What was once a holiday for American kids begging for candy while dressed as their favorite superhero (or heroine) has evolved into a global celebration.

Halloween may have its origins with the ancient Celts’ celebration of Samhain, the harvest festival. Because this time of year was half in the light (summer) and half in the dark (winter), the border between the real world and the spirit world was at its thinnest. So, the spirits could move freely between the two worlds.

Costumes and masks were worn by the Celts as a way to protect themselves from evil spirits. They also made lanterns of hollowed-out turnips to keep away these harmful ghosts.

A variation of Samhain celebrations were brought to America in the early 1900s with Irish and Scottish immigrants. The popularization of the holiday may have been spread by American culture and movies, but the idea was not totally foreign for Germany.

Although Halloween is not as popular and as much celebrated as in other countries, there is already a very Halloween-y German holiday called Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night — the Night of the Witches. From April 30 to May 1, the witches are said to gather on the Brocken, the highest mountain peak of the Harz Mountains, and wait for the arrival of spring.

Goethe wrote about this night in his famous story of Faust. So the idea of an American holiday of witches, werewolves and monsters wasn’t all that strange. ;-)

But the time around Halloween is a real holiday for Germans. The days from October 30 to November 9 are called Seelenwoche, or All Souls Week. This is the holiday for remembering family and friends who have died, with visits to their grave sited and lighting candles. During the week of All Souls, it is a custom to keep all the knives in the house out of sight. With so many spirits in the air, the danger is that one of them may be cut with a knife that is left out carelessly.

There is also an Austrian holiday that also recalls some of the traditional Halloween activities. Some Germans may have been familiar with this day. The town of Retz outside of Vienna held a pumpkin festival called Kürbisfest. Of course, for Halloween, the custom of the Jack O’Lantern, carving a face in a pumpkin and placing a candle within, is an ever-popular activity.

We Germans have embraced Halloween and all its fun traditions. There are costume parties and parades for the “cool” kids, teenagers and maybe a few adults at the nightclubs. Others will watch horror movies or visit a local graveyard. Some kids will even partake in that much beloved Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating. Children dress in costumes and visit their neighbors with the call of “trick-or-treat!” If their neighbor gives them candy (the “treat”), then there is no need for a “trick,” which is when the children can get into trouble.

Germany has many places that are perfect for celebrating Halloween. One of the most famous is Frankenstein Castle. This old mansion in Darmstadt is one of the most famous haunted houses in the country. However, these haunted parties are not just fun Halloween celebrations.

Some other German castles may hold Halloween parties during the season, notably the Satzvey Castle. Burg Satzvey, its German name, will host a nighttime event called the Haunted Castle. The grounds are decorated in a creepy fashion with ghosts and other monsters. Then there is a labyrinth of terror and other scary events to get your heart pounding for this spooky holiday. ;-)

—Marcus

History comes alive for any visitor to Germany, but if you really want to revel in the old, perhaps you should check out one of the many Renaissance or Medieval Fairs. You’ll feel transported back in time as you learn about life in the old days and have a bit of fun as well. :-)

Kaltenberg Knights’ Tournament

The Kaltenberg Castle in the municipality of Geltendorf (Landsberg District, Upper Bavaria) has been holding its Knights’ Tournament for close to four decades now! The event is hosted by Prince Luitpold and Princess Beatrix of Bavaria, as they invite you to witness a rousing, thrilling jousting tournament.

While the jousting is the main draw, the Castle also boasts a vibrant medieval market as well as a fun-filled parade. The 13th century Kaltenberg Castle is located in the tiny village of the same name, which is just about 45 km (30 mi) west of Munich.

The fun begins every year in July. Get all the pertinent info here.

Medieval Knight Market, Angelbachtal

The venue for this next medieval fair is Eichtersheim Castle in charming Angelbachtal (Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg). Its Mittelalterlicher Rittermarkt, or Medieval Knight Market, is one of Germany’s largest medieval fairs and takes place each year in August (plus, there are a variety of events that occur throughout the year). The festival has expanded and improved each year since its inception in 1994. One of the newer features is an exotic Arab-Jewish section that offers camel rides.

