German Language Blog

At the end of the year 2011, I posted an article called „Some simple fatcs about Germany“. While doing the research for this article, I discovered some other interesting facts about Germany that I didn´t know before though I´m living here since I was born.

One of them was about religions. For not being very religiös (religious) myself, I normally don´t care much about religious topics. But when I read about the spreading of the different religions, this sounded quite interesting to me.

So, to come to a point, we have countless religions respectively subassembly groups or Abspaltungen (split-offs) of them. The biggest main religion is das Christentum (Christianity). Out of this main religion there are also the most split-offs. Take a look:

- Römisch-katholische Kirche (Roman Catholic Church)
- Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (Protestant Church of Germany)
- Orthodoxes Christentum (Orthodox Christianity)
- Neuapostolische Kirche (New Apostolic Church)
- Zeugen Jehovas (Jehovah´s Witnesses)
- Baptisten (Baptists)
- Mennoniten (Mennonites)
- Selbständige Evangelische-Lutherische Kirche
- Pfingstler
- Siebenten-Tags-Adventisten
- Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
- Altkatholische Kirche
- Christliche Wissenschaft
- Anglikaner (Anglicans)

Beside Christianity we also have Islam, das Judentum (Jewry), Hinduismus (Hinduism) and Buddhismus (Buddhism) in Germany.

Here are some numbers of the strongest religions in Germany:

Martin Luther

Die Missionierung (proselytization) took place from the 6th to the 10th century. Whereas Protestant reformation began in the 16th century with Martin Luther (1483-1546). The interesting thing is, before World War 1, approximately 60% of the Bevölkerung (population) in Germany was affected by the Protestant Church. Nowadays, the two main religions have almost the same number of members. The Roman Catholic Church even has a slight Vorsprung (advance).

The orthodox churches came with the immigrants. Most of them were coming from eastern countries like Greek, Serbia, Russia, Bulgaria…

Jehovah`s Witnesses were founded in the USA and exists in Germany since 1903.

Islam has its own Untergruppen (subassembly groups) as well (Sunnites, Shiites, Alevites and even further ones). Most of the people in Germany with an islamic background have turkish roots.

Most of the Jews living in Germany have their origin in Eastern Europe. Nowadays we have approximetaly 200.000 of them in Germany. There are Jewish communities in Germany since the 1st centruy, so this is the oldest Glaubensgemeinschaft (denomination) that we have here.

Well, as far as I can overlook this, almost every religion is somehow represented in Germany. But also a third af the population is konfessionslos (undenominational), that means without a certain religion. In my optinion this makes people diverse and interesting. As long as everybody stays tolerant and respects other persuasions, it is a great way to do so.

Some vocabulary to this post:

religiös – religious
die Abspaltung – split-off
das Christentum – Christianity
die Römisch-katholische Kirche – Roman Catholic Church
die Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland – Protestant Church of Germany
das Orthodoxes Christentum – Orthodox Christianity
die Neuapostolische Kirche – New Apostolic Church
die Zeugen Jehovas – Jehovah´s Witnesses
die Baptisten – Baptists
die Mennoniten – Mennonites
die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
die Anglikaner – Anglicans
das Judentum – Jewry
der Hinduismus – Hinduism
der Buddhismus – Buddhism
die Missionierung -  proselytization
die Bevölkerung – population
der Vorsprung – advance
die Untergruppe – subassembly group
die Glaubensgemeinschaft -  denomination
konfessionslos -  undenominational

The Abizeitung and Abi-Shirts

In order to remember the time of the Abitur, German students usually make a journal and T-shirts. My schoolfellows and I made an Abi-journal under the motto “imprisonment”. We treated each student as an inmate of a prison (our school) and drew up ‘psychological profiles’ which revealed the particular characteristics and interests of students as well as possible means of ‘socialization’ that disclosed the plans for the future, that is, subjects of studies and career aspirations.

Another custom is to make Abi-shirts or sweaters, which students wear on the day of the Abifez. It generally displays the school-leaving year. Other features are voluntarily. Some students imprint their motto and we imprinted all names of graduates.

The Abiball and the Abifahrt

The most important part of the Abitur is, of course, the Abiturball or Abiball (prom night) and the Abifahrt. The Abiball is quite similar to the American prom night. All school-leavers wear festive clothes: the girls wear ball dresses and the boys wear suits and ties. On the day of the Abiball all hairdressers and make-up artists are usually booked out because all the girls want to look perfect on that night.

Unlike the American prom night, it is not common that boys ask girls out. School-leavers attend the Abiball either with their girl-/boyfriend or as singles. But that does not mean that all singles go alone to the Abiball. Another difference between the American prom night and the German Abiball is that the parents of the school-leaver accompany him/her, so that students, their parents, and teachers celebrate and conclude school-time together. The relationships between Gymnasiasten (German high school students) and teachers are usually very close, friendly and respectful.

