Celebrating the 4th of July Around the World

Happy 4^th of July! Happy Independence Day! In between watching alien movies, grilling hot dogs, and shooting off some fireworks, we tend to take a moment to remember it as the day we officially became our own country when the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress.

You might hear the joke, do other countries have a July 4^th? And the answer, of course, is “Yes, they do! They just don’t celebrate American Independence.” And everyone laughs and winks (or was that just my family…) ANYWAY, what you might not realize is that a select few other countries DO celebrate the day! Thanks to your friendly neighborhood librarian, who dug this information up for you, you can have the last laugh at the coming BBQ.

Australia

While I couldn’t find anything happening strictly in 2024, what I did find were different blogs talking about celebrating the 4^th in Australia because it gave them something fun to do in the middle of winter down under. I also found a news article from Australia's ABC News. The reporter interviews American expatriate George Copelin who co-owns a general store. He makes cornbread and brisket, among other American foods, to celebrate July 4^th and has been doing it for four years. So I think it wouldn’t be wild to say that parts of Australia are probably doing the same thing this year.

Read more: Independence Day to be celebrated in the South Australian town of Mount Burr | Australia Broadcasting Company News

England

I heard rumblings across forums that there was an annual American Beer Festival in London, England. I think this is the funniest country to celebrate our independence, and while digging around for a legitimate source, I stumbled across a celebration of that beverage most closely associated with Independence Day.

Denmark

Rebildfest is one of the largest celebrations of American independence outside of the United States. It has its own society that organizes it and it serves to celebrate not just the relationship between the US and Denmark, but also freedom and friendship amongst all peoples everywhere.

Do other countries have Independence Days?

They sure do! But they’re not always called independence days. Here is a small selection of countries with different names for their holidays celebrating independence.

The United Arab Emirates has National Day on the 2^nd of December, when the emirates (an emirate being a territory ruled by an emir, or monarch) all came together and were no longer under a British protectorate (a protectorate is a state controlled, or “protected” by another).

Portugal has Restoration of Independence Day on December 1^st, when the restoration of their autonomy as a state took place. They took their autonomy back from Spain.

The Philippines has Republic Day, sometimes called Philippine-American Friendship Day on July 4^th when the US granted the Philippines their independence. I maybe should have included this above, but they're not celebrating our independence, so it didn't quite fit the bill!

Egypt has Revolution Day on July 23^rd, when they were officially no longer the Kingdom of Egypt and instead became a republic.

Do you know of any other countries that have celebrations for American Independence? Let me know! In the meantime, here are some fun reads about the Revolution:

The British Are Coming

Rough Crossings

George Washington's Secret Six