Coloured eggs and rabbits do play a large part in an Ostern in Deutschland, Easter in Germany, but there are many additional religious, secular and folk traditions and customs around the days of festivities and, as they were originally intended to enable workers to attend church services, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays.
Palm Sunday, Palmsonntag, the Sunday before Easter, is often a scene of church parades in towns and villages, symbolising the journey made by Jesus riding a donkey along palm branch covered roads to Jerusalem, and it is a poignant sight.
In a procession led by priests and choirs, young and old, the fit pushing the infirm in wheel chairs, families, children in baby carriages and pushchairs, and babes in arms, sing and carry mostly pussy willow or hazel branches in place of palms to be blessed during the morning church service. This was believed to give them protective qualities and these are used later to begin the Easter decorations in the home.
The following Thursday is Maundy Thursday, Gruendonnerstag Green Thursday, celebrated since the 13th century and originally with no connection to green but stemming from an old German word, greinen to groan, mourn or weep, as it commemorated the Last Supper and the betrayal by Judas. However over time this association was lost and replaced by green as the colour of hope and symbol for the awaking of nature after the winter.
Homes are cleaned and decorated with green branches or ornaments, while green food, such as green vegetables, spinach, beans, leeks, chives and other herbs make up the meals of the day, popular ones being Gruene Bohnensuppe, green bean soup, and Sieben Kraeuter Suppe, seven herb soup, because of a custom based on an old superstition that greens eaten on Gruendonnerstag give protection for the rest of the year.
Good Friday, Karfreitag comes from kara care, caring Friday, a day of remembrance for the crucifixion. Church services and processions take place and a Kreuzwegandacht, a walk in prayer along the stations of the Cross, is often held at 3 p.m. when it is said Jesus hung on the cross and died.
No church bells are rung and children are told they have flown to Rome to be blessed, while in France and Belgium this story goes further so young children believe it is the church bells, Easter bells, that drop their Easter goodies wherever while they are flying back from Rome.
Usually fish is eaten on Good Friday, anything from herring salad or fish soup to an extravagant fish terrine, and in many areas the bakers mark the crust of the day's bread with a cross. Although its four sections could also have represented the quarters of the moon honouring the pre-Christian 'Eostre', the goddess of spring, which later become 'Easter' and a religious festival controlled by the lunar calendar.
Easter Bonfires, a custom which takes place on Saturday or in some regions on Easter Sunday or Monday, is based on a Christian belief that fire is a sign of the resurrection of Christ. However, dating back to at least the 16th century and again most likely to pre-Christian days, the families, friends and neighbours that gather around bonfires made mainly from old Christmas trees, are not all Christians but are there to have 'fun', the tradition and the light and warmth of a fire symbolising the end of winter and arrival of spring.
Huge flaming wood and straw wheels are an alternative way of marking the end of winter in parts of North Rhine Westphalian, embodying how they were used to represent the sun 2,000 years ago, and it makes a spectacular sight as they roll down hills each Easter leaving behind hundreds of metres of burning tracks.
Ostersonntag, Easter Sunday, is a day of celebration for the triumph of life over death, and the Easter rabbit or hare brings coloured and chocolate eggs, hiding them or leaving them in nests already prepared by children.
This odd combination of rabbit, eggs and a Christian festival began in the Middle Ages when rents due from tenant farmers had to be paid on the Thursday before Easter and, as they had not been eaten during Lent, the landlords were paid in eggs that had been cooked to preserve them, as well as with hares caught on their property.
Nevertheless it was not until the mid 20th century that the rabbit as egg bringer finally won out over the foxes, storks and cranes that up until then had shared the tradition.
And with all those cooked eggs around Frankfurter Gruene Sosse mit Eiern, Eggs with Frankfurter Green Sauce, using herbs left from Green Thursday, is often added to the Easter Sunday end of Lent meal.
Ostermontag Easter Monday is the final day of the Easter celebrations and a holiday. A family day when often the entire extended family meets for lunch, which used to be lamb but this tradition is no longer as strong as it was, followed by egg rolling competitions or visits to the countryside and sports events or festivals.
Many towns hold special festivals and processions and one of these is Traunstein in Bavaria where Joseph Ratzinger the present Pope lived when young, and it features sword dances and The St. George Parade. A horse mounted pilgrimage in traditional dress, the riders in armour and medieval costumes, together with maidens and accompanied by brass bands, where the climax of the parade is a blessing upon the around 400 horses of various shapes, sizes, ages and types, including St. George's pure white steed.
The last day of Easter celebrations, but not the end of Eastertide which is Whitsun, Pfingsten, and in Germany many of the trees, branches and fountains decorated with coloured eggs, together with greenery remaining from Palm Sunday, stay in place for fifty days until the end of the celebrations for Pfingsten and Pfingstenmontag.
Frohe Ostern!
And you can follow me on Facebook
