10 things I hate about Holidays Holiday Traditions in Germany No School for the Holidays!

7 Things I Hate About the Holidays
by K’guk Bruth

‘Tis not the season to be jolly. ’Tis not the season to spread love, peace and all sorts of feelings of appreciation for people who don’t matter. What is it about the holidays that bring this “heart-warming” feeling into the souls of mankind? People are more lenient towards each other, I even saw one of my own kind wish someone a “Happy Yule”. It made me sick, and just to show him HOW disgusted I was I decided to kill him and torture him, just some tender loving care by yours truly. To highlight my disgust with this particular season I would like to go into detail of each my pet hates of the holidays. I’m sure a lot of you will feel the same way as I do.

1. Buying presents – It’s almost as though it’s written down in stone that you have to buy some kind of tidbit for every Jack and Sally comes around. What happened to good old stealing something great and giving it to only people you liked, or if you wanted to send poison, to someone you hate. It’s a commercial money-making scheme that should be abolished.

2. Decorations – Whoever decorates their houses, hobbit holes, or caves in small decorations or lights should be murdered. What is the point in wasting a few precious gold coins to make your home look pretty when after the actual day they will all have to come down

3. Peace, love and happy things

4. It’s only one day – I’ve never understood the concept of millions and millions of people planning for Yule when it’s only one day. Imagine if we were doing this constantly throughout the year. I killed my first person today. Let’s plan a big bash for a month. I backstabbed my first friend. Let’s plan a big party for another month. We’d never get any work done. It’s ridiculous.

5. Carols – Every time I walk out of the house, there are a bunch of soppy-looking singers bellowing about the festive season. I want to take a knife, stab them all and watch their carcasses rot while singing to them about the dangers of carol singing. Don’t sing carols. No one wants to hear you sing. No one really wants to give you cookies, or donations. We just want you to go away.

6. Parties – The constant stream of parties is a sure way to get a headache and fast. No one can go to so many parties without being affected seriously in some way mentally.

7. Cleaning Up – And now we get to the final party, the last dinner, the clean up. No one enjoys this. No one can possibly say that this sort of thing gives them a rush. So what’s the point?

All seven points are viable reasons. So, now, stop the merry-making, stop the carols, and do what we were put here to do: fight, fight, and more fighting.

10 things I hate about Holidays Holiday Traditions in Germany No School for the Holidays!

Holiday Traditions in Germany
by Nienna

To tell you the truth my dear reader, I could enumerate zillions of different holiday traditions and probably never get all of them, or some even wrongly, so I will try to be brief and pick out only a few major events or some totally unnecessary info about a tradition, or a custom from elsewhere on this wonderful earth.

October: This month is for all kinds of Fall traditions as well as a 2-week school-holiday in Germany (yay!). Throughout September and October there are regional "thanksgiving" celebrations, which are more a rural and religious celebration and are mostly part of a church service. Halloween is getting more and more popular here on the European continent, although it’s not so much a trick and treat business for the kiddies than a special way to celebrate parties. Date is the 31st of October in the evening.

Most of our traditions are connected with eating and drinking, but I will spare you from me mentioning all those wonderful dishes. I am no Hobbit and I am constantly chastening myself with food reduction, duh! What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
(Erma Bombeck)

November: November’s sky is chill and drear
November’s leaf is red and sear… (Sir W.Scott)
The 1st of November is All Saints Day followed by All Souls Day on the 2nd. All Hallows(All Saints) has its origin in Samhain, a Celtic celebration when first the druids, then later all the people, were performing rites and other activities to scare the evil away from their homes and land. (yep, still Halloween!) All Souls Day is to remember all who have died. People are visit the cemeteries, bringing flowers and candles to decorate the graves.
November 11th is Martinsmas/St. Martin’s Day, a Christian celebration day for the generous St. Martin (ok, it’s a food thing again- no turkeys but geese this time, poor creatures. It’s a tradition not only in Germany, but also in England.)

December: This is THE month for celebrations here in Germany beginning with the 1st Advent-Sunday the first of the 4 Sundays before Christmas. We are then lighting the first of the 4 candles on the advents wreath, followed by eating countless different cookies, gingerbreads, baked apples (food again, yay!) Most of the windows are decorated and illuminated with fairy lights, window pictures, and all kinds of Christmas utensils. The house is decorated up to the roof. Only thing missing is the Christmas tree, which will be put up on Christmas Eve, including all the pressies.

