I've been wondering about how Halloween is celebrated in Germany. Trick or Treat in the U.S. is scary enough; I am generally frightened by small children. I know, I know, I need to get over this and soon, but really, what are you supposed to say to random kids that appear on your doorstep asking for candy? Particularly if these kids are saying "Trick or Treat!" in German. I can barely say "I don't speak German", let alone "Happy Halloween" and "Take just one, please".
A few days ago I asked our German neighbor with near-perfect English about Halloween. According to her, the holiday is typically not observed in Germany, but in this area of the country where there are so many Americans, trick or treating has become popular even among the German kids. (If I heard about a new holiday that involves lots of free candy, I'd get on board pretty quick, too.) Anyway, as our neighbor went on to say, while we have no young children in our neighborhood, the trend over the past couple of years is for the teenagers to go out, most without costumes, and ring doorbells (Bell is a nice word, by the way. It's actually a buzzer that could wake the dead.) until 9 or 10 at night. Great. And when you don't give them the candy they want or enough of it, you are likely to end up with a smashed pumpkin or stolen halloween decorations. And these aren't even American teenagers. I guess the Germans have heard about all of our Halloween traditions. Our neighbor's advice was to close our shutters tight tonight, turn off the lights inside and out, and pretend we're not home. After all, why spend our hard-earned cash on a bunch of ungrateful brats?
I guess it's a small world after all...
A few days ago I asked our German neighbor with near-perfect English about Halloween. According to her, the holiday is typically not observed in Germany, but in this area of the country where there are so many Americans, trick or treating has become popular even among the German kids. (If I heard about a new holiday that involves lots of free candy, I'd get on board pretty quick, too.) Anyway, as our neighbor went on to say, while we have no young children in our neighborhood, the trend over the past couple of years is for the teenagers to go out, most without costumes, and ring doorbells (Bell is a nice word, by the way. It's actually a buzzer that could wake the dead.) until 9 or 10 at night. Great. And when you don't give them the candy they want or enough of it, you are likely to end up with a smashed pumpkin or stolen halloween decorations. And these aren't even American teenagers. I guess the Germans have heard about all of our Halloween traditions. Our neighbor's advice was to close our shutters tight tonight, turn off the lights inside and out, and pretend we're not home. After all, why spend our hard-earned cash on a bunch of ungrateful brats?
I guess it's a small world after all...
2 comments:
I got a couple of teenage "kids" who were going around with pillow cases and no costumes the other night. I was tempted to tell them "No costume, no candy." But I didn't want my flowers stomped on.
A vendor who spent a lot of time in Germany was asking me today if they now celebrate there... I had told him "sure" there were decos and costumes all over"...I will pass this on to him and set the record straight!
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