March 19: Father's Day

Hello everybody!
Today is the 19th of March and here in Spain is Father's day!

In fact, not in all the countries we celebrate this day at the same time. Today we celebrate our dads only in few countries in the world like Andorra, Italy, Portugal, Bolivia or Mozambique. Usually it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there are a lot of exceptions, in Russia for example Father's day is on February 23, in the Republic of Korea on May 8.

So why do we celebrate Father's day in Spain on March 19?

As we all know, in Spain there has always been a strong catholic influence, and inevitably nowadays we have many traditions that have their own roots in Catholicism. Father's day is no exception, given that March 19 is Saint Joseph's day, Jesus Christ's father.

The idea was born in 1948 from the initiative of Manuela Vicente Ferrero, a spanish teacher, that after many father's complaint introduced a day dedicated to all the fathers of her students. This day was characterized by a mass and a festival, where all the children performed in many poetry, theatre and dance shows. As I already said, the choice of the day is connected to St Joseph, Christian model of father.
This idea was really successful and became to spread in Spain, in particular through some articles in "El Correo de Zamora" and "Magisterio Español", until it truly became a celebration day.

So, it is a good occasion to have some good time in family. Let's all spend this day with our dads and celebrate them as they deserve!

Happy father's day to all the dads out there!!