International Tug of War Day is a holiday that’s observed annually on the 19th of February. It’s not to be confused with National Tug of War Day, a holiday that celebrates tug-of-war but only does it on a national level and not an international one and is observed in August.

Tug of war is probably one of the simplest sports in all of the world, yet it’s also one of the most well-loved ones as well. And that’s why this holiday is observed by so many people around the world. It’s a day for people to gather their teams and to get out there and enjoy this day.

The History Of International Tug Of War Day

Unfortunately, there’s no way to pinpoint when tug-of-war began as a sport. It appears that ever since pre-history, people have engaged in a contest where they pulled a rope as a sign of strength. It’s been seen in cultures all over the world including cultures in Asia, Africa, North & South America, and Europe.

In Germany and Scandinavia, Viking warriors would pull on animal skins stretched over open pits of fire as a test of strength and endurance or in preparation for war. Just as it’s impossible to determine the history of this sport, it’s equally impossible to determine who invented International Tug of War Day.

This holiday just spontaneously appeared one day and began to be observed by people. Of course, we’ll continue to try to uncover the origins of this holiday, but we’ll continue looking anyway to see if we can ever get to the bottom of it.

Some Amazing Tug Of War Facts

Although we were unable to uncover the history of tug-of-war, we were able to come up with a whole lot of tug-of-war facts. So we decided to list some of them below for everyone to enjoy. Let’s take a look at them before continuing with our explanation of this holiday.

• The oldest known tug-of-war contest that was recorded was captured in an Egyptian wall engraving from about 2,500 B.C.
• Tug of war didn’t get its official name until the 19th century.
• From 1900 to 1920, Tug of War was an Olympic event.

Observing International Tug Of War Day

Observing this holiday is pretty easy if a person is up for a contest of strength. All people have to do is gather some friends, a length of rope and organize a game. People can also go to one of the many tug-of-war events that pop up around the world on this day. To publicize this day, everyone can take the time to spread the word about it using the hashtag #InternationalTugOfWarDay on social media.