[00:12.38]People in the United States honor their parents with two special days:
[00:17.76]Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June.
[00:25.44]Mother’s Day was proclaimed a day for national observance by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915.
[00:34.24]Ann Jarvis from Grafton, West Virginia, had started the idea to have a day to honor mothers.
[00:42.53]She was the one who chose the second Sunday in May and also began the custom of wearing a carnation.
[00:51.13]In 1909, Mrs. Dodd from Spokane, Washington, thought of the idea of a day to honor fathers.
[00:59.90]She wanted to honor her own father, William Smart.
[01:04.69]After her mother died, he had the responsibility of raising a family of five sons and a daughter.
[01:13.51]In 1910, the first Father’s Day was observed in Spokane.
[01:19.22]Senator Margaret Chase Smith helped to establish Father’s Day as a national commemorative day, in 1972.
[01:29.91]These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents.
[01:35.43]They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care.
[01:44.12]These two special days are celebrated in many different ways.
[01:49.67]On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother.
[01:57.85]A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents.
[02:06.47]It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery.
[02:12.01]On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants.
[02:18.69]They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
[02:28.04]Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school.
[02:34.77]Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores.
[02:42.28]It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”.
[02:49.38]Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies,
[02:56.54]and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.
