In Spain every March 19 we celebrate Father’s Day. However, although we have been celebrating this day for many years, the truth is that very few of us know where the idea comes from, a tradition that has its origin in the United States. It all began on July 5, 1908, in a church in West Virginia, while a mass was celebrated in honor of the fathers and, especially, in memory of the 362 men who had died in an explosion in the coal mines of Fairmont Monohag Company, in December 1907.
That was the first time that a public event was held to honor parents, although it was not until the following year that Sonora Smart Dodd, an American, daughter of a widowed father, thought it would be nice to dedicate a day to honor the effort of his father and all the fathers in the world.
Henry Jackson Smart, Smart Dodd’s father, was an American Civil War veteran who became a widower when his wife passed away while giving birth to their sixth child. The man was left alone and without any…