When is Father's day in South Africa?
21 June 2009 is a Sunday!
Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers.
Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, and special dinners to fathers and family-oriented activities. In 2008, it was celebrated on June 15 in many countries. It originated in Spokane, Washington. In 2009, it will be celebrated on June 21 in many countries. In a few Catholic countries, it is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph.
The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held in July 5 1908 a church in Fairmont, West Virginia, by Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia at the Central United Methodist Church of Fairmont.
Mrs. John B. Dodd of Washington thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in church, and she arranged a tribute for her father in June 19, 1910. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance.
It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter. The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but the wrong reasons: it was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokane Review. Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like "Grandparents' Day", "Professional Secretaries' Day", etc. all the way down to "National Clean Your Desk Day".
- Extracts from Wikipedia's Father's Day.