Ask a German what they cook with pumpkin in October and the answer is almost always the same: soup. A smooth, orange Kürbissuppe, finished with a swirl of cream and a few drops of dark green seed oil, is the dish that defines German pumpkin season. It's warming, quick, and uses a vegetable that's cheap and everywhere from September … [Read more...]
German Pumpkin Festivals: Ludwigsburg and Beyond
Every autumn, the baroque gardens of a palace near Stuttgart fill with hundreds of thousands of pumpkins. They're stacked into towering sculptures, arranged into scenes, and floated in a race across a lake. Nearby, a grower unloads a truck carrying a single pumpkin that weighs close to a metric ton, while a crowd waits to see whether it will crack … [Read more...]
Reformationstag: What Germans Celebrate on October 31
In Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the small town where the Reformation began, October 31 starts with church bells and festive services at the Schlosskirche and the Stadtkirche. By midday, a historic market fills the center, with stalls, music, and visitors drawn from across the country. Meanwhile, a few hundred kilometers away in Munich or Stuttgart, it's … [Read more...]
Süßes oder Saures: Trick-or-Treating in Germany Explained
An American mom in a suburb outside Frankfurt told me about her first German Halloween. Her kids had been planning their costumes for weeks, and on October 31 she walked them down the street at dusk, expecting porch lights and bowls of candy. Most houses were dark. A few doors opened to polite, slightly surprised faces. One neighbor apologized for … [Read more...]
Halloween Events in Germany 2026: Parks, Castles, Parties
Germany doesn't do Halloween the way a small American town does, with whole streets of decorated porches and a parade of costumed kids. Halloween here is mostly something you attend rather than something that happens to your neighborhood. The big celebrations are organized events: a castle taken over by zombies, a theme park that turns every path … [Read more...]
Is Halloween a Public Holiday in Germany? What Really Happens on October 31 and November 1
Picture a Saturday evening in Hamburg at the end of October. Kids in witch hats are heading down the street, bars have fake cobwebs in the windows, and yet earlier that day the supermarkets were shut and many locals treated the date as a quiet holiday. It sounds contradictory, but it's exactly what October 31 looks like in much of northern and … [Read more...]
Do Germans Celebrate Halloween? What’s Real in 2026
The short answer: yes, but on a smaller and different scale than in the United States. Halloween in Germany is mostly an urban, youth-driven, party-focused event. Children in some neighborhoods go door to door shouting "Süßes oder Saures!", adults dress up for club nights, and supermarkets fill with pumpkins in October. Outside the cities, plenty … [Read more...]
Karneval in Germany: The Crazy Carnival Tradition
At around eight o'clock on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, a train arriving in Cologne looks like a very strange commuter service. A man in a banana suit is asleep against the window. Two women dressed as bees are already opening bottles of Sekt. Someone's grandmother, dressed as a pirate, is handing out chocolate to strangers. Nobody is … [Read more...]
10 Things That Shock Foreigners About German Culture
A friend of mine moved to Munich for a new job, walked into a small café on her first weekend, ordered a coffee and a croissant, and tried to pay with her card. The woman behind the counter shook her head and pointed to a small handwritten sign: Nur Bargeld. Cash only. My friend had exactly four euros in coins and had to leave the croissant behind. … [Read more...]
German Culture vs American Culture: What’s Different?
An American exchange student once told me about her first week in a German shared apartment. Her new roommate walked in, said a quick "Hallo," and disappeared into her room without any further chat. No "how was your flight," no small talk about the weather, nothing. The American assumed she'd done something wrong. A few weeks later, that same … [Read more...]