German Culture

All about Germany

Almabtrieb and Viehscheid – Bringing Cattle Home from Mountain Pastures

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Bavaria may be the home of BMW and Audi, but there are still some age-old rural traditions that surprise even visitors from other parts of Germany. One of which is the annual festival which celebrates the return of the prodigal cows, the Viehscheid. Because here the cows really do come home, every autumn, after having spent their summers up in the mountains.

In September and October the cows and bulls are brought down from the lush mountain pastures to the valley and their winter quarters. An event with a long tradition, which is enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. The Viehscheid (and its close partner the Almabtrieb) are part of the same thing, and both are particularly celebrated in the alpine region of the Allgäu. At the beginning of the summer, when the vegetation has really started to grow up in the mountains, cattle are herded up into high alpine pastures, where the herbal grasses are particularly good for their physical condition. Here they’ll be looked after by a cowherd or team of cowherds and their dogs, who’ll continue to do all the daily milking, fence mending etc necessary, and sometimes also offer milk, cheese and other forms of refreshment to passing walkers. This tradition of almost nomadic pastoralism, still very widespread in eastern Europe, involves around 50,000 cows in Germany.

The sound of bells announces the arrival of the herd. Spectators by the side of the path are in for a colorful treat. It’s that time of year again: as the summer draws to a close, the well-fed cattle with their festive decorations come down from the mountain pastures and back into the valley. The whole village joins in the celebrations.Visitors come from far and wide to experience the spectacle. A brass band plays. The convivial beer tents gradually fill up. Regional costume associations showcase their skills at Schuhplatteln dancing and Alphorn blowing. The aroma of Bavarian specialties wafts through the air. Every year during the Almabtrieb, the ceremonial cattle drive which in the Allgäu is also known as the Viehscheid, young and old get to experience anew a piece of Bavarian tradition.

Come the end of September, when it starts to get colder, the herdsmen bring them down again (the Almabtrieb). To celebrate that there were no cattle injuries or losses during their stay high up in the mountains, the leading cow is adorned with flowers, spruce, and sometimes a cross or mirror to deflect evil spirits. All the cows wear big cowbells, polished especially for this occasion. Upon arrival at the village green, the cows are separated from each other (the Viehscheid), the herdsman calls out the name of the owners and each owner takes care of his cows, presumably grateful that his investment has been returned, safe and sound, and hopefully considerably fatter.

This festive adornment, the crown, goes back to pre-Christian times. The loud bells around the necks of the animals are designed to protect them from hostile demons and bring them safely down into the valley. The traditional craft of the bellsmiths still exists in Bavaria today: Kilian Trenkle, for example, from Pfronten im Allgäu, produces cow bells that the animals wear around their necks during the Viehscheid. There are two kinds of bells: “Glocken”, which are cast, and “Schellen”, which are wrought from plate metal. The resulting combination of fine, high tones and deep, earthy notes lends the day its distinctive sound.

There is always a big party when the cows come home, with a large beer-tent, an orchestra playing, etc. One of the specialities served will be the Hirtenkäse, a distinctive cow’s cheese from the milk of the cows who participated in the Almabtrieb.




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9 German Superstitions

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Here are some superstitions – or Aberglauben – that you may come across in Germany. Knowing what these are might help explain any ‘unusual’ behavior you see in Germany, and help you to avoid making an embarrassing faux-pas yourself!

1. Chimney sweeps
Chimney sweeps are repositories of good luck everywhere. In Germany, they are particularly associated with New Year’s Day, when you should do your best to shake hands with your friendly neighborhood sweep. He won’t mind at all.

2. Toasting with water
Never, ever say “cheers,” or “Prost,” with water in Germany. Not even for a joke. Especially not for a joke. You are literally wishing death on all your drinking buddies. It means you really want your friends to die. Is that what you want? Because that’s what it means.

3. Knocking on the Stammtisch
When greeting your German drinking buddies, instead of waving, you should knock on the table. According to legend, this is because the Stammtisch, the regulars’ table in the tavern, was traditionally made of oak. Since the devil is unable to touch oak, considered a holy tree, knocking on it proved you weren’t the devil. It always makes for a nicer evening if your friends don’t consider you a disguised demon.

