Father's Day
Next: June 20, 2027
He'd never ask. Say it anyway.
The story
Where it comes from
Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, raised by a widowed Civil War veteran, organised the first Father's Day in June 1910 after hearing a Mother's Day sermon. It took far longer than Mother's Day to catch on: the United States made it a permanent national holiday only in 1972. The third Sunday of June is now used across much of the world, though Catholic Europe and Latin America often keep 19 March (Saint Joseph's Day), Thailand 5 December, and Australia and New Zealand the first Sunday of September.
How it's celebrated
Quieter than Mother's Day almost everywhere: a meal, a card, a gift tied to a hobby. In Germany Vatertag falls on Ascension Day and is traditionally a men's outing with a handcart of beer. In Japan gifts of beer, ties and sweets are common.
Did you know
- Father's Day is the busiest day of the year for collect (reverse-charge) phone calls in the United States, a fact stand-up comedians have never let fathers forget.
- The neckties-as-gifts stereotype is old: retailers were marketing ties for Father's Day by the 1930s.
The greeting
Happy Father's Day!
Coming up next
- Fête de la Musique · June 21, 2027
- International Day of Yoga · June 21, 2027
- World Rainforest Day · June 22, 2027
- Olympic Day · June 23, 2027
- International Women in Engineering Day · June 23, 2027
- International Day of Women in Diplomacy · June 24, 2027