Follow us on a typical Father's day or men's day celebration in Thuringia

Thuringia, Germany
Tourism
Events

Father´s day celebration in Thuringia, Germany

Part 1

Father´s day in Germany is always celebrated on a Thursday which is a Christian holiday, called Ascension of Christ. It is along time tradition that fathers go hiking or tr travel on tractor or horse drawn wagons to picnic places or pubs with food and naturally lots of things to drink.
At least in Thuringia the name of this none Christian part of this holiday has been changed to "Männertag" which means men's day. This is obviously the reason that nobody could be excluded any longer from these festivities.
Men formed still the majority of the celebrators, but we also met many women and even complete families who enjoyed a day outdoors. We could not see anybody drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

event, father's day celebration, Thuringia, tourism

One of the countless parties - here at a fish farm at Trostadt

Many companies made it a policy to be closed on the following Friday. The employees had to work in the respective hours and gained a super long weekend as a trade in. Despite the cold and rainy weather many people used these days for mini vacations. We saw many bikers from other areas in heavy rain gear.

A bracelet with tiny little schnapps bottles may help to keep the cold away. The other man is equipped for "Nordic Walking" which is very popular in Europe. Special walking sticks are used for this special discipline of walking which should burn more fat because you also must use your arms.

As I already said - complete families celebrate the "Men´s Day". Fun together is sometimes better than an electric drill as a gift for Father´s Day.

Apple cider mixed with sparkling mineral water, (called "Schorle") was also a very popular drink.

We had been invited to join the "Männertag" (men's day) celebration in the Hildburghausen Region of Thuringia. It was a different experience to those which I enjoyed in other states of Germany. Certainly one of the reasons is that the laws against drunk driving have been dramatically enforced and that people became much more health cautious and learned that you can have a good time without lots of booth.
We had heavy rain when the family with the scooters and the funny bikes arrived. So we could not ask for a demonstration.
The main attraction was barbecued fish. I am not a big fish eater, but everybody told me how delicious it was. Gas grills are still not popular, because everything tastes better when it is prepared over glowing charcoal and it is very relaxing to do it in the old fashioned way.
The Thuringian Forest is a paradise for hikers.