Why is Father’s Day in Mexico celebrated on the third Sunday of June?
In 1910 the American Sonora Smart Dodd listened to a sermon during a Mother’s Day and felt that the work of the parents was not equally recognized.
She in particular was fond of her father because her father, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, raised her and her five siblings alone.
Smart Dodd approached the Ministerial Alliance in Spokane, a city near Washington, in the United States, where Sonora was originally from, and suggested his own father’s birthday, June 5, for the celebration. In consensus, the Alliance chose the third Sunday in June.
The celebration was made official in 1966 by US President Lyndon B. Johnson and from there it spread throughout much of the world.
Father’s Day in Mexico
In Mexico it began to be celebrated with less intensity during the 1960s; However, it has been celebrated in a more evident way for a couple of decades, since the generations of fathers who assume their paternity and share the upbringing with the mother has been increasing.
Shared parenting and exercising obligations to children is a relatively new model in Mexican society, since for many years the model was based on the provider father and the woman was the absolute responsible for raising the children.
Shared responsibility
Parenting-related work has increasingly involved fathers: it is now common to see men in school meetings, and even in different public places the changing table for diapers is already in the men’s bathrooms.
This social change means a great advance to build more equitable societies and in which Father’s Day has a special meaning, as endearing as Mother’s Day, when the children – because we all are – have received the care, the affection, the look and the sustenance of our parents.
An emotional career
For four decades, the Father’s Day Race had been celebrated with particular enthusiasm.
Strollers, babies in arms, children running with their parents: and the crowd supporting everyone to reach the goal. Half a marathon and full adrenaline plus the love put into each step, make this sporting event a great family activity to celebrate Father’s Day.
With information from Entrepeneur in Spanish