Happy New Year

Germans go around this time of year wishing each other 'Einen Guten Rutsch', which means 'A good slide'; most folks around here think it is a nice folksy way to wish each other a nice slide into the new year. But I've read it comes from Yiddish - from the Rosh in Roshhashana, or the Jewish new year.

To prep for new years Germans spend inordinate amounts of money on fireworks. They may only be purchsed 3 days before New Year's, and then only shot off immediately after midnight. This means the skies over the town are full of backyard displays for at least an hour tonight. Also means that tomorrow everyone has to go into the yard and find the debris. The smell of sulfur can linger until morning, if the evening is still.

Another German New Year's tradition is a skit called 'Dinner for One'. Oddly, this show, from 1963, was recorded in Germany, but in its original English. All evening, you can see it, or one of the many recreations in high German, Swiss German, or any dialect.

Tonight newly 5 year old Anke and her older brother will join us in the street to look at the crazy neighbors' fireworks display. Anke still believes the fireworks are especially for her birthday. Peter lets her believe this.

Anke Engleke

Anke Engleke is my favorite figure on German television at the moment. When our little Anke was born, everyone in Germany said 'Oh yeah - Danke, Anke' - a catch phrase made popular by her which had gone through a 'yeah, that's the ticket' kind of phase. Therefore I wasn't really disposed to like her, even if she does do the German voice of Marge Simpson.

Since last week, though, I'm a fan. Like in the U.S., German TV is rife with reality shows - Super Nanny, Wife Swap, etc, all have German equivalents. A few I've only seen on German TV - Raus von den Schulden (Out of Debt) and Wohnen nach Wunsch (Living as Wished). But like in all these shows, some expert descends on some helpless family and reforms them.

Well, Ms. Engelke's show last week did a send up on these - all the experts paid visits, one after the other, to Josef and Maria von Nazareth - in their stable. First came the debt advisor, who didn't see them getting clear (and who wondered why the baby Jesus didn't look like his dad), then the Super Nanny, who told Josef he had anger control issues (and who wondered why the baby didn't look like his dad), then the kitschy redecorator, who renovated their stable and turned their donkey into a throw rug (and who wondered why the baby didn't look like his dad). At the end, Josef, crazed, slams the door on the next visitors - the 3 wise men bearing gifts.

You couldn't do that on network TV in the US.

Weird German

Typical Friday night - 'studying' German while watching mediocre American made-for-TV movies translated into German (although this one, oddly, was made in Germany in English). I always notice odd things in German when I'm half-learning like this - a few of my current ponderables:

German has a lot of similarities to English - prepositions, for example, that can only be used in certain ways - ponder the difference between 'throw out', 'throw in' and 'throw up'. The prepositions in German are similar enough to English to cause a lot of confusion - for example, in Germany, your house is 'in a street', but you walk 'on the street' - exactly switched from English.

Sometimes I try to learn word roots and build from there. This doesn't always work:

• 'Verwalt' means administration, 'Gewalt' means violence, 'Anwalt' is a lawyer. What's a 'Walt', I must ask, and just how do those three words relate?
• 'Gift' in German means 'poison'.
• 'Mist', instead of being a nice light fog, means 'manure'.

Oh well, back to work.

It's christmasing a lot...

Someone commented to me on the last trip home, "German Christmas is a smaller celebration than in the U.S., isn't it?). Actually, I like to point out that at least one poet verbed the word "Christmas" (Es weihnachtet sehr; hence the title of this piece), which I feel shows how seriously this time of year is taken in Germany!

Maybe the celebration on Dec. 25 is a bit more relaxed than in the U.S. (at least comparing my family to the husband's). But Germans start the party in late November, really, with the opening of the Christmas Markets in the downtowns of almost every city. Some are quite famous - Nüremburg, for example, and I met a couple on the plane recently who were coming to German just to make a Christmas-market visiting cruise on the Rhine! At the Christmas markets, items ranging from traditional wooden toys to nativity sets to handcrafts are for sale, as well as numerous stands selling all kinds of food.

Then, of course, there is the Glühwein (mulled wine - click for recipe). This is ubiquitous in the markets, with stands selling the warm drink in ceramic mugs (deposit required) and drunk at the beer-garden type tables surrounding the stand. Really, there's nothing like this - the warm alcohol and spices hitting your tummy while you stand in the cold evening air...

Follow it with some candied roasted almonds or roasted chestnuts (heretofore just known to me through Christmas songs) and you're set for the evening.

Now, nestled in among all the Christmas-market visits, is the Feast of St. Nicholas. The original saint's feast day, with its tradition of gift giving, was apparently mixed up with Christmas some time ago, and thus in the U.S. we have Santa Claus. But tonight St. Nick will be visiting us and filling the stockings with a few goodies and small toys.

Finally comes Christmas. Not content at this point with a single day, Germans instead start the celebrating seriously on Christmas eve; this is when most folks attend church (although the tradition of midnight mass was lost through curfews during the occupation after the war; "Midnight" is now at about 10pm). Also, at least around here, presents are opened Christmas Eve (the Christmas Man or Christ Child, depending on your religion (Cath/Prot), apparently arrives while you're at church).

The next day, the First Day of Christmas, is spent doing all same type of Christmas activities Americans would recognize - visiting, playing, feasting, singing "Oh Tannenbaum"... The feasting is mostly confined to sweets, though; meals tend to be relaxed affairs on this day. Then comes the Second Day of Christmas - a repeat of the first day! And the bonus is, since it's weighted pretty much as importantly as the first day, that you can spread your visits out over the two days, and no one feels miffed you weren't there on "the" day.

Then you have a few days to recuperate before New Years. You need it.

The Triple Crown

Forgot to post - P. successfully achieved his Yellow-White belt at Judo the other day. For those not in the know, these days they have added intermediate belts for the junior judo circuit, so the wee ones needn't wait years between levels. Unfortunately, P. didn't place in the intra-club tournament that had, but he was awarded an honorary 3rd place medal as solace.