Knights’ Festival at Satzvey Castle

Satzvey Castle is well-known for its special events throughout the year. One of the highlights is their yearly Knights’ Festival. In the town of Mechernich-Satzvey in the Euskirchen District (North Rhine-Westphalia), the Count and Countess Beissel von Gymnich are happy to invite you to their 14th-century home, Burg Satzvey, for a fun, historical festival. The Knights’ Festival features jousting tournaments and a medieval market. If you’re visiting Cologne, Satzvey is an easy 30-45 minute journey.

Visit the castle web site to further plan your trip here.

Medieval Market Ebernburg

This German medieval fair proclaims itself one of the largest, most beautiful and oldest festivals around. With over one hundred booths filled with handicrafts, lively taverns and an assortment of motley medieval characters wandering the grounds, you’re sure to find something to keep you interested at the Medieval Market Ebernburg.

There’s a bath house where you can pamper yourself with the finest, ancient remedies as you await the knights’ tournaments. Other entertainment includes juggling performances, javelin throws, archery competition and historical puppets.

The medieval fun takes place on the third weekend in September. And Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg is located in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Tucher Knight Games, Nuremberg

For those seeking to discover the city of Nuremberg’s medieval history, come in August to attend the Tucher Knight Games (Tucher Ritterspiele). This large medieval fair features — of course — knight tournaments. You’ll also see entertainers dressed in costume as traveling minstrels, witches, merchants, handmaidens and other assorted medieval characters during the three-day extravaganza.

See Tucher Spectaculum (German) for more info.

—Marcus

Stretching your euros may seem to be an impossible task in a world where things only seem to get more expensive.

However, there are still many good deals and bargains to be found in Germany. And while shopping along Stuttgart’s high-end Königstrasse may be out of reach, there are plenty of open-air flea markets throughout the country where you just may find a treasure.

Here’s a big-city-by-big-city breakdown.

Berlin

One of Berlin’s greatest shopping pleasures is its flea markets.

Die Nolle at Nollendorfplatz and Straße des 17. Juni are two of the most famous ones. Straße des 17. Juni is a must as you’re likely to find less junk and more treasures, including antiques and handicrafts. There’s furniture, clothes and music as well.

The Flea Market on Arkonaplatz offers a fun assortment of retro stuff from the 1960s and 1970s.

Hallentrödelmarkt Treptow in Kreuzberg is housed within an old bus depot that has bargains aplenty on sale.

Trödelmarkt am Rathaus Schöneberg is best-known as the venue for President Kennedy’s famous speech but these days is the site of a thriving market with a little bit of everything.

Düsseldorf

What would a German town be without its marketplaces?

The most famous one in Düsseldorf is held each Saturday at the Aachener Platz. If the high prices of the more luxurious shopping streets are above budget, you may find a good bargain here on Aachener Platz. Apart from the professional and amateur sellers’ merchandise, it’s also a good place to come for a nice snack or a cappuccino. Sometimes there’s even live music.

Mannheim

Its biggest attraction is the regular open-air markets on the Marktplatz that occur every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, generally. Here you’ll find the freshest produce in the city and some tasty local treats. (Added to the opportunities for shopping is the picture-perfect location of the Marktplatz. Both the Old Town Hall and a lovely church sit in the square. It’s a great place to spend a leisurely afternoon!)

And if you’re visiting in May, you’ll be just in time for the huge Maimarkt, or May Market. It is currently one of the largest markets of its kind and shows off some local innovative products and other town achievements.

Munich

Flea markets can be found all over Munich, if you know where (and when) to look! Most are held on the weekends, usually Saturday, but that is always subject to change. Most of the flea markets here take place on Saturday morning.

Theresienwiese, the huge lot where the annual Oktoberfest takes place, is reputedly also the largest annual flea market on the continent, and offers all kinds of second-hand goods (nothing new is allowed!) and some antiques every April.

If you can’t make it in April, try one of the weekly markets at Olympiapark (near the Olympic Stadium) or Messegelände Riem on the edge of town.

