Maifeiertag

It was an enlightening weekend-- a couple of the chronically puzzling things about Germany were satisfactorily explained. Beate took me out to the village where she grew up, and we spent the day with her family, walking around town and speaking LOTS and LOTS of German.

Puzzle #1:
All over Germany you can see on peoples' doorjambs a confusing array of numbers and symbols written in chalk. I have to admit that I thought it was some kind of cult, but it turns out to be a charming/creepy facet of Christmas here. Between Christmas and the Epiphany, children dress up as the Three Kings (Beate tells me she used to wear blackface and a turban-- what is up with all the blackface?) and collect money for charity. When a house has given money, they chalk up the weird numbers and symbols on the doorjamb, so that the other kids know that this house has already given money.

Puzzle #2:
The other confusing thing is the leafy branches of trees tied with ribbons that appear all over the place around May 1st. I had thought May 1st was just like Labor Day in the US, but it seems to have a tie-in to Valentine's Day, too. Boys decorate the tree branches and stick them on the house (on the flag-holder, crammed into the window, taped onto the drain-pipe) of girls they like. HOWEVER, no one here dances around the Maypole ("Oh, Sarah, they only do that in Southern Germany."), much to my disappointment.
Here's one from Cologne-- maybe Jeremy tied it to that telephone pole just for me?

I guess not.


A street in Beate's hometown, Kempen, with very organized and color-coordinated May branches.

Other scenes from Kempen:



The Catherdral that they recently and controversally painted with an approximation of the orginal ox-blood stain. Eeew.


Maikäfer! Good-luck springtime candy--


And, of course, the statue of Thomas von Kempen, aka Thomas à Kempis, medieval Christian monk and author of The Imitation of Christ.