Carnival in Germany - Fasching, Fastnacht or Karneval "HELAU and ALAAF"

What is Fasching, Fastnacht or Karneval?

Last week all of Germany celebrated their 5th season. That is what they call Carnival.

Fasching, Fastnacht or Karneval are the names for the cheerful colorful festival which is celebrated every year in the spring for several days, seven weeks before Easter. 
Depending on the region's carnival time has many names and different customs. In North Rhine-Westphalia is called "Karneval". In Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg, they celebrated it as Fastnacht, in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Thüringen it is called "Fasching".

Carnival is associated with the beginning of Lent before Easter. "Carne vale" is Latin and means "meat farewell".
During fasting, Catholic Christians should not eat meat or drink alcohol.

So it's obvious that people want to enjoy all that before Lent and believe me, they do and I did it too!

The dressing up, the cheerful exuberance and the many carnival celebrations turn the otherwise normal everyday life from Thursday to "Faschingsdienstag" (carnival Tuesday) up side down! 
The "real" Carnival friends the fun begins already on 11/11 at 11:11 o'clock of each year. 
In various costumes, with funny music and songs, children and adults enjoying a lively party in the streets, in schools, clubs and restaurants. On Ash Wednesday, the "fifth season" and the blast is over.

On "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday) you will see parades going through every city or town in Germany. In Cologne, the Rosenmontagszug (parade) with a length of 6 to 7 km, attracts every year people from all the globe. At this length, it is not surprising that the parade goes on for about four hours. 





The greeting for the "5th season" is "Helau" or "Alaaf", depending on the region. 

In the south and southwest of Germany Carnival has a very long tradition. Many of the old traditions date back to the time before Christ. In this period there were rituals in which the winter was suppose to be chased away with fire, creepy figures, clamps and rattles. This was very important for the people back then. Therefore, in the Bavarian Carnival, the "Schellenrühren" is still active. Clothed with large cowbells on his back, a wooden mask on the face, with a white dress shirt and the famous leather pants on, the "Schellenrührer" goes on and makes a lot of noise to chase away the winter. The Carnival celebrations in the city of Munich culminate on "Faschingsdienstag" with the dance of the market women on the Viktualienmarkt.

Daily German Word

1/365     Liebe (lee-ba) love
2/365     Hoffnung (hof-noong) hope
3/365     Vertrauen (fer-trou-wen) trust
4/365     Umarmung (oom-arm-oong) hug
5/365     Arbeit (ar-bite) work
6/365     Sonnenschein (so-nan-shayn) sunshine
7/365     Blume (bloo-meh) flower
8/365     Spass (sh-pa-s) fun
9/365     Luchs (loo-ks) bobcat
10/365   Regen (rea-can) rain
11/365   Entschuldigung (ent-shool-dee-goong) sorry  
12/365   Gedanken (ge-dunk-en) thoughts
13/365   Erinnerung (er-in-ner-roong) memory
14/365   Leben (le-ben) life
15/365   Anfang (ahn-fah-ng) start
16/365   Kinder (keen-der) children
17/ 365  Frieden (free-den) freedom
18/365   Spiel (shpee-l) game
19/365   Natur (nah-tour) nature
20/365   Gerechtigkeit (geh-regh-tig-kite) justice
21/365   Dankbar (dunk-bar) thankful
22/365   Krankheit (krunk-height) disease
23/365   Fahrt (fah-rt) ride
24/365   Fenster (phen-ster) window
25/365   Herausforderungen (her-rouse-for-der-roong-en) challenges
26/365   Fieber (fee-ber) fever
27/365   Ruhe (roo-ae) rest
28/365   Sonne (son-nae) sun
29/365   Zuhören (tsoo-hoeren) listening
30/365   Lernen (laer-nen) learn
31/365   Geduld (ghe-do-ld) patience
32/365   Bücherei (bue-her-rye) library
33/365   Ein neuer Monat (I-n  noi-er  mo-nat) a new month

Facts about Germany

Germany has a population of about 80,7 millions people with a total area of 357,168 km² (137,847 sq mi).

The capital and larges city is Berlin. 

Germany has 16 Bundesländer (constituent states)

• Baden-Württemberg
• Freistaat Bayern
• Berlin
• Brandenburg
• Freie Hansestadt Bremen
• Freie Hansestadt Hamburg
• Hessen
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Niedersachsen
• Nordrhein-Westfalen
• Rheinland-Pfalz
• Saarland
• Freistaat Sachsen
• Sachsen-Anhalt
• Schleswig-Holstein
• Freistaat Thüringen.

New Year's Eve and New Year Traditions

The last day of the year in Germany is called "Silvester". On this day, the Holy "Silvester" is celebrating his Name Day. He died on December 31, 335 a.C. In Rome as Pope. 

On December 31, all shops are closed from noon on. In the churches, services are held to thank for the past and ask for the Future. This day is comparable to the Christmas party on December 24th in Japan. 
The evening is spent with friends either at home, at a party, in a restaurant or in a theater. 

