Germany
Introduction
Do you know when Germany wasn’t the beautiful country it is now? Well Germany was not a country in 1870. German people eat a wide variety of very weird and interesting food like boar for instance. Germans also celebrate very many holidays that we don’t recognize here in America. Germans also wear 4 different types of traditional clothing called the dirndl, lederhosen, tracht and the gamsbart. Everyone in America uses the American dollar but in Germany they have money called euros and there are euro bills and coins. So Germany is a beautiful foreign country, with weird foods, many holidays, and four different types of traditional clothing.
The Discovery of Germany and its land
Germany was founded in the year of 1871. Before Germany was founded, all of Europe’s German speaking territories were several hundred kingdoms, duchies, bishroprics, fiefdoms, principalities, and independent towns and cities. By the way duchies are territories ruled by a duke or duchess and fiefdoms are organizations or real estate owned or controlled by one dominant person group and bishroprics are offices of bishops. Celts were the first inhabitants of Germany and in the 2nd century B.C. there were German tribes. Germany is located in central Europe and it borders the North and Baltic Sea, which is South of Denmark between Poland and the Netherlands. Germany is also the 6th largest country in Europe and is 356,959 square kilometers. July is their warmest month and 37% of their land is arable, 30% are woodlands, 17% are pastures and meadows and 16% are for other uses.
Traditional German Clothing
Germans wear four different types of traditional clothes which are the dirndl, lederhosen, tracht and gamsbart. The dirndl is a traditional dress or a simplified version of a folk costume. At first the dirndl was worn by Austrian servants in the 19th century. The dirndl includes the bodice, which is worn with a blouse and a full skirt and apron. There are heavier designs for the dirndl for winter, made out of cotton or wool. Also a knot on a dirndl means that a woman is married. Lederhosen are leather trousers or knee breeches, wor n by German men in the Alpine areas. Lederhosen are worn for boys until they are sixteen years old. Lederhosen have long flaps and suspenders. They are usually worn in the mountains and are preferred by riders or hunters. Trachts are linen and loden materials worn in the creation of the landhausmode. Landhausmode are influences from costumes, worn by farmers and peasants and people say German clothing won’t be complete without it. Gamsbart are a tuft of hair worn on tratchen hats. The lower end of the tuft of hair is in metal and the top brushes out. In Germany in the 16th century the German society only wore brown and gray and blue was only worn on holidays.
Germans use different money called euros. In America one euro is worth $1.45, as of September 2009.There are euro coins and bills. There are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins. And there are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 dollar bills. All of the coins have the same front, but each country in the Euro Zone has printed different designs on the back of the coins. The countries of monarchies have a picture of their monarch on the back of their coins, while others have national symbols or representations of their country on the back of their coins. German euros have a gold ring border with stars and a silver middle with a soaring eagle. German euro bills are colorful with color streaks of purple, yellow, green, orange, blue, red and gray. On the bills there are also cabins or houses that are in a circular movement of stars. Also on the bills, the number of the value is shown very largely and the value of what it is worth is over the cabin.
German Cultures and Traditions
There are many cultures and traditions in Germany. Like Christmas, Tanz in den Mai, Thanksgiving, Saint Michael’s Day, Halloween, Nikolaugastag, New Year’s Day and peoples 25th birthday’s.Their most important holiday is Christmas, on that day thay eat goose, duck, turkey, red cabbage, potatoes, and potato dumplings. Tanz in den Mai is celebrated on April 30th and it celebrates their special dance into May. Thanksgiving is also celebrated and there is Saint Michael’s Day which celebrates the end of the harvest season. Halloween in Germany is a good party day and shops are always full that day. Nikolaugastag is celebrated on December 6th and that day is in honor of Saint Nicholas. On New Year’s people put written signs on their doors. Saint Martin’s Day is celebrated on the 11th of November and you celebrate with candles and children sing carols. Then on peoples 25th birthdays you make a carton wreath for women and a sock wreath for men.
Traditional German Foods
German people eat a wide variety of traditional foods. Brotchen is a food that German’s eat, and it is actually bread. Spatzle is another food and it is a kind of pasta. Klope’s are potato dumplings and knodel’s are bread like dumplings. They also eat something called pommes frites, which are french fries, and they serve them with ketchup and mayonnaise. They also eat spargel, which is really just asparagus. Germans eat ordinary foods and ingredients like red cabbage, trout, basil and sage. People in German’s also eat roll mops and brathering is fried marinated herring. Of course since German’s live in Europe they eat very interesting foods like duck, goose, boar, rabbit, goat, wurst and fowl. Also some other unusual foods are pike, carp, European perch, caraway, thyme, laurel, cardamom and tarts. As you can see foreign people like Germans eat very different foods.
Conclusion
Personally I think Germany is a great place, because it’s a different place to be with their language, interesting traditional foods, and their cultures and traditions. I also like, but think it’s weird that they still wear their old traditional clothes and I think it’s cool that euros are worth more than the American U.S. dollar. During researching I learned Germany was founded in 1871 and before that occurred German- speaking people were divided into cities, towns, and principalities. What surprised me about Germany was that their traditional clothes were worn by Austrian servants in the 19th century! I would want to know more about their food background in Germany though and I would also like to know what some of their inventions are. All in all, Germany is a very interesting and different place that I recommend you go to.
Source Credits
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Photo Credit
6.)- piqs.de 3.)- flickr.com
3.)-commons.wikimedia.org
5.)- eyehook.com
4.)- commons.wikimedia.org
4.)- fotopedia.com
2.)- commons.wikimedia.org
7.)- commons.wikimedia.org
