Tell me about...

...Your country or your state.
What's special about the cuisine, the language, the people or the nature in you home?
What did you notice about the peculiarities of other coutries or states you have visited?
Or perhaps there's something you always wanted to know about another country, like "How do escargots taste?" "why do english people have always one hand under the table while eating?" or "Does really every american have a gun in their household?" or "what do other nationalities think about my country?".

My first thing i want to share with you is the "Weihnachtsmarkt" (Christmas market) in my hometown, right now it's snowing it looks even more like classical white christmas, but I xouldn't find a nice photo with snow.
We have different areas, one normal with the normal stalls like for lebkuchen, candles, a few carnival rides, one with oranges, some were you can by turnery produkts or pots, and of course stalls were you can drink a glühwein (that's hot whine with a few spices and fruits).
the second area is a historical one, were you can buy and eat things like they were in the medieval ages.
and the last area is finnish, with smoked fish, finnish booze and pelts.



oh, and please have look at the church, do you the pentagram and the Star of David?
this church was build during a time, in which the people felt very insecure, so they used theses symbols als protect charms for their church. XD

I like this topic, as I'm very curious about other countries.

Oh, that's so pretty! I'm sadly focused on the lebkuchen... mm, cake... I should bake some sort later...

a Finnish area? Tha's a bit random, do you know if there's any particular reason for that?

Haha, that bit about thechurch is funny!

Question: What are some traditional christmas greetings from your nation? (directed at anyone, lol) Also, what sorts of traditions do you have in your country? I only know American ones. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, what do you celebrate?

In my part of the US, it doesn't snow (Well,unless you're in the mountains,SoCal has weird geography, lol), and people think it's cold when it's in the mid 50's to low 60's (Farenheit), so we don't have white Christmases, but other than that we don't celebrate any differently from the rest of America. We get our trees (mainly fake ones) and decorate them, and put up lights. We do all the shopping and caroling and such, and before Christmas we wrap presents and stuff stockings and party alot.

I like this topic, as I'm very curious about other countries.

Oh, that's so pretty! I'm sadly focused on the lebkuchen... mm, cake... I should bake some sort later...

Lebkuchen are awesome...I love them so much, that I gain a few german pounds (that's weird translation o.O") every year around christmas. the same with cinnamon stars, spiced biscuit and dominoes.

a Finnish area? That's a bit random, do you know if there's any particular reason for that?

Because in Finland Santa Claus is living...and because Finland= a lot of snow=christmas and because Finland=booze= awesome...I suppose.^^"
btw: we have two men with beard who come around the christmas time. first at the morning of the 6. December St. Nikolaus brings the kids little Presents, oranges, and seets in their boots or shoes, after the kids have cleaned them the evening before...much like it is with Santa Claus and the stockings in america.
The real big christmis date is the "Tag vor Heiligabend", the before the holy evening, or for short "Heiligabend", that's the 24. December. in the morning and over the day you visit friends or family ho live nearby, in the aternoon you go to church and after that some people eat or if there are little children you have your "Bescherung" (handing out of presents, I like english but this equivalents sounds kind of inpersonally) straightaway.
For the "Bescherung" everyone has to leave the christmas room until a little Bell jingles, that's the bell of the "Weihnachtsmann", who's like the american Santa Claus, or of the "Christkind" (christ child) and the signal that one of the two were in the christmas room and brought the presents.
there different food traditions for Heiligabend.
A lot of people eat "Weihnachtsgans", a roasted goose, other have "Gefüllte pasteten", vol-au-vent with chicken fricassee.
In my region there are nearly 60% of the people who have their ancerstries in Silesia, so the tradition is to eat silesian bratwurst and potatoe salad.
We also have the 25th and the 26th December as holydays, that are the traditional days of visiting the granparents or parents of both sides of the family.

Question: What are some traditional christmas greetings from your nation? (directed at anyone, lol) Also, what sorts of traditions do you have in your country? I only know American ones. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, what do you celebrate?

Germans are christmas nerds...|D
You can say "Frohe Weihnachten" (Happy Christmas) "Fröhliche Weihnachten" (Merry Christmas) and "Besinnliche Festtage" (tranquil festive days).
We also often combine these wishes with a wish for new year, because a lot of people take their time off from work during christmas and new year.
For wishing a happy new year we say "Viel Glück im Neuen Jahr" (Good luck for the new year), but the most often wish is "(einen) guten Rutsch" (a good slide), "rutsch" is said to come from the hebrew "Rosch ha schana tov" (a good head/begin of the year...that's what I granma said I sadly don't speak hebrew).

