Father's Day

In the United States, the driving force behind the establishment of the celebration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, as a single parent raised his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane.

Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by selling male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.

Source: Father's Day - Wikipedia

Date of Father's Day 2006
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The officially recognised date of Father's Day varies from country to country.

19th of March

Countries observing Father's Day on the 19th of March include: Belgium (also secular celebration on the second Sunday of June), Italy, Portugal and Spain.

23rd of June

Countries observing Father's Day on the 23rd of June include: Poland and Nicaragua.

Third Sunday of June

Countries observing Father's Day on the third Sunday of June include: Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Hong Kong S.A.R., India, Ireland, Japan, Macao S.A.R., Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

First Sunday of September

Countries observing Father's Day on the first Sunday of September include: Australia and New Zealand.

Second Sunday of November

Countries observing Father's Day on the second Sunday of November include: Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Other dates

Countries with other celebration dates include:
Russia: February 23 (Defender of the Fatherland Day, a military holiday, seen by many as a men's day)
South Korea: May 8 (Parents' Day)
Germany: Ascension Day
Denmark: June 5 (also Constitution Day)
Lithuania: first Sunday of June
Austria: second Sunday of June
Vietnam: July 7 (Parents' Day)
Dominican Republic: last Sunday of July
Iran: 13 Rajab, birthday of Ali
Taiwan: August 8
The word for the date, bā bā, (8/8) is a near-homonym of the word for father in Chinese, "爸爸" bàba.
Brazil: second Sunday of August
Thailand: December 5 (birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej)

Economy
The total gross state product in 2003 for Louisiana was US$140 billion. Its per capita personal income was US$26,312, forty-third in the United States.

The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood (It is the biggest producer of crawfish in the world), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, food processing, transportation equipment, paper products, and tourism.

Louisiana has 3 personal income tax brackets, ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent. The sales tax rate is 4 percent: a 3.97 percent Louisiana sales tax and a .03 percent Louisiana Tourism Promotion District sales tax. Political subdivisions also levy their own sales tax in addition to the state fees. The state also has a use tax, which includes 4 percent to be distributed by the Department of Revenue to local governments. Property taxes are assessed and collected at the local level.

Miscellaneous topics

* State license plate : depicts a brown pelican and includes the motto "Sportsman's Paradise," which emphasizes the state's opportunities for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities.

* State pledge : I pledge allegiance to the flag of the state of Louisiana and to the motto for which it stands: A state, under God, united in purpose and ideals, confident that justice shall prevail for all of those abiding here.

Culture
Louisiana is home to two distinct cultures: the non-Anglo Creole and the French-speaking Cajun. The ancestors of Creoles came to Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from Western Europe France, Germany, Spain, and from Senegal (West Africa) and settled along the major waterways in the State. The blending of these disparate lifestyles is called "Creole" and continued as the dominant cultural, social, economic and political lifestyle of Louisiana well into the 20th Century when it would finally be overtaken by the Anglo-American mainstream.

The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-speaking people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forcibly separated families and evicted them because of their long-stated political neutrality. Most captured Acadians were placed in internment camps in England and the New England colonies for 10 to 30 years. Many of those who escaped the British remained in French Canada. Once freed by England, many scattered, some to France, Canada, Mexico, the Falkland Islands, with the majority finding final refuge in south Louisiana centered in the region around Lafayette and the LaFourche Bayou country. Until the 1970s, Cajuns were often considered lower class citizens with the term "Cajun" being derogatory. But, once flush with oil & gas riches, Cajun culture, food, music and their infectious "joie de vivre" lifestyle quickly gained international acclaim.

There is also a distinct Spanish-descended group in Louisiana. The Isleños are direct descendants of Canary Islanders forced to migrate by the Spanish King beginning in the mid-1770s. There were intended to help guard the eastern approaches to New Orleans from invasion by the British. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, in the river passes east of the city, along an old mouth of the Mississippi River which they named Terre aux Boeufs (literally "Land of Cattle" for the cattle living there). Many of their descendants remained insulated from the city, and continued to speak an archaic version of Spanish well into the 20th Century. They still maintain contacts with the Canary Islands, and have an annual "Caldo" festival named for a native dish.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/