• Björn Tantau
    link
    fedilink
    81 year ago

    German here.

    The country doesn’t celebrate it, at least not like it’s done in the US. Depending on the state All Hallows Day or the day before is a holiday, but apart from churches not many people really “celebrate” them.

    But some people like to use the day off to have a US-inspired Halloween party. And some children also dress up and go from door to door. But this varies from family to family. Some streets might be swarming with kids while the next street over nobody knows that anything is going on. So many houses aren’t even prepared to give out candies, they often scramble to get something to give out.

    But about two weeks later there is the St Martin’s feast. Although that’s also dependend on the region I think overall it’s more common. It consists of several parts that vary from region to region. But in all regions children carry (usually self made) lanterns. Then they either march through the town while singing songs, ending at a big fire and usually a guy on a horse dressed like a Roman soldier, representing St Martin. Or they go from door to door in small groups, sing songs and get candy. Often it’s both on separate days of the week.