Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Christmas is upon us at last!

Here in Germany the snow is on the ground, making the white lights of the German Christmas Markets really twinkle and shine. I luckily and gratefully enjoyed them in person here in Berlin, by the way.

Of course, on Christmas Day we will all be together for a big meal and the exchanging of presents. The day after Christmas I’ll be around visiting close friends and other family members. I traveled a lot this year, so I have a bunch of stories to share and people to catch up with before the year is through.

Wherever you are, I wanted to take a few minutes this day to wish you the very best of the holiday season. Whether you will be celebrating Christmas in Germany or another corner of the world, I want you to feel the warmth of the German holiday season. Even for those who celebrate for purely secular reasons, it is a truly magical time of the year.

There are carolers and live music performances all over the country. Some of the carols that are shared I’ve collected here so that you can listen as well (links open in a new window):

• Stille Nacht (The famous Silent Night)
• Herbei, o ihr Gläubigen (O Come All Ye Faithful)
• Lasst uns froh und munter sein (Let Us Be Happy And Cheerful)
• Am Weihnachtsbaum die Lichter brennen (On The Christmas Tree The Lights Are Burning)

You may be able to catch some of these performances live, of course, via the webcams that are over the Christmas markets. I don’t have webcams for every town in Germany yet, but several of the bigger markets are covered, with more added all the time (including you, thank you!).

You can watch the markets via webcams in Dresden, Munich, and Berlin from several different parts of the city.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

—Marcus

You know from reading about recycling in Germany that we Germans care deeply for the environment. However, on Thomasnacht, when you see someone hugging a tree, they’re not doing it because they love Mother Nature. OK, they probably do, but… they’re mainly doing it for good luck.

Hugging trees for good luck is just one of many traditions that are celebrated around Thomasnacht (this very night from December 20th to 21st), which usually coincides with the Winter Solstice.

Another tradition is baking Kletzenbrot, which is a kind of fruit cake with lots of dried pears and raisins. Unmarried women can also toss shoes over their shoulders, and if the toes land pointing out, they will marry in the next year, as Thomasnacht is supposed to be a good night for predicting the future.

Of course, you don’t have to stay in trying to guess what’s going to happen to you in the year ahead. Instead, you can go out and have a good time at one of the Thomasnacht parties being held around Germany. Rüdesheim am Rhein plays host to a particularly well-developed party for this special day.

The Rüdesheim town association puts on the Thomasnacht party, which includes special drinks, pageants, and presentations. Locals dress in historical costumes and reenact scenes from the town’s history, while performers do street theater based on tales from the Brothers Grimm. There is even a special cruise down the Rhine with live classical music.

While the occasion is certainly festive, community events like these also serve as a way to get more people to come out to the Christmas markets. Since most of the shops close up on the 24th for the season, Thomasnacht also serves as a last hurrah for gift buyers and those looking to get souvenirs from the markets (including me ;-).

Thus, whether you just want a night out or you are trying to pick up a bit of good luck by hugging a tree, don’t neglect to take advantage of the peaking of the festive spirits around Thomasnacht! ;-)

—Marcus

While Bambi might remind you of a certain cartoon character by Disney, in Germany a BAMBI does not live in the forest. If you have one, it lives in a place of honor in your home or is on display at your office. The solid gold fawn represents a pinnacle of personal achievement.

The BAMBI Award may not be well known in the U.S., but in the world of European and international entertainment it is better known than the Oscars or the Grammy’s. In Germany, surveys have shown that 94% of the population is aware of the award — and I’m assuming the other 6% are still babies (who were left unasked… ;-).

The BAMBIs are simply that big.

Created in 1948, the award originally honored movie stars. Over the years, it has evolved to glorify all facets of media entertainment as well as global achievements and excellence in general categories.

Despite the versatility of the categories, the criteria remains strict: You must be extremely popular in your category. Also, award winners are those who “with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public” for that year.

The award winners are selected exclusively by Hubert Burda Media, the largest print media group in Germany (they run more than 60% of the magazines). The exclusivity and the limited award categories makes the prize truly treasured.

The 2009 and 2010 BAMBI awards will be presented in Potsdam, at the Babelsberg Film Studio Park. This park is the world’s oldest studio grounds and a very prestigious one, having shot movies with everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Tom Cruise and Matt Damon.

The ceremony tomorrow, November 26th, will be a glittering celebrity event, as it is every year. More than 6 million Germans tune in to watch annually, and the event is carried on most major networks along with Deutsche Welle.

Attending is the place to see and be seen for the fall, so everyone who is anyone will be out on the red carpets, hoping to be noticed and wishing to win a BAMBI of their very own.

—Marcus

Many people who travel Germany in late October have remarked to me that German people don’t seem to be very into Halloween. This is no surprise. Despite the best efforts of the marketing people to turn Halloween into a global event, it isn’t one of the traditional German holidays.

Instead, on October 31st, some parts of Germany will be celebrating Reformation Day, but otherwise it’s a day like any other. The bigger day in Germany isn’t “All Hallow’s Eve” but rather November 1st, All Saints Day, Allerheiligen. It’s a public holiday in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland.

And yet . . . you do see Halloween things in the shops around the end of October. There are a few witches hats, monster masks, and orange and black products for sale. Some areas with a lot of expats will organize trick or treating door to door for children, but this isn’t a widespread custom.

A better plan to get the “Halloween Spirit” would be to take your family to one of the Pumpkin Festivals. These are more about celebrating the harvest and having a party than real Halloween, but they do include pumpkin carving contests, fun rides, and costume competitions.

Some of the biggest are in Dormagen, which has its own Pumpkin Island, and in amusement parks such as Belantis outside Leipzig, which incorporates a Halloween theme and offers discounts for children in costume, and the Europa-Park in Rust near Freiburg, which got an entire week of Halloween stuff going on.

This is not to imply that Germany is completely without a Halloween-like tradition, though. The Celtic people who are responsible for most of the Halloween legends lived in many places in Germany, leaving behind their stories of witches and ghouls.

The difference for us Germans is that we choose to acknowledge and celebrate those legends in April, not October. Known as Walpurgis Night, this “German Halloween” has bonfires, costume parties, and witch hats galore.

Thus, if you don’t feel like you’ve gotten the Halloween you wanted in Germany in October, well, you will just have to come back and visit again in the spring! ;-)

—Marcus