Stuttgart

Another unique Stuttgart shopping experience, the flea market on Karlsplatz is a great place for bargains. There are about 100 stalls here every week offering the latest in second-hand items. Collectibles, Christmas ornaments, old books, vintage clothes and other antiques are just a few gems that you may find here.

—Marcus

If there’s something that Germany is famous for — apart from its delectable sausage and excellent beer — it’s cars! And when you visit Germany, even if it’s not to buy a new Mercedes or BMW, you can still take in the car culture with a factory tour at one of the famous manufacturers.

BMW

Visit the BMW factory in the city of Regensburg, which is in the Upper Palatinate. About 10,000 people work at this plant where they have produced 3 million of some of the finest series of BMW, since 1986, like the Series 1, 3, M3 and even some specialized cars for police use.

There’s a two-hour tour for visitors and car-enthusiasts to see the inner workings of the BMW plant. The tour will take you along the assembly lines, as you watch the different pieces of the car be melded by the robots on the conveyor belts.

And, if this isn’t enough BMW action for you, then be sure to visit the official BMW Museum in Munich. The building is shaped like a huge bowl and features interesting facts about the past, present and future of this famous machine.

Mercedes-Benz

The Mercedes-Benz factory can be found near Stuttgart, in the lesser-known town of Sindelfingen. The plant offers a two-hour tour of its facilities where you can see the making of a Mercedes with a front-row view. There’s more robots and assembly lines here, building incredible machines at an unbelievable rate of speed.

This factory has a reputation as one of the world’s most reliable auto plants. Whereas most factories report 118 errors per 100 cars, Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen had just 33 errors.

Like BMW, there is also a museum dedicated to everything Mercedes. The Mercedes museum in Stuttgart houses some of the world’s oldest cars, including (naturally!) the first-ever Mercedes. Race cars, limousines and sports cars from throughout the 20th century are all on display here.

Volkswagen

This other world-famous car company has two factories that can be visited on your tour to Germany. And both are certain to leave you not only better-informed but also impressed. Volkswagen has one of its factories, the Autostadt, in Wolfsburg. This auto plant is the largest of its kind in the whole world (according to VW)! With 23,000 employees, 75 km (46 mi) of road, 4,000 cars produced a day and well over 1,000 robots, their claims seem to be well-founded. Volkswagen says that the entire country of Monaco could fit within its borders.

In addition to size, it also boasts some excellent amenities, including a large butcher shop that reputedly produces over one million currywurst every year. You can take a 50-minute tour via panorama train to learn more.

Not to be outdone by the behemoth Autostadt, Dresden’s Transparent Factory is equally impressive but in an entirely different way. The Transparent Factory aims to be elegant and beautiful as the plant where the VW Phaeton is produced. With glass walls and a location right next to the Botanical Gardens, the Transparent Factory combines aesthetics with quality vehicles.

Both this factory and the Autostadt were designed by the same architect, Dr. Gunter Henn.

Porsche

Porsche’s web site offers virtual tours of its manufacturing plants on its Web site. You can visit the real factory in Leipzig as well but you must make an advanced booking in order to go.

If you don’t have the foresight to make a reservation, you can still get the fast-paced experience with a visit to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. There are over eighty different interesting cars on display here, including the world’s first hybrid car produced in 1900. You can catch a glimpse of the Porsche production line here with a visit to the museum’s workshop.

Audi

Head to the city of Ingolstadt to visit the headquarters of Audi. This Audi plant has the distinction of being their biggest facility, as well as the corporate HQ.

The tours here are given in German as well as English and are about two hours long. You’ll get a great idea of the behind the scenes workings of a car manufacturing plant and you can choose which part of the plant you’d like to tour. Decide among the body shop, paint shop or the production line when you book your tour.

—Marcus

Today, October 3rd, 2010, is a unique day in German history. October 3rd is honored as German Unity Day, Tag der Deutschen Einheit. This is the only nationally designated public holiday, and it commemorates the formal reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In other countries, national unity and independence days are massive holidays. In Germany, our Unity Day is a quieter affair. Berlin usually has some small celebrations, of course, as a part of its duty as our capital. A rotating list of regional capitals also take turns hosting annual celebrations.

