German Culture Site
	Francine McKenna BellaOnline's German Culture Editor

15 German Music Fast Facts
Germany has a spirited music scene ranging from classical to techno and pop, one seventh of the world’s opera houses, almost one million students at state music schools, and one of its most popular singers has a continuing live show hit with a song sung in praise of a grilled sausage.

Beer Gardens in Germany
Biergaerten are a tradition with origins in 19th century Bavaria, a way to use areas covering underground beer storage cellars. Spending time in a chestnut tree shaded beer garden continues to be a favourite warm weather option throughout Germany today, throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn months.

Denglish Germany´s fusion of Deutsche and English
Mother-tongue speakers are usually extremely loyal to their national language, and Germany is no exception, however recently Anglicism´s have been adopted with an amazing lack of restraint bringing about the rise of Denglish´.

Forest Schools, Germany´s Waldkindergarten
Waldkindergarten, nature’s pre-school nursery for children, where fresh air, the natural world and exploration replace classroom walls.

German Wine and Vineyards
The German wine industry is undergoing a change and is returning to its roots of producing high quality vintage wines. Although the traditions and age old customs surrounding the harvest will remain, more emphasis is being placed on the grapes and the wines created, so sweet and tasteless Liebfraumilch is on the way out.

Germany After Fukushima
Japan's tsunami with its effect on the Fukushima reactors brought pressure for a partial nuclear shutdown in Germany, affecting its longterm energy policy just months after the government had prolonged the industry's life. What that will mean for consumers and Germany's economy is anyones guess.

Germany's East Friesland Tea Ceremony
Across Germany coffee is more popular than beer, except for the coastal marshlands and islands of East Friesland in northwest of Germany. There the number one beverage is tea, a Frisian Blend with a special tea ceremony, and anyone who prefers coffee is known as a 'Koffjenoese', a coffee nose.

Germany's Radioactive Wild Boar
Radio active wild boars in Baden Wurttemburg and Bavaria, together with an overall population boom within wild boar families, thanks to the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986 there is another side to some of the residents of Germany's beautiful forests.

Germany's Window Boxes and Balcony Gardens
In Germany the arrival of autumn's golds and reds signals the seasonal makeover for window boxes. Colourful plant and flower filled containers that, summer and winter, decorate everything from high rise apartment blocks to door steps and window ledges in narrow shaded streets.

Germany´s Garden Gnomes
Gartenzwerg, another of Germany´s many ´inventions´, the gnomes who spend the summer months protecting German gardens. Kitsch, folklore, good luck symbols, characters from literature, and for a protector about as far from frightening as it is possible to be.

Germany´s Schornsteinfeger, Lucky Chimney Sweeps
Traditions and superstitions about Chimney Sweeps are common throughout Europe, but in Germany both the practice and the customs are rooted in the past.

Green Germany, and a Non Nuclear Future
German nuclear power plants were to have all been phased out by 2021, but the situation changed and not all Germans were in agreement. However a nuclear reactor accident in Japan, not only restored the status quo, the date for phasing out nuclear power was moved forward.

Halloween and All Saints Day In Germany
Halloween has arrived in Germany. Although not the style of the huge Trick or Treat Festival in the USA nevertheless witches have returned, parties are held and pumpkins, ghosts and skeletons are to be seen around the country's cities and suburbs, alongside traditional All Saints Day customs.

Herbs and Natural Medicine in Germany
For centuries Germany’s folk medicine used herbs and plants to make viable and effective medical treatments, and for the majority of today’s German population, in combination with its conventional equivalent, natural medicine is more relevant today than ever before

Knut, a Sad End for Berlin Zoo's Young Polar Bear
Knut, Berlin Zoo's celebrated and charismatic young polar bear, and Leonardo DiCaprio's one time Vanity Fair cover companion, beat the odds to survive after his birth in December 2006, but died at the age of only four years, very young for an ice bear.

Lunar Gardening in Germany
It could be that the phrase ‘Lunar Gardening’ conjures up images of dancing through dew soaked vegetable patches by the light of the moon, in the expectation that the relevant goddesses or gods might respond with a bountiful harvest, or produce the largest pumpkin for the local show. Or, having run out of daylight hours, digging up the weeds by torchlight. But lunar gardening and biodynamics are sciences, agricultural techniques involving energy from the moon and earth popular in Germany

Multicultural Germany's Soccer World Cup
It wasn’t large and ornate, and neither gold nor silver but in the eyes of their fellow Germans, and many in the outside world, what the German football team took away from the 2010 world cup championship in South Africa was a trophy really worth winning.

Oktoberfest in Munich
A huge, historic, country fair, the world´s largest Volksfest, and with its own museum on site. It started as a horse race to honour a wedding, and over 200 years later remains an annual festival of Bavarian exuberance, draught beer, beer garden food and tradition.

Oktoberfest, in Munich, 15 Fast Facts
Albert Einstein once worked there as an electrician, an intoxicated dachshund was delivered to Lost and Found, it uses enough electricity to give 52 years of power to a home for four, and emigrants from Germany have taken it all over the world, but Oktoberfest began over 200 years ago in Munich.

Ostalgie, and nostalgic East German Recipes
In the days of a communist East Germany meals were planned around what was available to buy that day, the queues were long and legendary, and a banana was seen on television but not in a shop. Appetizing and healthy food was served nevertheless, and here are some favourite, and easy, recipes from the time.

Schultueten and the First School Day
The first day at school is a milestone in the lives of German first graders. Whenever possible parents and grandparents escort the new pupil to school where, after welcoming speeches and songs, photos taken for posterity and with a Schultuete held tightly, it's time for school life to begin.

Summer Solstice and Midsummer Eve in Germany
Many of Germany´s festivities for Sommer-Sonnenwende, summer solstice, and Johannisnacht, midsummer eve, can be traced back to pagan and pre-Christian days. The triumph of sun and light over cold and darkness is still celebrated by huge bonfires throughout the country.

Wedding Traditions in Germany
Although Germany's different regions continue to follow their own traditional wedding customs, May is the most popular month to get married throughout the country. Age old traditions begin weeks before the ceremony and celebrations can last for days.