Guest Author - Holly Fox

Sitting here thinking about how to start with the topic of Easter in Germany, I received this dinner request in my inbox from my boyfriend:
“The thursday before easter is "green thursday" which is today. Do you want to make some spinach with Knödel? That would be really fabulous.”
Maundy Thursday, it turns out, is called Gruendonnerstag in German, although it isn’t clear if the name comes from the green vestments worn by the clergy in certain regions or from the Old High German word “grīnan,” which means to mourn or to wail. In either case, it is traditional to eat a very green dinner on the Thursday. We will be eating creamed spinach, dumplings, and boiled eggs tonight. Although not strictly German, this simple, inexpensive meal is very satisfying and is obviously an appropriately green way to begin the long Easter weekend.
For many of you, however, it might not be such a long weekend as it is here in Germany. Unlike the United States, German public holidays continue to be closely tied to religious holidays, and shops, schools, and businesses are all closed for Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday (Karfreitag, Ostersontag, and Ostermontag). This gives the Germans lots of time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the end of winter, fertility, or whatever it is they want to celebrate.
Just as children do across the world, German children dye eggs in the days proceeding Easter. In pre-Christian times eggs were colored red to represent fertility. Later, Catholics keeping Lenten fast were prohibited from eating eggs. As their chickens continued to lay them, the eggs were boiled and then dyed to distinguish them from the fresh eggs. The boiled eggs could then be eaten on Easter Sunday. These days the eggs are often blown out so that the decorated shells can be enjoyed for an even longer time. Many German families then hang their decorated eggs from willow or other branches in a vase or from a tree outside.
There are lots of other traditions with the dyed eggs. The American Easter Bunny originates from the Osterhase, a hare that lays eggs for children in hidden places on Easter Sunday. There are also Easter egg throws where the person who throws his or her boiled egg the furthest without it breaking wins. A game called Ostereiertitschen is played in Bavaria and Austria where two children smash the pointed end of their eggs into each other. The one whose egg remains unbroken wins.
The most dramatic part of Easter, at least in northern Germany, is the Osterfeuer or Easter bonfire. Also stemming from pagan traditions of burning effigies of Jack Frost and putting an end to the chill of winter, Easter bonfires are built on beaches, in public parks, and in private yards. Some communities save their dried Christmas trees for just this purpose. I guess it really isn’t spring and until the Christmas tree has been reduced to ash.