Tag: holidays

Dinner Was Fabulous

On By StevenIn Life In Germany1 Comment

This town consistently does little things to remind me just how awesome it is.  For example, we wanted to go to dinner tonight at Pam Pam, a great little Italian restaurant in the Altstadt.  Dinner was fabulous, and so was the event we found when we got to Haidplatz.

As we rounded the corner, we walked into the midst of an enormous crowd.  There were tents, kiosks, and a small stage.  A band had just started playing the classic Toto song, “Hold The Line.”

As I looked around, I noticed some other things-  lots of rainbow flags, for one thing.  And a lot of same-sex couples holding hands, which is not all that unusual here, but is still nice to see.  One of the kiosks was about HIV prevention.   There was one guy wearing a head to toe black leather biker outfit, looking suspiciously like he was auditioning for the Village People.  All of these visual clues together could mean only one thing-   we had just stumbled into a Gay Pride event.

Specifically, this was Christopher Street Day, which is apparently Germany and Switzerland’s answer to Gay Pride Days.  The Christopher Street Day event is held as an anniversary to the LGBT uprisings in the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969.  The Stonewall Inn was on Christopher Street, hence the name.  The event isn’t always held on the actual anniversary for organizational reasons, but it usually turns up in June.

This is a huge event in Berlin and Cologne, but the day is celebrated in major cities all over the country.  Normally, there’s a parade but Regensburg didn’t have one this year.   I had no idea that CSD was happening at all, or I probably would have tried to get a good seat for the live music.  I’ll need to make a note on my calendar for next year- I love a good parade.

I didn’t get any pictures of the rainbow flags or the adorable hand-holding couples or even the black leather guy I mentioned earlier, because I didn’t know they’d be there.  I did snap a picture of the band though, and one generic crowd photo, so I’ll include those here.

I didn’t make this last picture.  I’m only including it because it always makes me laugh.

Public Holiday: May Day

On By StevenIn International Travel - Europe1 Comment

One of the many things I had to learn when I got to Germany was the different holidays. Many of the holidays that I’m used to from the US just aren’t a holiday here.

Thanksgiving is a great example of this. Most of the Germans I’ve met don’t know anything at all about Thanksgiving. I got here in the middle of November, and I was fortunate enough to meet a lot of folks in the local ex-patriate crowd right away.  This allowed me to attend a Thanksgiving dinner in the local Irish pub. As one of the actual Americans in attendance, I spent a fair amount of time explaining what the foods represented, and what little I could remember from grade school about the background and story of the holiday. I also fielded questions like “how on earth do you eat this cranberry sauce goop?” It was a highly entertaining time. Plus, there were twinkies.

But I digress. The first of May is a public holiday here in Bavaria. It’s a holiday in much of Europe, actually, but the Bavarian holiday schedule doesn’t always match up to the rest of Europe. It does today, though, which means that most business are closed, and everyone goes out and enjoys the newly minted sunshine for a change.

May Day, first observed as a public holiday here in 1933, is also referred to as Labour Day here, and I’ve been told that sometimes there are activities related to work and employment, but I haven’t seen any.

What I have seen is a lot of Maibäume, or maypoles.  These started to turn up at the beginning of April, and they usually show up near churches or main village squares from what I’ve seen.  I’ve done a bit of research, and the date that it goes up varies- in some instances, it’s put up on May 1st, and might be left up for the duration of the month.  In some cases, the pole itself is left up year round, but without the decorations.  The placing of the maypole is often followed by a dance,  or Tanz in den Mai (Dance into May).

There is a wealth of information online about maypole customs and decorations in other countries, but I’m focusing on what I’ve seen here in Germany.  The poles I’ve seen have been blue and white, which is the colors of the Bavarian flag.  They’re also covered in wreaths and some other decorations which, according to The Google, usually depict local crafts and industry.

There’s another element to this tradition though, which I quite like.  On the night of the last day of April, many men erect small decorated maypoles in front of the houses of their sweethearts, with a decoration attached in the shape of a red heart with the name of the girl.  The genders reverse on leap years and women leave the maypoles in front of their sweetie’s house.   This is often done in secret, and it’s up to the person leaving the maypole to decide whether to remain anonymous or give a hint to their identity.

Happy May Day, everyone!

It’s a bad, bad day to be a necktie.

On By StevenIn International Travel - Europe, Life In Germany4 Comments

Just before the end of January, I was in the grocery store with a friend when we passed an aisle filled with costumes-  the exact same sorts of costume gear that you would normally see in a Target or a Walgreens just before Halloween.  Naturally, I asked what the deal was.

It turns out that there’s another holiday here that involves dressing up.  It’s called Fasching, and it’s this month.  Fasching is Carnival, a.k.a. the local version of Mardi Gras, and it happens roughly seven weeks before Easter.  It spans several different days, with a variety of different events.

The Thursday before Ash Wednesday is known as “Weiberfastnacht”, or “Women’s carnival night”. On this day tradition dictates that women are allowed to cut off the tie of any man within reach.    The women are also allowed to kiss any man they like, according to some versions of tradition.  (Not one to waste an opportunity, I bought four cheap neckties.  And some ChapStick.)

The following Monday is known as Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). On Rosenmontag there are various street processions involving lots of costumes and carnival floats. Faschingsdienstag (Carnival Tuesday) is the last day of Fasching and when most of the festivities happen. Faschingsdienstag is not an official public holiday in Bavaria, but it’s still celebrated.

The traditional food of Carnival season is Krapfen, or donuts.  They’re available in every bakery, in all sorts of different flavors.  I’ve heard of varieties containing sweets such as vanilla, marmelade, or chocolate.

According to legend, it used to be customary to choose a man  to be the “sacred king” of the tribe for a year. The method of choosing the sacred king was the King’s Cake. A coin or bean would be placed in the cake before baking and whoever got the slice with the coin was the chosen one.  Another version of the King’s Cake story says that it’s just a king for a day scenario.  I haven’t found any reference works that I trust to be completely authoritative so far, but I’ve seen  numerous references indicating that the King’s Cake idea has evolved into the donuts that we’re familiar with today.

My favorite part of this, so far,is the costumes though.  So far today, I’ve only seen three people dressed in costume so far, and two of them worked in the bakery where I get my morning pretzel.  I’ve also seen posters for Kinder-Fasching, which is basically for the kids. (Kinder = children.)  I suspect I’ll see a bunch more costumes after work, but I expect to see more when I go out this evening for my usual bi-weekly Stammtisch.  The word doesn’t translate easily to English, but a stammtisch is just a meeting group. This particular stammtisch is the Regensburg English Stammtisch, which is a group that meets every other Thursday to drink and chat in English.  I try not to miss it because it’s a heap of fun.

Naturally, I’ll have another tie on for that part of my evening.

Frohes neues Jahr!

On By StevenIn Life In Germany4 Comments

Last night was my first New Year’s Eve in a new country-  it was rainy and overcast and yet somehow still magical to me.  There were fireworks everywhere, even if I couldn’t see them all. I did take a lot of pictures after midnight,and these are three of my favorites.  I especially like the shot with the two girls walking up the sidewalk holding sparklers.

Happy new year, everyone!  May 2012 meet and exceed all your hopes and dreams!

FireworksGirls With SparklersFireworks