{"id":12654,"date":"2021-02-17T23:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T23:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12654"},"modified":"2021-02-17T14:09:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T14:09:49","slug":"7-german-home-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/7-german-home-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"7 German Home Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Last time on the blog, we looked at some of the features of a German home. Today, continuing on the theme of \u2018Wir bleiben zuhause\u2019<\/em> (\u2018We’re staying at home\u2019), we\u2019ll look at some German home traditions.<\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Housewarming<\/h3>\n
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das Brot. Photo by Kate Remner on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

A tradition surrounding die Hauseinweihung<\/em> (housewarming) in Germany is to give bread and salt to loved ones as a housewarming gift, as this indicates that you hope they\u2019ll never go hungry; bread is a staple food, and salt acts as a preservative. There is even a German saying about the bread and salt tradition:<\/p>\n

Brot und Salz \u2013 Gott erhalt\u2019s!<\/strong>
\nBread and salt \u2013 God preserve it!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Die Hauseinweihung \u2013 housewarming
\nDas Brot \u2013 bread
\nDas Salz – salt<\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Kehrwoche<\/h3>\n
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die Kehrwoche. Photo by Daniel von Appen on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

Literally \u2018sweep week\u2019, Kehrwoche<\/em> is a tradition common to apartment buildings in Germany. To keep the apartment block clean, residents must take it in turns to perform duties such as sweeping the floors in the communal areas, cleaning the windows, watering the plants, and so on. This is taken seriously in Germany- in some cases, you could be breaking your rental contract if you do not co-operate in Kehrwoche. You can read more about Kehrwoche here!<\/a><\/p>\n

Related vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

kehren \u2013 to sweep
\ndie Woche \u2013 week
\nputzen \u2013 to clean
\nder Mietvertrag \u2013 rental contract<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Richtfest<\/h3>\n
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das Dach – roof. Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

Richtfest<\/em> is a tradition for those who have just finished building their house (or, in some cases, had major renovations done to the roof). When the house is declared finished \u2013 usually when the final roofing element is complete-, Germans like to have a mini-ceremony called Richtfest to thank all the construction workers and to declare their house \u2018open\u2019. You can read more about the Richtfest tradition here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Das Richtfest – topping out ceremony
\nDas Haus \u2013 house
\nDas Dach \u2013 roof
\nDer Bauarbeiter \u2013 construction worker<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Ghost guard dogs<\/h3>\n
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Photo by Kenan Suleymanoglu on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

This one falls into the category of German superstitions. It is believed that, if your dog dies and you bury them underneath your front doorstep, their spirit will guard your house. Spooky, or comforting? You decide.<\/p>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Der Aberglaube \u2013 superstition
\nDer Hund \u2013 dog
\nDie Eingangsstufe \u2013 doorstep
\nDer Geist – spirit<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Chalking the doors<\/h3>\n
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Chalking the doors – see top left! Anupam, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a new year tradition common to Catholic regions of Germany, where houses and shops receive new year\u2019s blessings by having an inscription chalked onto their front doors. You can see what the inscriptions look like in the photo above, and can read more about chalking the doors by clicking through to this post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Das Neujahr \u2013 New Year
\nDie Kreide \u2013 chalk
\nDer Segen \u2013 blessing
\nDie Inschrift \u2013 inscription<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Kaffeeklatsch \/ Kaffee und Kuchen<\/h3>\n
\"german

Photo by Coffee with Joshua on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Germans have a great fondness for inviting people over to each other\u2019s houses for Kaffee und Kuchen<\/em> (coffee and cake), a tradition which you can learn more about in this post.<\/a> Also referred to as Kaffeeklatsch<\/em> (literally \u2018coffee chat\u2019 or \u2018coffee gossip\u2019), this tradition is thought to have originated in the 17th century, when coffee houses first became popular in Germany; women, who were not permitted to go to coffee houses at the time, would instead gather in each other\u2019s homes to enjoy the coffee and chat. Though things are very different today, Kaffee und Kuchen Kultur<\/em> is still a much-loved part of German life, be it in someone\u2019s home or in a cafe. Read more about Kaffeeklatsch here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Der Kaffee \u2013 coffee
\nDie Kultur \u2013 culture
\nDer Klatsch \u2013 gossip
\nplaudern \u2013 to chat<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

German Home Traditions: Barbarazweig<\/h3>\n
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Image by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Barbarazweig<\/em> is a December tradition in honour of Saint Barbara, celebrated in some Christian households. Literally \u2018Barbara branch\u2019 or \u2018Barbara twig\u2019, the Barbarazweig tradition involves placing a cherry leaf branch in a vase in your home on December 4th. If it blooms by Christmas day, you will have good luck in the coming year. A cherry leaf branch in a vase in December may seem odd, but should you ever visit a German home and see one, you now know what it signifies! Read all about the Barbarazweig tradition here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Relevant vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Der Kirschzweig \u2013 cherry leaf branch
\nDie Vase \u2013 vase<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read part one, ‘Features of a German home’, here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"german

Guten Tag! Last time on the blog, we looked at some of the features of a German home. Today, continuing on the theme of \u2018Wir bleiben zuhause\u2019 (\u2018We’re staying at home\u2019), we\u2019ll look at some German home traditions. German Home Traditions: Housewarming A tradition surrounding die Hauseinweihung (housewarming) in Germany is to give bread and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":12655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,913],"tags":[533822,30,10851,8121,376022,376066,457139,503994,358440,7435,273760,358453,337704,1166,503878,358430],"class_list":["post-12654","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-traditions","tag-barbarazweig","tag-bread","tag-cake","tag-coffee","tag-culture","tag-german-culture","tag-german-dogs","tag-german-superstitions","tag-german-traditions","tag-home","tag-housewarming","tag-kaffee","tag-kehrwoche","tag-new-year","tag-richtfest","tag-traditions-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12654"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12667,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12654\/revisions\/12667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}