Easter in Germany

We had a great time in class learning a little about Easter week and and German customs. We even got to go outside and throw boiled eggs in a kind of relay. This is one of many North German traditions I remember from my exchange year in Germany. For this week's post, I wanted to share some more about the Easter celebration in Germany. It's important to remember that Northern Germany is Protestant while Southern Germany is Catholic. This influences the celebrations in the different regions of Germany. There are also heavy pagan influences to the festivities that date back to long before Germany was Christianized and can still be seen in some of the celebrations. Enjoy this little tour of different traditions from different parts of Germany!

In Lügde, the Osterräderlauf is still celebrated. What can be more festive than stuffing a tractor tire full of straw, lighting it on fire and then rolling it down the hillside? This dates back to the heathen-Germanic sun worship, where the flaming wheel was representative of the sun. "Ostara," the German goddess of spring, was also connected to the original celebration. Now it is just a lot of fun to watch a flaming wheel roll down the side of a hill.

More common is the Easter bonfire where everyone drags out their old Christmas trees (and anything else flammable they happen to have lying around) to burn at a large celebration in the evening.

In class, we talked about the Easter week, starting with Palm Sunday. There were a couple of questions I looked up the answers to:

1) Why is it called "Gründonnerstag"? The students saw the word green and wondered what that had to do with Maundy Thursday. I wondered, too, and found out that though it looks like the German word for green, that isn't actually it's origin. It comes from Old High German 'gronan' which is more closely related to the English word for groaning than it is to the German word for green! (It means "to cry.")

2) Why is Good Friday called "Karfreitag"? It's also known as "der stille Freitag" or "silent Friday" because the church bells fall silent on Thursday and erupt again for Easter services Sunday morning. But why "Kar?" It comes from the Old High German "kara" which means "lamentation." 

This video goes over several traditions, some of which are very regional (probably as regional as the egg games we played in class). 

And the video makes reference to hanging plastic eggs from trees. Highly decorated eggs which are given as gifts, hung as ornaments or displayed through the season are also very appreciated in Germany. This particular tree is not typical of an Easter Tree, but is gorgeous. Many families will have a branch in their house with several beautifully decorated eggs hanging from it as a centerpiece.

And Sunday morning, many families will wake up to hunt Easter Eggs, attend services and eat chocolate bunnies, much like many families here in the United States. Lamb shaped cakes are also popular as well as lamb shaped butter served with sweet breads. Many families will serve lamb for dinner.

I hope you enjoyed this look at Easter in Germany and have a great week!