Winter is coming to Germany and while you may have been told putting winter tires on your car is law, you might have been left in the dark when it comes to the specifics, or where given hieroglyphic remarks like “from O till O” or “have to have the snowflake symbol, but not really the S+M symbol does the job as well”?!?!
This Saturday Clocks in Germany are falling back one hour, going from 3 am to 2 am, gifting us one extra hour of sleep.
Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in human history, the roots of which are buried deep in the traditional Gaelic Festival of Samhain. Originally Halloween was more of a Fall Harvest celebration, as the year of the Celts ended on October 31st . The summer was over, and the harvest was brought in, and this alone was a reason to celebrate.
Germans love doing arts and crafts, especially during times of transition, like in the spring or fall. Families will often flock to the forests and fields on nice, sunny fall days, in order to gather supplies and ideas for their projects. Then on the gloomier, rainy days, they‘ll spend time at home with the kids doing crafts and realizing their envisioned projects. You might be surprised that there is such a huge interest in arts and crafts here in Germany, as there aren‘t any big arts and crafts supply superstores like the kind you see back in the States. However, they aren‘t really needed, as most of the big department stores here have a crafting section that will sell you all the basics. There are also online craft stores that can get you anything else that you might need...not to mention the fact that Germany is full of natural crafting resources. So why not put on some warm fall clothes, and some sturdy rubber boots, and give the German way of crafting a try? There are so many treasures that can be found in your local area alone. Go out and explore the woods, the fields, and the parks and see what you can find—plus its a great family activity your kids are sure to love! Be on the lookout for shiny chestnuts, acorns, beechnuts, interesting twigs and branches, moss, rose-hips, pine-cones and pretty colorful leaves and get to crafting!
As you may have noticed, there are little stands and booths popping up all over the place, especially at grocery stores or at your local farmers markets. They are advertising “neuer Wein”, “Federweisser” or “neuer Suesser” and it all really means the same thing, depending on which area of Germany you are in.