The Abiball begins around 7 p.m. and starts with a ceremonial entering of the graduates. Afterwards, the ball is officially opened with the so-called Eröffnungstanz (opening dance). For the following hours, the attendants help themselves from the buffet, drink, talk, dance, and pose for photos. At around midnight graduates and parents separate. Parents go home and the graduates continue to celebrate in discotheques or clubs until dawn. I remember that the day of my Abiball was quite warm and it was raining when a friend of mine and I left the discotheque, my feet were aching, so, I put off my shoes and walked barefoot through the rain. This wasn’t a good idea because afterwards I had had a bad cold.

Last but not least, Gymnasiasten do a final trip together, called Abifahrt. It should be noted that German students go on Klassenfahrten (class trips) or Bildungsfahrten (educational trips) annually. My schoolfellows and I, for example, had been to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy (Rome, Pisa), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), France (Paris) and Great Britain (London). In this way, we had had the chance to get to know different cultures and practice the foreign languages we had been learning in school, which first of all had been English and French. But the final trip or Abifahrt is neither intended to educate oneself nor to get in contact with other cultures. In the first instance, it is intended to have fun and celebrate one’s freedom. It is the only time whenGymnasiasten go on a trip without teachers. Usually, all students head for the same destination but we weren’t in agreement for our final destination, therefore, we split into three groups. One group went to Spain (Lloret de mar), another to Czechoslovakia (Prague) and the third to the Baltic Sea (Germany).

I hope that was enough info for you

Vocabulary:

das Abi-Shirt = a T-shirt or jumper on which the motto and final school year of a class is printed

der Abi-Ball = prom night

der Gymnasiast – male German high school student

die Gymnasiatin – female German high school student

der Eröffnungstanz – opening dance

die Klassenfahrt – class trip; school trip

die Bildungsfahrt – educational trip

I’m quite sure that you cover the topic “German school system” at an early stage when you learn German as a foreign language in school. Thus, you may already know that the Abitur is the secondary school leaving examination in Germany, which allows you to apply for university. But I’m not sure if any of your textbooks discuss what German students do apart from learning and preparing for the upcoming tests. Thus, I’d like to give you an insight into what was, is, and will always be the most fun thing for German students to take the Abitur.

Students usually don’t like to sit tests, and German students traditionally do partially wreak revenge for that on their teachers when they take the Abitur, of which the short form is Abi. The German Abitur contains several traditional customs like: Abifez (= a festival procession), Abistreich (lit. Abi-prank), Abizeitung (lit. Abi-paper), Abi T-shirts, Abiball (prom night), and Abifahrt (final trip).

The Abifez and Abistreich

The Abifez is a during-the-schoolday-party and also contains the so-called Abistreich (Abi-prank). It usually takes place after the last day of examination. And it is nothing else than simply going wild. Our Abifez was May 16^th. Traditionally, students form a motorcade on that day and go hooking at walking pace through the city, stopping at other schools, entering them and making a lot of noise with rattles and whistles. To come rushing into school buildings is, of course, not legal but most teachers and principals keep cool. My schoolfellows and I, for example, were requested to leave one of the buildings we had entered and we had been threatened that they would had called the police if we hadn’t obeyed.

Additionally, students usually stick a particular creative and funny saying or motto on the back window of their cars, e.g. “ABIgasmus – 13 Jahre bis zum Höhepunkt” (ABIgasm – 13 years to the climax) – allusion to sex, orgasm, and the long time of going to school for thirteen years; ABIsutra – Jetzt geht’s auf Stellungssuche (ABIsutra – Now we are looking for positions) – allusion to sex positions, Kama Sutra, and vacant position on the job market; ABIlieve I can fly; ABIlity for life, etc.

The Abifez also contains a particular program that is performed in the assembly hall of the school. We, for example, established some fun categories for awarding teachers and ‘forced’ them to take part in games in which they had to improvise and showcase their knowledge.

The Abistreich is a part of the Abifez. What exactly students do depends on their creativeness. My schoolfellows and I papered the whole smoker teachers’ lounge with cigarette packets and filled the non-smoker teachers’ lounge with 3000 balloons. This took, of course, a lot of time, therefore, we camped in the schoolyard and prepared everything during the night before the actual Abifez. But we also did some nice thing. For example, we prepared a breakfast bazaar where teachers and other students could buy sandwiches, coffee, and juice. And we additionally, set up some bounce houses in the sports hall.

To be continued…

Vocabulary:

das Abitur = German school leaving examination

der Abifez = festival procession

der Abi-Streich – Abi prank

die Abi-Zeitung – Abi (news)paper (comparable to a year book)

der Abiball – prom night

die Abi-Fahrt – the final trip that graduates take together