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Father's Day is a fairly new celebration in the British calendar compared with Mother's Day, which has been a very popular and well celebrated festival in the UK for a very long time.

The origins of the celebration are American and it was inspired by the actions of a man named William Smart. He was a veteran of the US Civil War and his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. He raised six children alone without remarrying, which was undoubtedly unusual back in those days.

His daughter, Sonora Dodd, realised when she was an adult what her father had sacrificed for his children. It was in the early 1900s and she was actually at church one day, listening to a sermon on Mother's Day. She thought there should also be a Father's Day celebration.

And so the tradition was born, on the third Sunday every June, close to the anniversary of Sonora's father's death. Britain took the idea of Father's Day from the American celebration and it has been celebrated officially since the 1970s.

Father's Day is never quite such the big commercial event that Mother's Day is, probably because it hasn't been in existence for so long. But what do British people do for Father's Day?

Well, most people would buy their fathers a card. The card would probably have a nice message in it saying what a great Dad their father is. Some people do buy presents as well.

Popular gifts for Dads are probably ties, chocolates or socks because these are things that Dads can always use even if they don't want them. In the run-up to Father's Day, or indeed Mother's Day, there will be adverts on the TV giving us ideas of CDs or gadgets we can buy. Card shops will be full of mugs or pens and similar merchandise with 'World's Greatest Dad' written on them.

Some families might do things together to celebrate Father's Day like going for a meal. As a special treat, British people might give their Dad a bit of a rest – make him a cup of tea, or even wash his car and mow the lawn to make him feel really appreciated.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

celebration 庆祝

origins 起源 

inspired by 受启发

veteran 退役军人 

Civil War 内战

raised 养育了 

remarrying 再婚

undoubtedly 毫无疑问的 

sacrificed 牺牲

sermon 传教 

officially 正式地

commercial 商业性的 

in existence 存在

the run-up …即将到来之际 

adverts 广告

gadgets 小器具，小玩意 

mugs 杯子

treat 款待

merchandise 商品 

mow the lawn 除草