4. Theatrical spitting
Theaters are of course famously superstitious places. British and American thespians cheerily tell each other to “break a leg” before the premiere, but Germans spit on each other’s left shoulders – though only once they’re in costume. Instead of actually bringing up phlegm, you’re meant to say “Toi Toi Toi.”

5. Housewarming gifts
A traditional German housewarming gift is bread (Brot) and salt (Salz). It’s believed that if you give bread and salt to someone, they will never go hungry in their new home. However, do not give knives as a housewarming gift. The superstitious believe doing this brings injury and even death!

6. Lucky coin
If the cutlery shop has sold out, and you’ve seriously run out of gift ideas, why not give someone a nice, shiny new leather wallet? But don’t forget to put a penny in! This ensures that the recipient will never be poor. Or you could put in this enormous gold coin to be really sure.

7. Old ladies
It’s considered bad luck to walk in-between two old women in the street.

8. Wedding stockings
At the end of weddings, the bride and groom are meant to sit down on the marriage bed, while the bridesmaids and attendant young men turn their backs and attempt to fling their post-celebration socks and stockings into the happy couple’s faces. Whoever succeeds will be the next to marry. Really.

9. Press your thumbs!
If you want to wish someone good luck, you shouldn’t cross your fingers but rather press your thumbs with your fingers. During Gladiator fighting in Ancient Rome, a thumbs-up indicated for the gladiator to be executed, while holding the hands up with hidden thumbs indicated that they shall live. This is why Germans say “Ich drücke dir die Daumen!” – “I will press my thumbs for you” – to wish someone luck.




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Walpurgisnacht – Walpurgis Night

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In Germany, Walpurgisnacht, the night from 30 April to 1 May, is the night when witches are reputed to hold a large celebration on the Brocken and await the arrival of spring.

Walpurgis Night (in German folklore) the night of 30 April (May Day’s eve), when witches meet on the Brocken mountain and hold revels with their gods…”

Brocken is the highest of the Harz Mountains of north central Germany. It is noted for the phenomenon of the Brocken spectre and for witches’ revels which reputedly took place there on Walpurgis night.

The Brocken Spectre is a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown onto a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low. The phenomenon was first reported on the Brocken.
—Oxford Phrase & Fable.

A scene in Goethe’s Faust Part One is called “Walpurgisnacht,” and one in Faust Part Two is called “Classical Walpurgisnacht.” The last chapter of book five in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain is also called “Walpurgisnacht.” In Edward Albee’s 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Act Two is entitled “Walpurgisnacht.”

From Bram Stoker’s short story, Dracula’s Guest, an Englishman (whose name is never mentioned) is on a visit to Munich before leaving for Transylvania. It is Walpurgis Night, and in spite of the hotelier’s warning not to be late coming back, the young man later leaves his carriage and wanders toward the direction of an abandoned “unholy” village. As the carriage departs with the frightened and superstitious driver, a tall and thin stranger scares the horses at the crest of a hill.

In some parts of northern coastal regions of Germany, the custom of lighting huge fires is still kept alive to celebrate the coming of May, while most parts of Germany have a derived Christianized custom around Easter called “Easter fires” (Osterfeuer).

In rural parts of southern Germany, it is part of popular youth culture to play pranks such as tampering with neighbors’ gardens, hiding possessions, or spraying graffiti on private property.

In Berlin, traditional leftist May Day riots usually start at Walpurgis Night in the Mauerpark in Prenzlauer Berg. There is a similar tradition in the Schanzenviertel district of Hamburg, though in both cases, the situation has significantly calmed down in the past few years.




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The History of the German Language

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German is one of the largest groups of Indo-Germanic languages. It is used as the official language of Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, and is a co-official language in Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the European Union.. The history of the language begins in the Early Middle Ages with the High German consonant shift. During the migration period Old High German dialects were separated from Old Saxon.

The earliest testimonies of Old High German are from scattered Elder Futhark inscriptions, from the 6th century AD; and the oldest coherent texts (the Hildebrandslied, the Muspilli and the Merseburg Incantations) date back to the 9th century.

