I know that some of you are interested in German traditions and such, so I thought I would give an explanation of my understanding of German May Day.
May 1 is considered the Germans Labor Day with lots of festivals and traditions. They start with setting up a May Tree on April 30th in most of the villages. See the picture above of the one just down the street from our house. This is a Christmas tree and wreath, decorated with streamers on one TALL pole! The fire departments help set the trees up. The trees are a symbol of freedom. During the night of April 30, aka "Witches Night", the teenagers and young people build a bonfire and camp out around the tree in order to protect it from other village pranksters. This brings on another tradition, which is that said to be of "witches" running around the neighborhood. The youngsters (or "witches") go around the village and pull pranks (unharmful) to various houses throughout the village. For example, we were told to put our trash cans in the garage by some friends who warned us so that they didn't disappear. They are mostly silly games and they may toilet paper trees, move trashcans, doormats, and other belongings around.
The only thing that we had "witched" was the windshield wipers on Matt's car. Some witch, unknown to us thought it was funny to flip them up on Matt's car. I should have taken a picture and yes, I could recreate it, but Matt's car isn't here. I did notice some toilet paper and a few other minor things done, but nothing all that noticeable in our village.
They also have various dances, barbeques and get togethers throughout the weekend to celebrate.
There you have it... German 101.
1 comment:
Boy you sure do have an interesting life there. I wish I had all the time in the world to come visit. I just don't know how I would get on the plane. haha
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