There are church services every Advents-Saturday and Sundays for the religious among us and on Christmas Eve, which is called Heiligabend (holy evening) in Germany, you would go to attend the Christmette, the church service held in the late of the evening or late at night to celebrate the Birth of Jesus.

The next 2 days then, 25th and 26th of December, are called the 1st and 2nd Weihnachtstag (1st + 2nd Christmas day) which are off-work days, so more time to eat, sit, and eat again for us. Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. (Hamilton Wright Mabie)

Running the risk to bore you some more, I would nevertheless like to mention that it can get a bit confusing at a closer look on things. Actually Santa Claus, which is coming to town on the 24th (at least in most countries), cannot be the same person as St. Nikolaus (though looking like him), who is coming down the chimney on the 6th of December... or through the door, who knows? Or he’s back on the 24th? On the 24th, the Christkind (the Christ-child) is bringing all the presents, so the old tradition tells us. Whoever might be pressing his big bum through the chimney on the 24th, dressed up all in red and white, wearing a long white beard, is probably nothing but an impostor or a very delayed remnant from the 6th (or there is something really fishy going on). But I’m the last to argue about that, because, whoever is bringing what and when: more pressies are good pressies, so, bring them all.

Putting all that aside, we are very open to new traditions, and nowadays it’s mostly dear Santa bringing all the goodies on the 24th. But he would knock on the door, like normal people. The kids would get too scared imagining him squeezing himself through the pipes of the central heating. The stockings, boots and plates are filled with sweets, chocolate and nuts that day, on the 6th, that is, and again on the 24th (and in between - yay! more food!)

The 6th is the most important day in December for the Dutch, our neighbours. It’s the day of Sinter Klaas, who is looking more like a cardinal (at least the original is), he is riding on a horse or is sitting in a carriage, always accompanied by Swarte Piet, which means Black Peter, an evil creature obviously born in the mud pits of Mordor. Sinter Class is bringing goodies to all the good children, whereas Swarte Piet is only coming for Rings, Winddy, Inzil, Mo, Min, Balbo, Túrin, et cetera et cetera, you get the idea. So there! What a great feast!

Here in Germany you are getting nice stuff for being good, and a switch for having been bad. How silly is that, huh? Yet another reason for some to be bad the next year!

Anyhoo, everybody, young and old are enjoying Christmas around here. Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. (Norman Vincent Peale)

If I forgot something, bear with me, I am old.

Next important date would be New Years Eve. Of course it has something to do with eating again. Some might have a great party that day, some just sit and talk, play games and doing some nice lead-pouring just before 00:00 h to see, what the next year might have up its sleeve for them. You’re pouring a small amount of hot, liquid lead into a bowl with water and from the clump, you are then predicting the future. Haven’t done that in ages, but might try that again this year. Or better not.

At 00:00, it’s the same like all over the world. You are welcoming the New Year with champagne and a lovely little firework. I would like to end this article with be a poem about the 5 Rings...er..sort of:

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
(Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1850)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2006 to you all!
Here’s to another wonderful year on the plaza!

10 things I hate about Holidays Holiday Traditions in Germany No School for the Holidays!

No School for the Holidays!
by Idesinholde

You know that wonderful feeling you get every Saturday not to mention Sunday? Well one of my favourite things about the holidays, is that now you get to feel that way on Monday , Tuesday, Wednesday etc (you get the picture now right?) No getting up at dawn, when it’s cold, and all you want to do is crawl deep under your warm blanket and sleep some more. Especially if you stayed up posting on the Plaza and chatting on MSN till pm became am. Not that you would of course…or ever have. Usually you would be stuck in a room with horrible ventilation if any while the teacher talks about things you honestly could not care less about. Maybe you tend to look out the window, and dream about being somewhere else?

Now you can actually be in that warm bed, till the sun starts shinning, and the birds singing, continuing your dream about Viggo. (Or whomever YOU prefer) Doesn’t it all sound nice? No slaving over homework, that is if you do homework, for there are none! Just the freedom of having an open day, filled with wonderful possibilities! The activity of your choice. (Unless you have bossy parents) No wonder we all love the holidays so much! They give us the possibility to celebrate, take time off from the things we don’t exactly like about our everyday lives. They give us the little break we need to refill, and take the time for the things that pass us by, because we simply do not have the time. So I say to you, I say: Carpe Diem!