FATHER MARQUETTE DAY--Friday, June 17, 1910

Marquette day is named in honor of Pere Jacques Marquette, the great missionary priest, who was also an explorer in his own right--the rediscoverer of the Mississippi.

FATHER'S DAY --Sunday, June 18, 2023

The single most common date among world countries is the third Sunday of June, which was founded in the state of Washington, United States by Sonora Smart Dodd in 1910.  Our Nation first celebrated Father’s Day in 1908.“A West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah. What many people don’t know is that the continuation of Father’s Day was inspired by the story of a single Dad--also a Civil War Vet."

“William Jackson Smart was a twice-married, twice-widowed Civil War veteran and father of 14 children, one of whom dedicated her life to the creation of Father’s Day in honor of her devoted and selfless dad. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910”; however Father’s Day was not declared a National Holiday until 1972. Since then, it is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday in June each year.

EARLY HISTORY

For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasizing the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said,

"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed"— Genesis 12:3, 22:18
This feast can fall between 11 and 17 December.This feast includes the ancestors of the Mary, mother of Jesus and various prophets.

A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is usually celebrated on 19 March, as the feast day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini ("Nourisher of the Lord") in Catholicism and "the putative father of Jesus" in southern European tradition. This celebration was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese. The Catholic Church actively supported the custom of a celebration of fatherhood on St. Joseph's Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans.

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the celebration of fatherhood is also observed on St Joseph's Day, but the Copts observe this on 20 July. The Coptic celebration may date back to the fifth century.

Whether to celebrate this day worldwide or not remained a debatable topic. In 1908, Grace Golden Clayton proposed the day to honor those men who had died in a mining accident in the US. Though it was not accepted then, in 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd, who along with her five brothers was raised by her father alone, after attending Mother's Day in a church, convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association to celebrate Father's Day worldwide.

In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on 19 November in honor of both men and boys.

JUNETEENTH aka FREEDOM DAY --Monday, June 19, 2023

Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, will take place on Monday, June 19, 2023. This marks the date in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to share the news that the Civil War had ended, and enslaved people were now free.  It is the oldest-known celebration marking the end of slavery in the United States, first recognized by the state of Texas. It is also known as “Freedom Day,” “Juneteenth Independence Day,” or “Emancipation Day.”

“Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.” –Harriet Tubman (1820–1913), American abolitionist and political activist.