Father’s Day is coming up in the United States on June 16 — so it’s time for Americans to start getting ready to celebrate Dad! But what about in other countries and cultures?
Most countries have a version of Father’s Day, though it differs according to culture.
International Father’s Day traditions
Männertag in Germany
Celebrated on Ascension Day, which falls about a month after Easter, Germany’s Männertag (also known as Vatertag or Herrentag) includes activities where men dress up in colorful outfits and haul wagons of alcohol into the woods, according to HuffPost.
Father’s Day in Costa Rica
Like many countries, Costa Rica adopted the date of American Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. Costa Rican Father’s Day looks a little different than American Father’s Day, however.
Children devise handmade gifts for dads and put on skits or dances while the whole family gathers for a large meal, according to Rosetta Stone.
La Fête des Pères in France
France’s version of Father’s Day used to fall in March on St. Joseph’s Day, or the day that is said to be the birthday of Joseph, the father figure to Jesus Christ, according to French Moments. The modern version of France’s Father’s Day has more commercial origins.
Businessman Marcel Quercia founded “Flaminaire,” a gas lighting company. To spark business, he started an ad campaign where he marketed lighters as gifts for fathers.
The campaign was so successful that it resulted in La Fête des Pères becoming official in 1946, on the third Sunday of June. French children write poems, give their children handmade gifts and cards, and families enjoy special meals together.
Fars Dag in Sweden
Celebrated on the second Sunday in November, Swedish fathers are gifted snacks, handmade crafts, and ties, and often go out for dinner with their families or go see shows, according to Rosetta Stone.
Chichi no hi in Japan
Also celebrated on the third Sunday in June, families celebrate fathers with traditional Japanese meals and seafood and gifts of cologne, flowers or sake, per Rosetta Stone.
How Father’s Day came to be
Father’s Day traces its roots as far back as the 1500s, but its American history started with unofficial celebrations in 1908. Father’s Day and Mother’s Day were suggested by Sonora Smart Dodd and Anna Jarvis, respectively. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson made Father’s Day an official holiday. Later, President Richard Nixon set its date on the third Sunday in June, per Rosetta Stone.
Father’s Day in other countries often comes from Catholic traditions, like France’s St. Joseph’s Day, but modernly, many countries have taken the date of America’s Father’s Day for their own.