Tag Archives: bavaria
Der Nikolaus Kommt Posted by Larissa on Dec 22, 2014
At the beginning of December, I was informed that on the 5th of December Nikolaus (St Nicholas) would come in the night and fill children’s shoes with presents. This tradition is carried out in parts of Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy and Switzerland amongst others. To me this sounded a lot like Christmas, and it is…
Ozapft is! Oktoberfest 2014 has begun! Posted by Constanze on Sep 20, 2014
Today marks the start of the annual Oktoberfest in München! Here are a few facts about the world’s largest and most popular beer festival. A brief history of Oktoberfest Oktoberfest began in 1810 – a whopping 204 years ago – when King Ludwig I married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, and invited all of the…
Why Bavaria Party Supports Scottish Independence Posted by Constanze on Sep 13, 2014
When I was last in Bayern there was an upcoming election, and the streets were filled with campaign posters for the different political parties. The one that stood out to me the most was the rather satirical poster for the Bayern Partei – the Bavaria Party. This is what it looked like: What I liked…
Untranslatable German Words: Waldeinsamkeit Posted by Constanze on Aug 21, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to another post on untranslatable German words! The word of today is Die Waldeinsamkeit. What is the meaning of Waldeinsamkeit? It refers to a very specific feeling – the feeling of being alone in the woods. What does Waldeinsamkeit literally translate to? Wald means wood/forest. Einsamkeit means loneliness, or solitude. How…
An Introduction to Bavarian Posted by Constanze on Jul 27, 2014
Well, when I first started writing for this blog I promised I would bring some Bavarian into it. So here goes! Firstly, why Bavarian? The German side of my family come from Bavaria. I grew up speaking Bavarian more than Hochdeutsch (standard German), and even today, hearing it is as natural for me as hearing…
My Big, Fat, Bavarian Wedding Posted by Constanze on Jul 23, 2014
… OK, so the title of this post is a tad misleading. I didn’t have a big, fat, Bavarian wedding. But I went to one, and that was just as good! Last year, I attended my cousin’s wedding in Bavaria. It was the first Bavarian wedding I’d ever been to, and there were several things…
The Reinheitsgebot – what’s the story? Posted by Sten on May 28, 2014
The German Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law) is not the oldest food law in the world. There are laws going back more than 3000 years before the Reinheitsgebot that concern food. The Law was introduced as a Landesverordnung (State Act) in Bavaria, and only in 1918 it was called Reinheitsgebot for the first time. Mostly, this…