Celebrating Silvester

 

So close to the end of the year, Rain's prompt for Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "New Year's Eve Party". No such party for me, so I just leave out the party part and tell you a bit about how we used to celebrate New Year's Eve in Germany.

New Year's Eve is called Silvester in Germany - for Saint Silvester, who lived in the 4th century and whose death's anniversary is December 31. Of course, there are many people who have a party into the early morning hours of the new year, but there are also many people who prefer to let go of the old year in a much smaller circle - and some who don't do anything at all.

When we were children, we did the tradition of "Bleigieẞen", literally "lead pouring". You would melt small shapes made of lead over the flame of a candle and when it is liquid, quickly throw it in a bowl of cold water where it would harden in a new shape. Now it was everybody's task to interpret this shape which would predict your future in the coming year. In 2018, the EU passed regulations that limit the sale of toxic lead-containing products, including these molybdomancy kits. In this photo I am five or six years old when my brother and I did Bleigieẞen in our kitchen. This dates to the mid sixties.

A traditional food for Silvester is carp, but I am not sure that many people still do this. My parents eventually abandoned this tradition. Instead, we often had fondue - my mom would make a wonderful broth that would then be poured into the fondue pot where it would further heat and we would put thinly sliced pieces of meat in it and slowly let it cook to perfection. There was bread on the side and my mom usually made some very delicious sauces to go with it. A family favorite was her Aïoli, it was so tasty. This was accompanied by some good bottles of French wine. Most Silvester dinners were with my parents, my brother and his then current girlfriend, myself and my friend from Paris, Eve, who would come to visit us every year in late December (and I would go and visit her every year at Easter). I found an old photo that my dad took at one of those Silvester dinners. From left to right - my mom, myself, my brother's girlfriend, my brother, Eve.

Have you heard of "Dinner for One"? This is a Silvester classic in Germany. It's a British two-hander comedy sketch written by Laurie Wylie and performed by Freddy Frinton and May Warden. In 1962 it was recorded by the German TV broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk as a black-and-white videotape recording. It has become a Silvester tradition not only in Germany, but in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia. Same procedure as every year.

Here it is - enjoy!

Finally we're approaching the "big" moment - midnight. The church bells are ringing in the new year and there are private fireworks everywhere. When we were kids, we would step out onto the balcony to watch the show; when I was at university, I would go up a hill with my friends to watch the fireworks over Tübingen from there. Of course there would be champagne or "Sekt", as we call it. One beautiful alternative to fireworks are Wunderkerzen (sparkler) that you hold in your hand. They are very popular. My daughter sent me a photo of one of her Wunderkerzen from last year.

And with this, my friends, my blogging year will come to its end. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and peaceful new year, filled with joy and laughter. Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr, as we say in German - literally "good slide to the new year". See you in 2023.

Make a Wish

Do you remember when we were children how we would blow into these seed heads of the dandelion (Taraxacum)? We would make a wish while the seeds would flow everywhere - and often we would also have to sneeze because our noses would itch. In Germany we lovingly call them "Pusteblume" (blow flower). They're still beautiful when parts of them are already blown away.

There are quite a lot of them in my "lawn" which actually doesn't deserve the name "lawn". It's a huge assembly of all kinds of weeds. However, before I grabbed the hand push mower I took a few pictures of these beauties.

Before turning into these spectacular seed heads, dandelions are very common yellow flowers that often remind me of the sun with their bright and warm color. When I was a child, we called these flowers "Butterblume" (butter flower) and my Dad never stopped calling them this way. Their correct name - apart from the botanical one - is Löwenzahn (lion's tooth). So how come that the tooth of a lion became a butter flower?

I searched google.de for the answer, and this is what I found. When the cows were fed with dandelions, their butter would turn more yellow. Dandelions contain the natural substance flavoxanthin, C₄₀H₅₆O₃, which is used as a food additive under the E number E161a as a food coloring. The word flavoxanthin is made up of the Latin word flavus which means yellow and the Greek word xanthos which means - guess what? Yellow! Flavoxanthin therefore is a yellow yellow. Therefore, it makes sense that one of the dandelion's names in German is butter flower.

I still remember the name Butterblume very fondly - it was the first flower in my childhood that I knew by name. I still see all those pastures dotted with them and, yes, the cows were eating them (and our butter wasn't as pale as many are nowadays). There are other flowers in Germany called Butterblume (just to confuse things a little bit more) that aren't related to dandelions at all. But for me, the Butterblume was and will always be the dandelion.

By the way, I still like yellow butter. We usually prefer to eat food that hasn't been on the road or in the air for thousands of miles, but we make an exception here. We eat Irish butter. I guess there are tons of dandelions in Irish pastures.... moo.

The Cows

There's something about cows that draws me to them over and over again. Not only are they such sweet creatures, they also remind me of my childhood when I was visiting all those farms with my Dad where he was vaccinating the cows against foot-and-mouth disease (this was during the 60's when this kind of vaccination was still done) or clipping on the earmarks. So when I saw this fence with these lovely cows behind it, I had to stop, get out of the car and take pictures of them.

Aren't they cute?

This one was particularly nosy.

Anybody who knows me is aware that I just don't simply take pictures of cows. Oh no! I talk to them as well - and as a result they come closer and closer to the fence, pushing each other out of the way. All of them want to see that crazy woman.

Some are more daring than others and put their nose through the barbed wire to sniff and lick the hand of that person. Cows are just like people - some are shy, some are brave, all are curious.

Have you ever noticed the beautiful and kind eyes of cows?

This is where they live - on juicy green meadows close to Tillamook in Oregon where they give their milk to be turned into lovely cheese and yogurt - and yummy ice cream! Thank you, cows!

Linking up with Theresa's Good Fences. Please come and visit some other fences as well!

Woodland

When I first read about this week's challenge over at Inspiration Avenue I wasn't quite sure whether I would participate this time or not. But of course the theme was walking around my mind and silently working its magic.

I have always loved the woods and I always will - be it the beautiful mixed forests in Germany, the dark redwood forest in the northern part of my state or the rain forest in the Pacific Northwest.

But then I remembered the piles of wood that you find in or close to the woods in Germany. The wood would be cut to the (almost) same size and then piled neatly - after all, we're in Germany, so it has to have its order! As children, my brother and I loved to climb on and walk along them. When I grew older I often sat there with my back against the pile, soaking up the sun. They were there, every season.

They were particularly beautiful in winter. Some winters were so cold that icicles would hang from them. If it was a good winter, the wood pile would be covered in snow, the sun would dance over it and paint beautiful little patterns with light and shadow and cast its warm light over it.