Father's Day (United States)
A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father's Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized. US President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation. Two earlier attempts to formally recognize the holiday had been defeated by Congress. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our two parents". In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday is a holiday celebrated by Catholic and Protestant Christians in the UK and some other parts of the world. It is generally observed in parishes of the Church of England, as well as in the rest of the UK and many Anglican parishes throughout the world, especially in Canada and Australia. It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Day. Once observed as a day on which people would visit their "mother" church, it has become an occasion for honouring the mothers of children and giving them presents. It is increasingly being called Mother's Day, although that name properly belongs to the American holiday which is quite distinct from the original Mothering Sunday. In the UK and the Republic of Ireland, Mothering Sunday is celebrated in a similar way as Mother's Day is celebrated in the USA.