Allerheiligen

The Germans celebrate All Hallows Day on November 1st, marking my first statutory holiday as a teacher here. Because I'm a freelancer I don't get paid for vacation or holidays, but we're supposed to make up for it in the tax department, i.e. through evading taxes. I haven't decided yet whether or not that's wise. BUT, on the subject of today's holiday, I find the difference between North American and German celebrations worthy of note. On October 31st, Canadians traditionally dress up, wander the streets at night and eat too much candy. (Side note: I once contracted an unexplainable illness as a child with persistent vomiting as the only symptom. My mom took me to a pediatrician and he extracted the information that I'd been hording my Hallowe'en candy under my bed and binging on it at night, resulting in my inexplicable sickness. Such a sweet tooth from such an early age...) Although this American tradition is gradually making its way into store fronts in downtown Augsburg, it remains largely an excuse for teenagers here to get drunk (similar to Canada) and is something that people Bastian's age have never celebrated.

Instead, on November 1st, more traditional Bavarian families head to church early in the morning en masse and later visit the graves of deceased relatives. According to my German colleagues, it is a somber, depressing, and torturous affair for almost all German children. We live in the city centre close by to two churches, which are continually competing for the loudest bell tolls on the hour, quarter hour, half past, and quarter to. They usually both go crazy on Sundays, abandoning all semblance of time-recording and simply reminding the citizens of downtown Augsburg that the church still has a presence in their city, reserving the right to waken and irritate all said citizens within a five kilometre radius and call them to prayer. There was a similar gong-show of church bells this morning, and as I lay on my couch reading Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen I considered the sharp contrast between this Catholic holiday and our own celebration into the wee hours of Nov. 1st at home. Ok, perhaps I'm really only giving it serious thought now, but I did want to brag about the fact that I'm almost finished my first GERMAN NOVEL! Even though I think I've read the English version three times, it still counts in translation, right...?

SO, in a nutshell ("no, this is me in a nutshell" - I hope Ben is reading this), we get drunk and/or make ourselves sick from too much candy or other substances, and they (traditionally) pray by gravesides. Although there is plenty of debauchery to be found in Bavaria (need I mention Oktoberfest?), this stark contrast between my previous 22 Hallowe'ens and my government-sanctioned remembrance of the deceased day this year didn't escape my attention. The Canadian tradition may initially strike one as gauche and hopelessly young - our country's youth is something that never escapes me here - but the general consensus that Germans require a paid holiday as a reminder to visit their loved ones seems much less civilized upon closer inspection. As I'm sure most Germans would tell you, the holiday is somewhat old-fashioned and no longer adhered to by many families; it remains in place as an anachronistic homage to former times. And yet, it remains.