During a period of several hundred years Germany was divided into many different states. Within the Holy Roman Empire the Germanic speaking area was divided into Alemannic, Bavarian, Frankish, Saxon and Frisian. The writers of that time tried to write in a way that could be understood by the people of the largest possible area. It was an important road to a unification of the language.

There are three main periods in the history of the German language:

1. Old German (c. 750 – c. 1050);
2. Middle German (c.1050 – c.1500);
3. Modern German (c.1500 to the present).

In the first period there was no standard language. The formation of the language system was influenced by the High German consonant shift. The result of this sound change is the peculiar consonant system of German, which remains different from all other West Germanic languages. But it must be admitted, that grammatical system of Old High German has much in common with Old English, Old Dutch and Old Saxon. By the mid-11th century there was a simplification of the inflectional grammar of German, caused by the reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables. That’s why 1050 is considered to be the start of the Middle High German period.

In the middle period a relatively uniform written language developed in government, but Middle High German had no standardized spelling. Different combination of certain dialects of Middle High German replaced the Latin that had been widely used in official writings of that time. Texts were written in the Latin alphabet, in Gothic minuscules.
The main features were:

1. The absence of the marking of vowel length;
2. The absence of the marking of umlauted vowels;
3. The usage of the semi-vowels /j/ and /w/ in the original texts.

The Middle Saxon language was spoken from about 1100 to 1500, splitting into West Low Saxon and East Low Saxon. The neighbor languages were Middle Dutch in the West and Middle High German in the South, later substituted by Early New High German.

The period of Early New High German started with the Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible (the New Testament in 1522 and the Old Testament, completed in 1534). This work was based on already developed language, which was the most widely understood at this time.

Copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, where unknown words were translated into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics tried to create their own Catholic standard, which differed from ‘Protestant German’ only in some minor details. A widely accepted standard was created in the middle of the 18th century; it was the end of Early New High German.

Until about 1800, standard German was almost solely a written language.

During the 18th century a number of outstanding writers gave modern standard German its modern form – the language of church and state, education and literature. The written standard influenced a corresponding norm for spoken High German, used in education, theater, and broadcasting. There are also many German dialects that differ substantially from standard German, not only in pronunciation but also in grammar.

The first dictionary of the Brothers Grimm remains the most comprehensive guide to the lexicon of the German language. It was issued in 16 parts between 1852 and 1860.

Grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook in 1880. Later, in 1901, this was declared the standard definition of the German language. Standard German orthography went unrevised until 1998, when the German spelling reform of 1996 was officially promulgated by governmental representatives of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.




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Krampus – the Dark Side of St. Nicholas

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A 1900s greeting card reading 'Greetings from Krampus!'

A 1900s greeting card reading ‘Greetings from Krampus!’

Krampus, whose name is derived from the German word Krampen, meaning pickaxe, is said to be the son of Hel in Norse mythology.

Originally, Krampus was a purely pagan creation, said to be the son of Hel from Norse mythology. But he got grafted onto Christian tradition as a sidekick of St. Nicholas. The legendary beast also shares characteristics with other scary, demonic creatures in Greek mythology, including satyrs and fauns.

Krampus was created as a counterpart to kindly St. Nicholas, who rewarded children with sweets.

According to folklore, Krampus purportedly shows up in towns the night before December 6, known as Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night. December 6 also happens to be Nikolaustag, or St. Nicholas Day, when German children look outside their door to see if the shoe or boot they’d left out the night before contains either presents (a reward for good behavior) or a rod (bad behavior).

The tradition originated in Bavaria and spread south through the provinces of what is now Austria.

Krampus brings punishment back to the Christmas holiday, threatening naughty children with more than a lump of coal in their stocking.

It is believed that the long-horned, shaggy, goat-like monster with a long, angry face and lolling, forked tongue would visit the home of misbehaving children to punish them.

However, due to his likeness to the Christian devil, Krampus was banned in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere, throughout much of the 20th century.

The legend of Krampus isn’t in fear of dying out, as it is in fact gaining in popularity, even though there are those who believe the devil-like Krampus figure is inappropriate for children.




