Archive for 'Traditions'
Der Weihnachtsstollen – German Christmas cake Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 18, 2011
This post is part of my Advent calendar on Facebook where I publish a post every day that shows a particular German Christmas candy or decoration. I realized that I have much more to say about the “Stollen” than just a few words, thus, I decided to dedicate myself to this topic. The “Stollen” is…
A visit to one of Berlin’s Christmas markets Posted by anja on Dec 11, 2011
Although snow hasn’t reached Berlin yet, when you are out in the city you cannot miss that it’s Christmas time. People may have decorated the trees in their front yards with Christmas balls or electric lights. The city itself has also done some spectacular decoration with the help of its electricity supplier: The linden trees…
German Christmas markets and Advent season Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 4, 2011
Today is the zweite Advent (second Sunday in Advent) and there are about only three weeks left to Christmas. So, it is höchste Zeit (hight time) to tell you how Germans spend the Vorweihnachtszeit (pre-Christmas season). In Germany, the official pre-Christmas season starts on the ersten Advent (first Sunday in Advent). Germans render homage to…
German tradition: The Abitur – More than just taking annoying examinations (pt. 2) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 30, 2011
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…
German tradition: The Abitur – More than just taking annoying examinations (pt. 1) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 28, 2011
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…
Tradition: How Germans celebrate the adolescence of young people Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 24, 2011
In the years of the separation of Germany (1949-1989/90), the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) refused to nominate a state religion and propagated a non-religious Weltbild (worldview), instead. Thus, the East German government neither supported Christian ceremonies that celebrate the reception of a child or adolescent into a society, e.g. communion and confirmation, nor…
Tradition: How Germans celebrate a child’s first day at school – Einschulung Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 22, 2011
A friend of mine, who studies French, is currently in France, where she teaches French students German. In one of her first lessons she wanted to find out to what extend the students were able to communicate in German, so she showed them a picture and asked them to describe what they could see. Although…