Think it would be fun on Father's Day to send your dad off with a group of men to pull a little wooden wagon full of beer, liverwurst, and eggs through the countryside? Well, if you lived in Germany you would! Father's Day in Germany, called Vatertag, is not only held on a day other than the third Sunday in June, but it is celebrated differently than the Father's Day of the United States and other countries. In Germany, Vatertag has a reputation for being more of a "guy's day" or "boozing day" rather than a day to honor fathers. Men (of the paternal persuasion, or not) typically gather together, instead of with their families, and take to the bars or go on traditional hiking tours with their beer filled wagons (bollerwagen) to picnic in the country.

In the United States, Father's Day is a little different than Vatertag! Along with different practices, the US version of Father's Day has roots separate from the German day for men. Two women in the early 1900's are credited with suggesting and lobbying for a day just for dads. The first day in honor of fathers in the United States is said to have been held July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia. The celebration was not a national one but was instead limited to a church service at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South at the request of a woman named Grace Golden Clayton. Inspired by a nearby deadly mine explosion six months prior that took the life of 361 men (many of the dads), Grace asked the pastor to hold the service that day in honor of all fathers. It's surmised that Grace's idea for the celebration was additionally influenced by the first Mother's Day, which had occurred two months earlier in another West Virginia town close to Fairmont.

While Grace is often credited with suggesting the first celebratory day for dads, the main proponent for a national Father's Day is considered to be a woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd. It is said Sonora was inspired to ask for a day honoring fathers while attending a 1909 Mother's Day sermon. She admired the work of Anna Jarvis to establish a holiday for mothers and felt fathers deserved a similar tribute. Sonora's mother died giving birth to a sixth child, leaving Sonora's dad, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, to raise all six children by himself in Spokane, Washington. Sonora wanted to honor her father's sacrifice and commitment to rearing children with a special time in the same vein as mothers were recognized. Being that her father was born in June, she worked to establish an honorary dad's day during this month and succeeded on June 19, 1910 when the first Father's Day (on the third Sunday of the month as it is today) was held in Spokane, Washington.

Support for the day grew rapidly and gained widespread attention. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge publicly announced he supported the idea of making Father's Day a national holiday, but it didn't become a government recognized day until the 1970's. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day but it did not become an official holiday until President Richard Nixon signed a law declaring it as such in 1972.

Today, many countries have established a day to honor fathers or men. A number of countries (including the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Mexico, India, China, Japan, South Africa, and Pakistan) celebrate Father's Day on the third Sunday in June along with the United States. Many other countries have also designated a time to honor dads but their celebrations fall on days other than that of the US holiday. In the United States it is common for children to shower their father's with "World's Greatest Dad" paraphernalia such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, hats, cards or anything a dad might use that can be printed on, and father's always joyfully accept such ego building. The official flower of Father's Day in the US is the rose, red for dads living and white for dads passed.