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Good Friday – Karfreitag

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Many people in Germany mark the crucifixion of Jesus by participating in church services and processions on Good Friday (Karfreitag), which is two days before Easter Sunday. For others, it is the start of a long weekend and possibly a spring vacation. Good Friday is a public holiday in all German states. Post offices, banks, stores and other businesses are closed. However, some tourist stores may be open and stores at railway stations, airports and along highways are usually open.

There are some restrictions on selling alcohol, public performances and dancing. Public transport services may run as usual, a reduced service or no service depending on where one lives or wants to travel.

Important Good Friday symbols are images of the cross used during Jesus’ crucifixion and of Jesus on the cross. The cross that is normally on the altar or wall is placed on a carpet or piece of cloth on the floor in many churches. In areas with a Good Friday procession or play, the cross or crosses used as props may be left in place for the whole Easter weekend.

Some people attend special church services on Good Friday. It is customary in some churches and areas that the church organ and bells are not played on Good Friday. Instead musical rattles are used to announce the start of the services and accompany the hymns.

For others, Good Friday is the start of a long weekend that also includes Easter Monday. They may take a short break or longer vacation in Germany or a neighboring country. It is still possible to ski at Easter in some years and regions but in others it is the start of the sailing season. Some high profile car races are also held on Good Friday.

Religious processions or plays are held in the open air in many areas. These tell the story of the last events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. It is customary to eat fish instead of meat because Good Friday is a fast day for many Christians. Try these wonderful Fish Cakes with Green Sauce.







 

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Christmas traditions in Germany

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WeihnachtenChristmas (Weihnachten) is considered to be the most important of the major holidays in Germany. Not only the holiday itself, but also the weeks leading up to the celebration of Christmas involve many traditions and customs.

Christmas preparations in Germany begin from 1st of December as people bake spiced cakes, gingerbread houses and cookies, make gifts and start holiday decorations. On 6th of December, Nikolaustag or St. Claus day is celebrated and children leave out a shoe or boot outside the door on the previous evening.

Good children receive presents while bad children receive blows from rod. Traditional Christmas toys consist of little dolls of fruit. Children write letters to the angel Christkind (a messenger of the Christ child), a winged figure in white robes and a golden crown who delivers gifts to German children, and keep them on their windowsills on Christmas Eve. Sometimes, they decorate letters by sprinkling sugar on the glue-brushed letters to make them sparkle.

The German Christmas season officially begins with the first Sunday of Advent. The Advent wreath (Adventskranz) is adorned with four candles, one of which is lit on each of the four Sundays preceding Christmas. The first Advent wreath, which appeared in the mid-19th century, had 4 larger candles and 19 smaller ones. Each day one additional candle was lit to help the children count the days until Christmas. Today only the four larger candles remain. The Advent wreath has been attributed religious and elemental significance. The tradition of a ring of light existed among the Germanic tribes many centuries before the celebration of Advent.

December 24th begins as a regular workday. But by 2:00 pm, often even earlier, businesses close in preparation for the holiday celebration, a large part of which occurs on Christmas Eve in Germany. The traditional evening meal includes roast duck, goose or rabbit with potato dumplings and of course Christmas Stollen. Families sing Christmas carols together and may read the story of Christ’s birth aloud. Family members exchange gifts. The tradition of opening gifts on Heiliger Abend was started by Martin Luther in the 16th century in favor of a celebration that honored Christ rather than a Catholic saint.

Both December 25 and 26 are legal holidays in Germany and are known as the First and Second Christmas Day respectively.





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Oktoberfest…The Fest Of Times

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oktoberfest-historyOktoberfest was started long ago, it dates back to 1810, when a royal wedding of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen took place on Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s fields”). As time passed by, Oktoberfest lost its original meaning, but preserved and even more acquired the spirit of overall joy and happiness. Nowadays this is the largest festival in the world gathering up to 7 million visitors from all over the world to have fun and enjoy splendid German beers and authentic German food. Moreover, since 1995 Oktoberfest has had its own logo!