It has become a popular tradition,to watch "Dinner for One"  on TV. "Dinner for One" is a British sketch about a lonely old lady named Miss Sophie and her butler, who at her 90th birthday, takes on the role of long-dead friends and get very drunk. 

At midnight you toast with a glass of sparkling wine or champagne and wish each other „Prosit Neujahr“, „Ein gutes neues Jahr“ oder einen „Guten Rutsch“. Every now and then, lucky charm as chimney sweeps, four leaf clover or small marzipan pigs are given away.

Of course, should a large fireworks at midnight not fail to drive away evil spirits. These traditions date back to ancient Germanic rituals. In earlier times, the noise was made with drums, trumpets and gunshots. Even today, the church bells ring at midnight. 

After the fireworks, some people like to take a look into the future in the form of lead casting (Bleigießen), horoscopes or card reading.  

You melt the little lead pieces. Then you pour it into cold water. The results could be something like that: Elefant=elephant, Golfer=golf player, Hund=dog

 

Lead casting set.

For the lead casting (Bleigießen), small pieces of lead are melted down and poured into cold water and the resulting objects are interpreted for the new year. Depending on the mood, the rest of the night is celebrated together, often with plenty of alcohol.


Very popular is to eat fondue or raclette at New Year's Eve with friends. At Fondue, meat pieces are cooked in hot oil or broth at the table then dipped in various sauces and eaten with baguette and salads. The Raclette is originally a Swiss specialty. It is layered with ham and vegetables in small pans and baked with cheese. It is eaten with steamed or boiled potatoes and pickled or fresh vegetables. The remaining time until midnight is spent with board games or just a party. 

Raclette

               Fondue

The next day (New Years Day) is a public holiday and is used for sleeping in or going for a long walk.

Christmas traditions

For the Germans, the Christmas season is the most important holiday of the year on which the whole family comes together. 

The pre-Christmas period corresponds to the four weeks before Christmas eve and begins on the first Sunday of Advent, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The apartment is decorated for Christmas with fir branches, Christmas decorations and candles. On the table is the Advent wreath, a wreath of fir twigs with four candles.

Every Sunday in Advent, a candle is lit. The children get an advent calendar at which 24 doors or little bags are. Every day until Christmas, the children are allowed to open a door or bag. During Advent, the children also write their wish list for Christmas.

On the Advent Sundays you often get together to have some hot drinks (e.g. punch, tea, hot chocolate), and cookies, gingerbread and stollen (Christmas bread) to eat and to read Christmas stories to children. This custom exists since about the beginning of the 20th century.

Nikolaus: The holiday season offers children even more "excitment": On the evening of December 5th, the children put their freshly polished boots at the door or in front of the fireplace and wait for the St. Nicholas who fills the boot with sweets and fruits at night. Sometimes, even a little toy. 

In some areas, St. Nicholas is still accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, who punishes naughty children with his tree branch.

Weihnachstmärkte: The traditional Christmas markets open their doors with the Advent season. At the numerous light decorated stands, Christmas tree ornaments, candles, mulled wine (Glühwein) and all sorts of other Christmas specialties are offered for sale. Christmas or Christmas Kindle markets have been around since the 14th century. In order to sell their goods before Christmas came once craftsmen and confectioners came up with the idea to build in the marketplace stalls with their goods. This custom spread quickly and to attract more visitors at the market, toasted almonds, chestnuts and walnuts were offered (read more here: Der Weihnachtsmark - The Christmas Market)

Die Romantische Strasse

The "Romantische Strasse", is the oldest tourist route in Germany, with a length of 350 kilometers (217.48 miles) between the Frankish Würzburg and Füssen.

I will take you along the "Romantic Road" starting in north (Würzburg)and ending in the south (Füssen).

Würzburg:

The university and convention city on the Main, is in the heart of the Franconian wine country. Worth seeing: the old cathedral, Neumünster, Mary's Chapel, New and Old Main Bridge. Numerous museums (Mainfränkisches Museum, Museum am Dom, Museum in the Cultural Memory), theater and attractive festival highlights (Mozart, Africa Festival, Würzburg Bach days). Recommended are visits to wineries and travel through the Franconian wine country.

Tauberbischofsheim:

Is one of the oldest cities in the 'lovely Tauber Valley'. The symbol of the city is the watchman's tower. Around it, is Kurmainzische castle, a must see. The neo-Gothic city hall, in addition to a plethora of historic houses, is the most striking buildings on the square and also worth visiting. Bike ride and hike through unspoiled nature.

Lauda-Königshofen:
A Wine town with magnificent churches from the heyday of the Franconian Baroque, historic bridges, imposing half-timbered houses and shrines of six centuries. Museum (emphasis wine), guided tours through nature, culture and wine trails, leisure facilities including indoor heated swimming pool, indoor pool with sauna and solarium. Directly on the Bike-Trail "Charming Tauber Valley", starting and ending points of the Main-Tauber-Fränkischen Rad-Achters, short and beautiful hiking trails through idyllic countryside.



