2006-11-02 08:49:17 · 5 answers · asked by Victoria 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Halloween
its getting more and more in germany. i think one ponit is that in many parts of germany is bank holiday on nov1, so many clubs and bars do a halloween special. The days before halloween they show millions of the us halloween movies at german tv, so its no more so "strange" for the people here. This year i saw first time kids going for sweets "trock or treat" but i fear they dont earn that much... for this its a lack of traditional, especially because on nov10/11 its st.martin in germany, this day the kids go from house to house and sing for sweets.
2006-11-06 07:24:09 · answer #1 · answered by <=> 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
No Germany does not celebrate Halloween. But being there, you may hear this story. They may actually have a halloween, but they don't celebrate it like us Americans. That's all I know.
2006-11-02 17:08:31 · answer #2 · answered by Silvia 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually we didn´t celebrate in Germany. Some years ago we "adopted" it from the USA (like many other things like Burger King or Santa Claus).
2006-11-05 12:41:08 · answer #3 · answered by pquaky 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I celebrate it when I am in germany
2006-11-02 16:50:31 · answer #4 · answered by T-Luv 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think so
2006-11-02 16:51:08 · answer #5 · answered by BeachBum 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