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Archive for the 'Lent' Category
Contents
Posts
Easter Customs in Germany
Thursday, March 13th, 2008Christine von Kannen-Balgar sent me this fascinating letter, answering some questions I had about Easter customs in Germany:
Dear Lisa,
To answer to your e-mail:
1) I’ve never heard of a German custom of eating green eggs on Maundy (Green Thursday) [scroll down to the discussion of Green Dyes to see what Christine is referring to - Lisa].
2) In Germany the Catholics used to eat green vegetables on Green Thursday (and maybe also the Lutherans/Protestants).
Well, nowadays almost everything has changed! I shall try to explain to you about Maundy, Lent and Easter (and the Easter Bunny) in Germany.
What you are talking of was a matter of religion. In North Rhine Westphalia, where I come from, and in most parts of south Germany most people were Catholics, so is/was my family. When I was a child or young girl (and I am 63 now) we used to “lent”, which means that the children did not eat sweets. We collected all sweets we got in a big glass, and on Easter Sunday, when Lent was over, we put it into our “Easter baskets” with the other sweets and EGGS. The “Easter Bunny” brings little children eggs and all Easter sweets! I think nobody really knows where this custom came from. Though it is known that the Easter Bunny first became popular in Germany in the 16th century.
People in Germany also make Easter trees. They hollow out eggs, dye them and hang them on shrubs or trees.
Lent started on Ash Wednesday, the day after Carnival and ended on Easter Sunday (do you know that in Germany we have an “Easter Monday”, which is a holiday – no work?!).
On Green Thursday we used to eat spinach or green cabbage (it is a green kind/sort of cabbage) or brussels sprouts. Or any other green vegetable you can think of (winter vegetables – as you’ve written in your e-mail). But not eggs!
I don’t know what had been the custom in the 18th or 19th century, but since the beginning of the 20th century (my grandparents were born between 1874 – 1887) we have known this custom of green vegetables on Maundy. I never heart about eating green eggs on Maundy.
We eat eggs on Easter.
On Good Friday or Good Saturday we boil the eggs (they must be hard boiled, so that you can keep them for a few days). Then we colour them red, blue, yellow, green etc. or speckled with special “Easter Eggs Colouring”.
On Good Friday we used to eat fish or anything else, but never meat – a “law” of the Catholic Church.
So the Catholics were not allowed at all to eat meat on Fridays (according to Church Law, which is not a law given by Jesus but by the Institution of the Catholic Church!). But you might know that. As I said, custom and things change. Nowadays, almost nobody cares for that. We all eat meat on a Friday, and maybe this Church Law was given up!? I don’t know. But we still eat coloured eggs on Easter and give eggs, together with sweets, in a little basket, to children, sometimes also to adults.
Best wishes from Old Germany
ChristineThanks for sharing information about your customs in Germany with us Christine! Many of our customs in the US are the same. I believe a lot of them came here through the Pennsylvania Dutch (German immigrants to America).
Recently, I’ve even started to see Easter trees here too. I believe that’s a new custom.
If anyone knows more about the custom of eating green Easter eggs in Germany on Green Thursday, or if you’d like to share your customs with us, feel free to comment below or email me.
Happy Easter!
Mama Lisa
Lent Season and Pancakes
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Guest Blogger, Ed Gawlinski, has been involved in many cultural organizations throughout his life.
The season of Lent has started. Lent is a season during which Christians prepare for Easter. The English custom is to start Lent by having pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). A children’s rhyme goes with this…
Pancakes and fritters,
Say the bells of Saint Peter’s.Or
Hark I hear the pancake bell
And fritters make a gallant smell.One of the Lenten disciplines is to avoid foods made with fat, which is the reason for the English custom of using up your fat by making pancakes the day before Lent starts. The Polish custom is to make Pączki, a type of donut.
At these links below you can find some recipes for Pączki:
Recipe for Paczki
Another Recipe for Paczki
One more Recipe for Pączki
Carnival and Mardi Gras: Feasting before Fasting
Thursday, February 16th, 2006Carnival and Mardi Gras are big parties that are held before the fasting season of Lent begins for Christians. The celebrations are often the day before, but in some places the Carnival season can last the whole week before Lent.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is when people go to mass and priests make a cross in ashes on their foreheads, while saying a verse from the Biblical book of Genesis: Remember man, for dust thou art, and to dust thou shall return.
Christians fast for Lent for 40 days, not counting Sundays. The forty days represents the forty days Moses, Elijah and Jesus are all said to have fasted.
Originally, for the fast of Lent, people were only supposed to have one meal a day. They were supposed to refrain from eating meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese and fish.
That’s why one tradition is for people to eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent: to use up their milk and eggs. In England this day is also called Pancake Day.
The word Carnival comes from the word carne levare (which is believed to be of Latin origin), meaning to take away meat, representing the meat it’s not allowable to eat in the upcoming weeks. Although, perhaps Mardi Gras, meaning “Fat Tuesday” in French, makes more sense for this day since it’s a day of eating and partying.
However you celebrate this time, enjoy!
Lisa
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