CubaPLUS Magazine

Father's Day, celebrated in Cuba every year on the third Sunday of June, is a well-deserved tribute to the men who, every day, with their love and dedication to their children, are essential in the life of the family. And if the mother is important, the presence of the father is not far behind, since it represents the masculine pattern to follow, especially for men, who see it as an example of performance in the future life. The first celebration in Cuba of Father's Day took place on June 19, 1938 at the initiative of writer, poet and outstanding pedagogue Dulce María Borrego, a great advocate of generalizing tribute to parents in the island. As is known, this celebration has as a  precedent the American Sonora Smart Doddse, who in 1909 proposed to mark a special day to honor her father, Henry Jackson Smart, a civil war veteran, who widowed and was in charge of six children. At that time the proposal was not successful. A year later, Father's Day was first celebrated on June 19 in Spokane, Washington, the birthday of Sonora's father, although it was not until 1924 that it was declared a national celebration. Later in 1966, then-President Lyndon Johnson officially approved the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. This tribute is practically celebrated in all the countries of the world, although the date varies according to local traditions. As in Cuba and the United States, in many other nations the third Sunday of June is celebrated, among them are: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rich. In Nicaragua, for example, Fathers' Day is celebrated on June 23; in Haiti on the last Sunday of this month; while in July the second Sunday is celebrated in Uruguay and the last Sunday in the Dominican Republic. In Brazil the second Sunday of August. Many other days in different months of the year have chosen other countries for that celebration.

However, what they do have in common is that the chosen day has the beautiful purpose of honoring the man who contributed to the birth of his children and, of course, the upbringing to make them useful men and women in the future.