Why no big deal over the holiday, you say? Some of the quietness comes from mixed emotions around unification. If this seems shocking to you — after all, who could really want to go back to the Berlin Wall? — remember that unification was a life-changing event for millions of people (me included).

If you lived in East Germany, the unification meant more opportunities for work and travel, but it also marked an end to the established ways of life. Citizens of West Germany rejoiced at the Wall coming down, but resented the monies that were spent on economic stimulus for East Germany and all the new competitors for open jobs. Both sides also associate unification with a new 5.5% solidarity tax (due in West Germany) which was levied to fund the economic development efforts in the East.

Still, I don’t want to give the impression that the majority would be wandering around complaining about the unification of Germany. Quite the opposite! Most people, unless they are deep into ostalgie, consider the German reunification to be a wonderful moment in German history (me included). We just don’t spend the holiday in loud celebrations. With the day off from work and shops closed, we use the day to spend time with family and friends.

This year, however, due to the 20th anniversary, the celebrations will be a tad louder. :-)

As a visitor in Germany on Unity Day, to see celebrations you will want to be in Berlin or in this year’s regional host, Bremen. Berlin’s festivities will be centered around the Brandenburg Gate and the Straße des 17. Juni with a parade, some live music, and numerous ceremonies here and there. In Bremen, there will be a city-wide festival or Bürgerfest, with ceremonial moments happening throughout the city.

If you stay in, note that the television program schedules are full of retrospectives, and many German media outlets are in a reflective mode for this 20th anniversary. Though it is a quieter event than in other parts of the world, Germany’s Unity Day is still being observed on many fronts. Plus, this year’s round of celebrations are going to be larger than most, so take the time to enjoy them! :-)

And of course, if you can’t make it this time, simply enjoy the quadlingual live stream television broadcast DW-TV over at DW World, my preferred TV program for when I’m not in my beloved home country.

—Marcus

With Oktoberfest just underway, there’s still some time to celebrate and experience this essential south German holiday, even if you couldn’t or can’t make it there in person this year. 2010 is a milestone year for this Bavarian tradition, as it celebrates 200 years of fun, food and beer.

Here are some of the festival’s most enduring traditions and experiences.

The Beer

What would Oktoberfest be without the BEER? There are about fourteen huge beer tents where you can enter (at no charge) and drink to your heart’s content.

You don’t want to miss the Hofbräu Festzelt, the largest and most popular — at least with the tourists — of them all. The festive music of the oom-pah bands is a highlight of the Hofbräu’s tent, as well as their signature brew, Hofbräu. In fact, there are six breweries that are represented at Oktoberfest.

In addition to Hofbräu, you can try Spaten, Lowenbrau, Paulaner (that’s where I usually found the most beautiful ladies), Augustiner or Hacker Pschorr. Generally, these are served in a one-liter beer stein where you can (barely) raise the glass and toast your fellow revelers with the German word for Cheers! — Prost! :-)

The Date

Many people wonder why Oktoberfest actually begins in September. We Germans do, in fact, know our dates and have a reason for this discrepancy.

The first Oktoberfest began as a wedding celebration for Crown Prince (and later King) Ludwig I. He married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 7, 1810. Five days after, on October 12, Ludwig decided to hold a horse race in honor of his recent nuptials. The event was such a success, that he did it again the following year. By 1816, there was already a carnival feel to the festival with new booths and events.

They eventually decided to move the festival into September. One reason was that the weather was a bit nicer and milder at that time. In 1994, it was modified again to end with German Unity Day on October 3.

The length of Oktoberfest is dependent on what date the first Sunday of the month happens to be.

The Food

When you’ve drunk your fill of that delicious German beer, there’s no better accompaniment than some traditional Bavarian food. Some Oktoberfest specialties include pork knuckles (Haxn), spit-roasted chicken (Hendl), skewers of grilled whitefish (Steckerlfisch) and of course, German sausage (Wurstl).

And don’t overlook the snacks! Bavaria is famous for its over-sized pretzels (Brezel) and almonds glazed with sugar (Gebrannte Mandeln).