After the name of the traditional place of celebration – Theresienwiese – Oktoberfest is called by the local people simply “Wiesn”. Another tradition of Oktoberfest is Munich mayor’s exclamation “Ozapft is”, or as it sounds in High German “Angezapft ist es” which means “It’s been tapped”. The mayor taps the first keg of beer and Oktoberfest thus gets started.

oktoberfest-logoAccording to statistics, in 2000 6.9 million visitors consumed 6,459,100 liters of beer + 170,400 liters of non-alcoholic beer, 681,242 fried chicken, 235,474 pairs of bratwurst (pork sausages) and many more German specialties. Nevertheless they are not just passive eaters and drinkers. All festivities are accompanied by a rich and spectacular program of events for the enjoyment and excitement of visitors of all ages. Each year Munich visitors take part in costumed parades, listen to various music band concerts, enjoy the famous Circus Krone performances, and have great time communicating with each other.

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Real Germans and Weddings and Funerals

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By guest author WEISSDORN

real-german-weddingWEDDINGS
For Real Germans, except for an occassional sentimental Christmas Mass visit, there was no reason to visit the Church, unless the day comes where the Real German woman has decided to round up Mr. Right. The Real German Mr. Right usually does not decide to marry in the Church. If it was left up to him, he would rather get married in Barbados in Bermuda Shorts, or in Vegas, or even sky-diving out of an airplane, but in the Church, na ja, it’s kind of stuffy for him.

Real Mrs. German-to-be, however, has already contacted her mother and future mother-in-law about two days after Mr. German Right popped the question. With an absolute planning that is equivalent to Rudi Voeller’s strategy for the World Soccer Club, the three Real German Women have planned the Church Wedding down to a T. Of course not without tons of discussions, phone calls and scabbling. With three Real German Women, they will inevitably have five opinions of how to do the church wedding right. As a female guest to a Real German Wedding, I can only suggest a pant-suit for Catholic Weddings, and a dress for Protestant weddings. The pant-suit is for Catholic Weddings for the extra gymnastics you will be required to perform, so you don’t rip your nylons. The sport program is eliminated in the Protestant Weddings. Drink coffee before you go to the Protestant Weddings, because the Pastor usually has a lot to say, which may not be all that interesting. At any rate, because it lasts a little longer, they have chairs at the alter for bride and groom.

Real German Country Weddings have the bride and groom in traditional costumes, and they play this great hide-and-seek game after the stuffy wedding ceremony. Old boy friends of the bride or the groom’s Verein (Real German Club) Buddies kidnap his bride and the groom has to go from bar to bar or restaurant and look for his bride. It is recommended that the groom has the American Express Gold Card in his wallet, because everywhere he goes he has to spend a free drink for everyone sitting around in the bar.

It’s then no wonder that there are always a number of concerned (and thirsty) people who leave the bar with groom to help him look in the next bar for his bride. My husband once attended a wedding where the bride and her friends had an extraordinary sense of humor. Her old boyfriend kidnapped her and took her to Ibiza. After two weeks, when her newly-wed husband hadn’t made his way from bar to bar all the way down to Ibiza (in Spain), she decided that she would call off the fun, flew home, and to her amazement found the papers filing for divorce in her mailbox.

FUNERALS
The last occassion, and saddest that a REAL German attends church as a guest of honor. Needless to say that at this point, the Real German could care less – but actually it’s all for the benefit of the relatives. Depending on the situation caused by the death, it is either a solemn quiet ceremony, or a painful quiet ceremony. For the usual case, death caused by old age, the ceremony can even be planned in advance, and funeral parlors can be consulted. In some cases the guest of honor has even done some of his own planning, because Real Germans can and do purchase Death Insurance.

Death Insurance is a policy to help pay for the exorbanent costs of a coffin. Being Real Germans, most of them are Christian – especially if they are older and getting closer to death – and do not want to be cremated, but would rather be buried. “Cremation would be too painful” they say. The actual burial services are free – sort of a last present from the state for decades for faithfully paying Church taxes. Non-Christians have to pay for being buried in a Church graveyard – an issue that is being debating in the German Supreme Court. Showing too much emotion at a funeral is embarrassing for Real Germans. They, like other Europeans wear black or dark colors (if they have them), and bring flowers, and wear sunglasses. Usually they do not have open-coffin ceremonies, and tend to have simple coffins. The last gesture that the guests have to perform is to throw a handful of dirt on the coffin together with the flowers they brought on the coffin, which has been lowered into the ground.