In my part of the US, it doesn't snow (Well,unless you're in the mountains,SoCal has weird geography, lol), and people think it's cold when it's in the mid 50's to low 60's (Farenheit), so we don't have white Christmases, but other than that we don't celebrate any differently from the rest of America. We get our trees (mainly fake ones) and decorate them, and put up lights. We do all the shopping and caroling and such, and before Christmas we wrap presents and stuff stockings and party alot.

haha, I had to ask google ho much °C 60 Fahrenheit are, I'm so fail.
Well actually white christmas is pretty rare in germany too, as long as you don't live in the mountains.
"Normal" christmas weather is 5°C ( 40F) and drizzles. =.="

Bird-Sama wrote:Lebkuchen are awesome...I love them so much, that I gain a few german pounds (that's weird translation o.O") every year around christmas. the same with cinnamon stars, spiced biscuit and dominoes.

Mmm... that all sounds so good! Baking and food are some of my favorite parts of Christmas! Every year my mum and I bake all sorts of goodies and then share them with friends and family because our family couldn't ever eat them all. Some of my favorites are M&M party cookies (Like chocolate chip cookies kind of, only with M&Ms) peanut butter balls (Peanut butter rolled into small balls and dipped in chocolate) Ranger Rick cookies (Basically gingerbread cookies) and People Puppy Chow (Rice chex covered in chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar).

Bird-Sama wrote:Because in Finland Santa Claus is living...and because Finland= a lot of snow=christmas and because Finland=booze= awesome...I suppose.^^"
btw: we have two men with beard who come around the christmas time. first at the morning of the 6. December St. Nikolaus brings the kids little Presents, oranges, and seets in their boots or shoes, after the kids have cleaned them the evening before...much like it is with Santa Claus and the stockings in america.
The real big christmis date is the "Tag vor Heiligabend", the before the holy evening, or for short "Heiligabend", that's the 24. December. in the morning and over the day you visit friends or family ho live nearby, in the aternoon you go to church and after that some people eat or if there are little children you have your "Bescherung" (handing out of presents, I like english but this equivalents sounds kind of inpersonally) straightaway.
For the "Bescherung" everyone has to leave the christmas room until a little Bell jingles, that's the bell of the "Weihnachtsmann", who's like the american Santa Claus, or of the "Christkind" (christ child) and the signal that one of the two were in the christmas room and brought the presents.
there different food traditions for Heiligabend.
A lot of people eat "Weihnachtsgans", a roasted goose, other have "Gefüllte pasteten", vol-au-vent with chicken fricassee.
In my region there are nearly 60% of the people who have their ancerstries in Silesia, so the tradition is to eat silesian bratwurst and potatoe salad.
We also have the 25th and the 26th December as holydays, that are the traditional days of visiting the granparents or parents of both sides of the family.

Ah, that makes sense! The American Santa lives in the North Pole, lol. Most people probably wouldn't even know Finland was a country...

That's pretty cool! You get gifts on two days, not just one, which I personally find to be Awesome, lol. I've never had roasted goose before as the traditional Christmas meal in America is turkey or ham with all sorts of side dishes like mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, stuffing, bread rolls and the like followed by pies (pumpkin and apple are staples) cakes and other dessets.

Bratwurst... hmm, interesting christmas dish! I've had the kind of Bratwurst you can get in stores in America, but I don't know if it's the same... Sasuage is good though!

People here will generally travel out to see their grandparents a week or so before christmas if they have to go far, but they may just stop for a isit on the 25 if they live very close. the 26 isn't a holiday for us.

Bird-Sama wrote:Germans are christmas nerds...|D
You can say "Frohe Weihnachten" (Happy Christmas) "Fröhliche Weihnachten" (Merry Christmas) and "Besinnliche Festtage" (tranquil festive days).
We also often combine these wishes with a wish for new year, because a lot of people take their time off from work during christmas and new year.
For wishing a happy new year we say "Viel Glück im Neuen Jahr" (Good luck for the new year), but the most often wish is "(einen) guten Rutsch" (a good slide), "rutsch" is said to come from the hebrew "Rosch ha schana tov" (a good head/begin of the year...that's what I granma said I sadly don't speak hebrew).

Heehee, it makes sense... So many Christmas traditions came from Germany, like christmas trees and many of the carols sung, including my personal favorite, Silent Night/Stille Nacht.

Those are all cool! Lots more varity than we have in New Year's greetings. We generallystick to "Happy New Year". I find it interesting that you wish people tranquil festive days. I generally assciate festivals and parties with organized chaos and a sense of business, not tranquilty and peace.

Bird-Sama wrote:haha, I had to ask google ho much °C 60 Fahrenheit are, I'm so fail.
Well actually white christmas is pretty rare in germany too, as long as you don't live in the mountains.
"Normal" christmas weather is 5°C ( 40F) and drizzles. =.="

Don't feel bad, I can't figure out C works out with Farenheit to save my life... It's the only world measurement I can't use well :/
That sounds alot nicer than here where it averages at about 65F (About 18C?) and is sunny and bright. Then again, I like colder weather and rain...

Yes, this is spam as I posted last on this topic but...I do not think this will harm anyone. In one of my classes a few days ago we were talking about biases in news and history books. THis brought forth the question of what people in other countries learn about history in school. In particular What are the British taught about the American Revolution (Like do Brits even call it the American Revolution?) and what are Europeans, particularly Germans, taught about the World Wars?