Hochzeit

“Here comes the bride…
Das tut mir lied.”
(translation: Here comes the bride. Man, am I’m sorry.)

Just found out some interesting trivia about German weddings today in my class that I thought you might enjoy. Forewarning: I did learn all of this auf Deutsch, so there’s no telling as to what’s been lost (or added) in translation. My teacher Isa is always telling us little bits of German and Bavarian culture amidst our lessons and asking us to share about our homelands. I cannot tell you how interesting this is, seeing as how we have 15 countries represented in my class. Anyway, today the subject of weddings came up and Isa shared with us common Hochzeit (‘high time’ aka—wedding) traditions. From what I understood, that the greater majority of Germans no longer have formal, traditional church ceremonies. Most just head to a Rathaus (town hall—not house of rodents) in front of a justice of the peace and say “Tschus!” (See ya!) to the whole rigmarole. But one of the things that has lasted is the traditional ‘kidnapping of the bride.’ Apparently, after the wedding and before the reception the bride is kidnapped lovingly by the groomsmen and hidden in a bar somewhere in the city. The groom has to then traipse all around looking for his bride, buying everyone drinks along his journey. She said that it can get quite expensive if you have a stupid groom! (aka—ein Dummymann.)

Wait tell I tell you about Christmas. Just a taste: the traditional Christmas Eve dinner is…wait for it, wait for it…brats and kraut. Couldn’t possibly be more perfect if I made it up myself!