The Dancing

Music is an important part of Oktoberfest. All the beer tents will feature oom-pah bands or other traditional music. And with music, of course, there’s plenty of dancing opportunities. The most famous of these traditional dances is the Chicken Dance!

To begin, make your fingers into the shape of a chicken beak, opening and closing them. Next is the arm-flapping, with your elbows out and hands under your armpits. Then comes the bended knees and body-wiggling. Finally, stand up again, clap your hands and spinning in a circle or grab a partner and spin with them.

Each move is repeated four times, and gets faster as the song plays on.

And the advanced version is to do the aforementioned on the tables. ;-)

The Funfair

The Funfair has been another vital part of the Oktoberfest celebrations since the 19th century. There are roller coasters, Ferris wheels and other thrill rides. There’s even more food available here on the Budenstraße, or Avenue of Booths, and games of chance.

And don’t forget the souvenir and numerous other stands, where you can buy/shoot/play/box something that will help you to always remember your time at our Oktoberfest.

—Marcus

The Rhineland-Palatinate’s shoe-making route was never supposed to be a secret. Hordes of tourists and German nationals were supposed to visit every year — or at least that’s what the marketing people hoped.

Unfortunately, unlike the Romantic Road, the Shoe-makers road, or Deutsche Schuhstraße as it’s called in German, didn’t catch on. It launched with great fanfare in 1977, but the marketing blitz soon fizzled, leaving it abandoned and deleted from the guidebooks.

Rather than being a cause of sorrow, this presents a special opportunity for modern day visitors.

Now I know you are running all over the country this month trying to catch all of the wonderful fall festivals going on — and that will certainly wear out your shoes. What better souvenir than a custom-made pair of shoes ordered in off the old shoe-making road?

You see, even though the marketing geniuses walked away from promoting the shoe-makers route, the shopkeepers and craftsmen are still in existence. All you need to do to get a pair of shoes that will fit in a way you’ll never forget is drop by one of their stores.

Officially, the shoe-making route goes through the entire Südwestpfalz, starting in Waldfischbach-Burgalben and ending in the Hauenstein area. Some of the towns on the way include Clausen, Leimen, Merzalben, Rodalben, Pirmasens, Lemberg, Eppenbrunn, Fischbach, Rumbach, Erlenbach, and Lug. Most are tiny craft towns and villages of only a few hundred or a few thousand people located on highways B10 and B70.

The bulk of the currently operating shoemakers are in Pirmasens, which has its own Schuhstraße dedicated to shoe shops. You can easily find the shoe-maker you want here with a little researching.

It does help to speak some German, but at the end of the day, a foot is a foot and these people are in the business of making shoes to fit toes from any culture.

Whether you wander into Pirmasens or another town on the route, you will find shopkeepers more than ready to tailor something to fit or sell you something handcrafted and beautiful to wear home as a treasured souvenir that last longer than one from anywhere else in the world.

—Marcus

Germany is full of kind, generous people. Don’t think I’m biased just because I’m German — here’s yet another proof!

The 2010 World Giving Index has been released by the Charities Aid Foundation. The organization used hard numbers from the Gallup Corporation to determine which world nations were the most charitable overall.

Donating money to charitable causes, performing volunteer work, and being willing to help a stranger or someone you didn’t know were the main points going into the World Giving Index. However, the Charities Aid Foundation also looked at the breakdown between men and women, old and young, and happiness of the country as a whole when they were figuring their numbers.

Germany did very well in the poll. We are ranked 18th worldwide for our generous spirits. Out of 153 countries, that’s doing pretty good!

Some of the other interesting points that the report had to make about Germany were that 49% of us are giving money each month to a charitable cause. Men volunteer just slightly more hours per month than women, but almost 30% of the population of Germany volunteers time every month. An amazing 56% of us will help a stranger, one of the highest scores of any of the European nations.

According to the report, one of the main drivers of giving in all countries was happiness instead of wealth. The more a nation was giving, the happier and more satisfied with life were its citizens. I think this also reflects very well on Germany, don’t you?

Really, the report is just a nice bit of proof to back up what most people will experience when they come to Germany. All of the fairs, festivals, and special events that we are famous for depend on the charitable giving and volunteer hours put in by the hosting towns.

