安徽省安庆商业学校外语教研室 邱效瑾 编注

　　Father's Day was born in memory and gratitude by a child who thought that his/her father and all good fathers should be honored with a special day just like we honor our mothers on Mother's Day.

　　Mother's Day came first, but Father's Day wasn't too far behind. It's amazing what people accomplish when they put their minds to good use and encourage others to join their cause.<注1> It just wouldn't be the same without many of our holidays and Father's Day is one of them.

　　Q: Who came up with the idea of Father's Day?

　　A: Her name was Sonora Louise Smart Dodd and she lived in Spokane,<注2> Washington. Sonora was the oldest of six children raised by their father, William Jackson Smart, when their mother died during childbirth. Sonora honored and revered her father,<注3> and while listening to a Mother's Day sermon,<注4> in 1909, she determined there should also be a day to honor<注5> fathers. Sonora gained local support and made her dream a reality, one year later, within her own city of Spokane, Washington. Sonora married John Bruce Dodd. She died March 22, 1978, several years after Father's Day became a permanent national observance.<注6>

　　Q: Why June?

　　A: In 1910 Sonora chose June 19th, as the day to celebrate Father's Day because that was her father's birthday. With support from the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA,<注7> the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane on June 19, 1910.

　　Q: When did the United States begin celebrating Father's Day?

　　A:1910 Spokane, Washington celebrates Father's Day.

　　1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

　　1926 The formation of National Father's Day Committee in New York City.

　　1956 Father's Day was recognized by Joint Resolution of Congress.<注8>

　　1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring that the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

　　1972 President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday in June.

　　Q: Do other countries celebrate Father's Day?

　　A: Father's Day is celebrated in every part of the world. In the United States, Canada and most countries in Asia, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. Apart from flowers, on the third Sunday in June each year, all the fathers are still given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.

　　Q: What flowers are brought to Father as the gift?

　　A: In both early times and these days, wearing flowers was a common way of celebrating Father's Day. Mrs. Dodd favored the red rose to honor a father still living, while a white flower honored a deceased dad. J.H. Berringer, who also held Father's Day celebrations in Washington State as early as 1912, chose a white lilac<注9> as the Father's Day Flower.-