Bad Mergentheim:
Enjoys an international reputation for decades as a health and holiday resort. Bad Mergentheim is known by the Teutonic castle and museum with the Stuppacher Madonna, the bathing and wellness park Solymar or the wildlife park.  Around the market square with its magnificent Renaissance town hall and the Cathedral of St. John and the Cathedral Treasury you will see half-timbered houses and Baroque palaces.



Weikersheim: 

Weikersheim is a state-approved health resort with a beautiful Castle, a marketplace with its gorgeous state office building and a village museum. A must see, the Gothic Church and the Rococo fountain is just of singular unity. Weikersheim is nestled in vineyards by the magnificent Renaissance castle with its spacious and beautifully landscaped palace garden in the style of Versailles. Weikersheim has well-developed hiking and bicycle trails.

Röttingen:

This friendly town, offers several spectacular facilities.  Röttingen was named the first European town in 1953. It is know by its historic town center with charming half-timbered houses (Fachwerkhäusern).

Some of the historic buildings are:

• Castle Brattenstein (12th century)
• Parish Church (12th Century)
• St. George's Chapel (15th Century)
• Town Hall (18th Century)
• Fortress with seven towers

 

 

 

Creglingen:

Creglingen is located in the district of Baden-Württemberg in the Main-Tauber-Kreis. The Celts founded this town around 200-100 B.C.
If you travel in the month of February and love horses, make sure to plan a visit on the second Wednesday on every February, Creglingen has a special event since over 80 years. The horse market. This event offers all horse lovers from the Tauber Valley and the Bavarian neighboring communities, a mixture of old horse market tradition and modern horse market. Besides awarding the best horses, the highlight on this day is the traditional parade followed by open-air concert. 

If you don't care much about horses (by the way, I love horses!), then take a Historical tour through Creglingen.

Information boards will provide insights into the Creglinger history of past centuries. The "Mühlweg" will lead you to the "Herrgottskirche" (God Church)  that is approximately 1 km outside of the city, with the famous altar by Tilman Riemenschneider and unique Thimble museum (Fingerhutmuseum). 

The tour takes you to: the Schlosserturm, the Jewish Museum, the Lindleinturm Museum, the Romschloss, the Old Town Hall, the Old School House (now the Town Hall), the Historical Pharmacy, to the vicarage, the Courtyard - historical Schlossbäck, Old Jewish Cemetery, the thimble Museum and the Church of God (Herrgottskirche) with the Riemenschneideraltar.

Here is a pdf file with the historical sights, provided by the city of Creglingen: 

 http://www.creglingen.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten_karte.pdf

Next stops: Rothenburg o.d.T. ► Schillingsfürst ► Feuchtwangen ► Dinkelsbühl ► Wallerstein ► Nördlingen ► Harburg ► Donauwörth ► Rain ► Augsburg ► Friedberg ► Landsberg am Lech ► Hohenfurch ► Schongau ► Peiting ► Rottenbuch ► Wildsteig ► Steingaden ► Halblech ► Schwangau ► Füssen

The Oktoberfest is coming up! Prost!

September 18th and everybody is going "PROST"!


The 177th annual Oktoberfest is starting September 18th and will last until October 4th.  I have been once to the "real" Oktoberfest and it was fascinating! Definitely not a place for people with OCD ;-)


Here are some things that I thought might be interesting to know:


How is an Oktoberfest beer mug "Stein" made?

Did you know that a complete series of all Oktoberfest steins is worth several thousand euros. Each step, to make the Stein, requires precise manual work, so that each of the limited edition Oktoberfest steins a little work of art.

I researched it a little bit for you and I found out, how the mug is made. 

The "Stein" also called "Maß" is made out of clay. The first step is to form the Stein without the handle. Afterwards the handle will be carefully added to the mug. 

With a damp sponge, the transitions from the handle and the mug are smoothened out, so that the whole surface is evenly and smooth.

In a large brick furnace, the mugs are then brazed at about 1000 degrees Celsius until they are hard like stone ;-) (get it? Stein = Stone)

After the "Stein" has cooled off, the official Oktoberfest logo is carefully placed by hand on the mug and smoothed out. Now the beer mug looks almost like a proper Oktoberfest beer stein.

With a fine brush, colored edges are painted around the mug. A rotating disc, on which the Oktoberfeststein is placed, mades this procedure a little bit easier to do. 

Next up, the "Stein" is put back in the furnace. With this procedure, the Logo is inextricably linked with the mug. Now the collector "Stein" is read! For the "Stein" that is used at the Oktoberfest, a tin lid is added as a last step in this procedure.

A solid, handmade tin lid is added to the "Stein". Every year, a different embossed lid is placed on each mug. this year, the lid will have an embossing from Crown Prince Ludwig and Therese Hildburghausen's royal wedding.