From the massive regional volunteer effort that it takes to put on something like Oktoberfest — starting this Saturday! — to the focused local effort it takes to put on something like the Oberammergau Passion Play, Germany runs on the goodwill and kind hearts of its people.

I know it, and you know it, too, if you’ve been here.

Thanks to this survey, now the whole world can know! ;-)

—Marcus

The smart eyes look to Frankfurt this month. ;-)

Most people will be looking at Southern Germany right now, with the big Canstatter Wasen in Stuttgart and the opening of Oktoberfest in Munich. However, if you are looking to visit Germany this month, you may want to include Frankfurt am Main on your itinerary.

Frankfurt has quite a business reputation — we Germans sometimes refer to it as Bank-furt or even die heimliche Haupstadt, our secret capital. Yet underneath that fine patina of high commerce, there is much more to than meets the eye.

One element that makes Frankfurt very inviting is that it is not actually very big. Only about 660,000 people live here, which allows Frankfurt to maintain a small town feel that surprises many visitors. For all its fancy skyscrapers — we call the skyline here Mainhattan, naturally — there is a tight-knit community under all that steel and glass.

Wandering down the Zeil, one of Frankfurt’s main shopping avenues, you will find that you can be warmly greeted just as though you were in a smaller town. Sit out in the square in front of the Römer, and you might think you’d slipped back into a medieval village.

You can get even more of a feel for the historic side of Frankfurt riding on the Ebbelwei Express. It’s an old tram car and a bit kitschy, but the rides are cheap at 6 euros and the tickets include a salt biscuit snack and some of the region’s famous Apfelwein or apple juice if you like (hence its name Ebbelwei, Frankfurt’s slang for Apfelwein).

To properly end a day out in Frankfurt, you have to go out for a decent meal. It’s a good thing locals like to work hard all day, or they’d never burn off the calories from the more than 3,000 Frankfurt restaurants. Executive Travel Magazine’s July issue named Gargantua as one of the best restaurants in the country, which of course you will have to test for yourself!

September is also a time of year when the weather in Frankfurt is very good. Why fight the crowds elsewhere?

Come to an easily explored and historically inviting destination of Germany this month to experience Frankfurt’s softer side for yourself.

—Marcus

It’s no secret that we German’s love our sausages — or wurst. Being trilingual, I can’t help but make jokes about how the wurst meals here are the best, or how the wurst food you get in Germany is better than what you can have anywhere else.

Naturally, it’s all wrong, since wurst is correctly pronounced with a hard “v” sound, but while the jokes may be terrible, the sausage is still legendary.

In fact, one type of wurst is considered by so many to be the best that now it has its own museum near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Currywurst, a spicy snack popular throughout the country, is being elevated to its own special cultural attraction in a building on Schützenstraße 70 called Deutsches Currywurst Museum, open from 10 am to 10 pm daily with an entrance cost of 11 euros ($14 USD).

Shockingly, we Germans are taking down an estimated 1,500 of these currywursts per minute. I’m not kidding — that’s 800 million currywursts consumed annually, and I pull down my fair share.

Most currywursts are sold on the streets, with the largest concentration of currywurst vendors located in Berlin. Many also believe that the formulation for the special tomato curry sauce was invented by a Berliner, Herta Heuwer. This makes it no wonder that the German Currywurst Museum is located at the very heart of the city.

Inside the museum, visitors are greeted by displays dedicated to all of the many varieties of currywurst. You can see displays of the different meal combinations, such as sliced sausage drenched in sauce with a bit of potato salad, or a hefty currywurst hot dog jutting out from its deliciously soggy bun.

You will also find that you are very hungry as you pass through the exhibits, because the museum has something for all of your senses. There is an audio track of sizzling sausages echoing overhead, and a scent machine infuses the air with the odor of fresh currywurst.

It’s all a bit over the top, which is why you absolutely have to see it all to believe its real. Go, see, buy a snack, and be sure to send me a copy when you get your photo taken in the life size currywurst truck in the final element of the museum!

—Marcus