Day: an evolving tradition!

Father's Day is an opportunity to express your love, admiration and appreciation of that guy you call "Dad". But where does the tradition come from? Below, a short history.

The original greeting card
Fatherhood has been honoured around the world since antiquity. The first traces of the custom go back some 4,000 years to Babylon, where a Father's Day message was found carved into a clay tablet. 

Middle Ages: the first celebrations
In medieval times, Father's Day was a Christian holiday celebrated on March 19, St. Joseph's feast day. In 1621, Pope Gregory XV decreed it a ?solemn feast? ? a major liturgical celebration for the universal Church. As a result, various Catholic countries (including Portugal, Spain and Italy) continue to hold Father's Day on March 19.

Father's Day on American soil
Father's Day was first celebrated in the U.S. in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910. The instigator was a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, who wanted to honour her father, William Jackson Smart, a widower who had raised six children.

The celebration gained further traction through the actions of various presidents. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge recommended the day be observed throughout the nation. In 1966, Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honouring fathers: as of now, Father's Day would officially take place on the third Sunday in June. But it wasn't until 1972 when Richard Nixon signed a federal law that Father's Day became a national holiday.

Fatherhood in 2018
Fatherhood has come a long way since the 1960s. From the often-absent provider and disciplinarian of days gone by, we've gone clear across the spectrum. 21st-century papas are present, engaged and involved with their families, pitching in with household chores and helping raise and school the kids.

Father's Day in figures

• In 2011, there were 8.6 million dads in Canada (including biological, adopted and step-fathers), including 206,000 in New Brunswick

-  According to Statistics Canada, in 2011:

• The average age of Canada's 8.6 million dads at time of birth of their first child was 28.3.
• In 2015 in all Canadian provinces, 30% of new fathers asked or intended to ask for parental leave.
• Between 2006 and 2011, the number of single-parent dads grew by over 16.2% ? more than twice the growth rate for the number of single-parent moms (+6.0 %).
• There was also a sharp rise in the number of stay-at-home dads: from 1 in 70 in 1976, they'd shot up to 1 in 10 by 2015.

-  In a survey conducted by RetailMeNot.ca, Canadians spent an average of $136 on Father's Day in 2017.

- Restaurateurs adore Father's Day since, in the U.S., taking dear old dad out for dinner accounts for close to 50% of total spending on the event ? which in 2017 amounted to more than $15 billion!

Gifts?
At UNI, we feel that love and appreciation can be just as effectively expressed through simple gestures. A shared moment of quality time? A homemade card? Or what about a flower ? since, in Canada, custom once had it that you would mark the day by wearing a rose: red if dad were alive, white if papa had passed on. However you choose to celebrate this special day, we at UNI would like to wish you all a very happy Father's Day!