#German Traditions

[thatswhywelovegermany]

In the town of Lügde, North Rhine-Westphalia, there is the tradition of the Easter Wheel. Giant spoked wooden wheels are stuffed with large amounts of straw. After dusk, the straw is set on fire, and the wheels are set in motion to run downhill. Long rods mounted through the naves of the wheels stabilize them and let them run further. On their way downhill, the wheels leave a trace of sparks and smaller fires from burning straw that has come loose. The tradition is listed at the UNESCO as an immaterial cultural heritage. Although it is a pagan tradition, it is now supported by both the catholic and the protestant church.

[cyberr-v0id]

Shout out to my mum telling us this morning that last night was saint nicks night, and we should have put out our shoes for chocolate. Could have done with that info. Like. Last night

[darkness-bound-adventures]

This is a bit cute/funny, but I still like it.  

[captainhowlreadyforboarding]

Whenever I tell my friends that in my hometown we have festival that lasts like four days where there’s like a carousel and sweets and all the normal stuff but also the tradition of a group of men in suits carrying a life sized female doll around that gets named new each year after someone in the town we’re taking the piss out of and also each year the doll dies a gruesome death (always a new story, a new culprit) on the last day of the festival and her body (straw under a cloth on a stretcher) being burned in the village square while he group in suits fake cries and yells and sings a nonsensical song (same one each year) marks the end of the whole festival, everybody looks at me like I’m crazy. Is that just my town? D’yall not have that?

[broeckchen]

So while we use the names interchangeably when we speak English, Germans actually traditionally distinguish between Santa Clause/Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas.

Father Christmas comes on Christmas Eve, visiting each house with children and asking them for poems and Christmas carols in exchange for the presents.

["When we all believe" by Rose O'Neill]

However, in the night from the 5th to the 6th of December, that's when Santa Clause comes visiting!

Instead of leaving presents under the tree (which may not even have been put up yet at this point), he puts some small gifts into the clean shoes of children. Many children actually clean their shoes with their parents on the 5th of December so gifts will be left in them.

It's an incredibly cute tradition when families grow up. My Mom and I often spend this time together, so we end up playing a really silly game of trying to sneak around each other to leave little gifts in each other's shoes at night!

Sometimes, I forget because we're busy, and wake up to find my shoes like this.

Mama has never forgotten about it even once. ♡

[fulmocat]

It's Saint Martin's Day again! One of my favourite German traditions, and a personal reminder to keep that little light shining despite everything, dirty mariniere, guilty feelings, the news...

[jadeannbyrne]

Embracing the Fall: Jade Ann Byrne’s Autumnal Transformation Through Art & Ancestral Tradition

Ah, autumn—the time when the world spins in a tapestry of gold, amber, and crimson, when the air is laced with a chill that whispers of the long winter’s sleep to come. For Jade Ann Byrne, the turning of the seasons was not just a natural cycle but a sacred rite, a passage that spoke to her Druidic and Gypsy Pagan soul, echoing through her bones like a long-forgotten song. And as she wandered…

[mischievousdog]

Wolpertinger

[ichipichi-art]

German / Alman Miku

[darkrooklobby]

👁️🦉👁️

[constanzarte]

Gustave Moreau, The Chimera

[hymnsofheresy]

what are your thoughts on your religion stealing every single one of its holidays from pagans? xo

That in order to relieve themselves of guilt and discomfort, white people create and believe narratives that deprive their European ancestors of any autonomy whatsoever. Casting their ancestors as victims of the church rather than active participants.

[namedvesta]

— unknown, Conversation between Athena and Aphrodite.

— Max Nonnenbruch, Junge Schönheit (𝟣𝟪𝟫𝟤)

[celticjade13]

New owl keychain from the Christkindl market since my owl keychain from Oktoberfest broke. Why do German festivals & markets always have owls? There was a “Bavarian traditions” booth at the Christkindl market that had wooden owl ornaments from Germany. Google just suggests links to articles about the breeds of owls found in Germany. Can’t figure out if there are any traditions to go along. Has @copperbadge influenced the festivals in Chicago to always have owls and I just happen to keep going to German ones?

[underworldhadess]

Isle of the Dead, 1883 - oil on panel

— Arnold Böcklin (Germany, 1827–1901)

[fulmocat]

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