Afterwards, the main surviving relatives have arranged a dinner party in a nearby restaurant, and if the person died of old age, the guests usually try to cheer each other up be telling amusing stories or embarrassing antidocts from the life of the deceased person.
A few days later, the eligant, but often very simple and tasteful granit gravestone is put into place, along with the appropriate bordering. The next of kin have to sign a rental contract for the grave plot, and promise to keep it well-attended, tasteful and attractive, which means that someone always has to be around to make sure the proper flowers, candles, etc. are there, and the shrubs they may have planted do not become larger then the grave itself or the headstone.

As always, there are extensive rules governing how to tend the grave-plot. Needless to say, there are the graveyard police (the Real Germans who seem to be waiting to die) who patrol the graveyard, visiting their deceased spouses and making sure that everyone else’s grave is well-attended. For people who cannot keep up with this work, fortunately there are gardener services, who will take over this chore for a price. And after 25 years of this tedious immaculate weeding of the graveyard plot, the bulldozer comes along and digs up the graveyard plot, so that it can be used by the new dead.




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Real Germans and Multi-Culturalism

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Real Germans and Multiculturalism, Private and Group Discussions
By guest author WEISSDORN

Germans-and-MulticulturalismMulticulturalism

Hand-in-hand with the political correctness, real Germans profess a profound interest in almost any culture other than their own. Trendy real Germans worship native cultures and are the first to condemn other Western nations for “ruining” original cultures. Popular with the real Germans is their everlasting faith that the Native American Indian Culture was pure noble and pristine.

Real Germans will be the first to criticize the Americans for destroying this heritage. This often may seem strange when you consider that 60% of the European immigrants that migrated to North America in the last 200 years were of German descent. Equally strange is the common real German notion that the Native American Culture was pure and innocent and did not know crime or deceit until the event of the intrusion of the White Man. Discussions can prove to be rather interesting when questioning the views of real German’s attitudes of original cultures. On the one hand, they feel that is absolutely necessary to leave the culture intact, that is to maintain it’s purity. On the other they will argue in the same breath, that they have to impose their own social standards upon this culture, e.g. they are opposed to the native culture not respecting women, abusing children for labor, and believe that the culture should be forced to accept a social plan, and have state medical insurance services made available to them. Paradox, huh?

Private and Group Discussions

In this case I shall break it down by gender, although you cannot always judge with subjects real Germans will pick based on their gender:

What Real German Men Like to Talk About:

1. Sports & Hobbies
2. Politics
3. Money
4. Job
5. Automobiles or technical machines, devices, etc., house improvements
6. Jokes
7. Where they spent their last vacation and what they did and/or where could they go next time
8. Future plans
9. Eating and cooking and where to go out
10. Horrid accidents, sickness caused by alcohol consume, defecation.

Notice that women are not mentioned? I don’t know why, but they just don’t bother to talk about women or sex. For real German men, it’s simply understood that real German men don’t have problems, so they don’t talk about women – alles klar?! This is completely different with other sex.

What Real German Women Like to Talk About:

1. Intimate relationships in fine detail
2. Non-intimate relationships in fine detail
3. Sex, including the mechanics and all details
4. Family life and relationships and/or pets, and cooking
5. Gossip and rumors
6. Television shows, particularly talk shows and reality TV shows
7. Fashion, make-up, decorating and shopping
8. Job – not just the work, but also the colleague relationships
9. Politics or Community Initiatives
10. Sickness and suffering.

Some of the German women reading this will say, that this unfair, because they also like talking about other subjects, so I will also include this category:

What Real German Other* People Like to Talk About:

*Intellectuals, Homosexuals, Childless Single/Married Adults and Other Professionals:

1. News and cultural trends
2. History, art, literature and culture
3. Travel
4. Science, medicine and technology
5. Business trends, and money matters
6. Politics and community interests
7. Film, museums, theatre
8. Job and career
9. Dining and cuisine
10. Sports and fitness (wellness)




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