Father's Day
Father's Day was not celebrated in the US, outside Catholic traditions, until the 20th century. As a civic celebration in the US, it was inaugurated in the early 20th century to complement Mother's Day by celebrating fathers and male parenting.
After Anna Jarvis' successful promotion of Mother's Day in Grafton, West Virginia, the first observance of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton was mourning the loss of her father, when in December 1907, the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand fatherless children. Clayton suggested that her pastor Robert Thomas Webb honor all those fathers.
Father's Day
Malta has followed the international trend and celebrates Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June.
As in the case of Mother’s Day, the introduction of Father’s Day celebrations in Malta was encouraged by [[Frans Said|Frans H Said]] (Uncle Frans of the children’s radio programmes). The first mention of Father’s Day was in June 1977, and the day is now part of the local events calendar. (The Times of Malta 11 June 2017) ( Il-Mument - Maltese newspaper- 18 June 2017)