German Culture Site
	Francine McKenna BellaOnline's German Culture Editor

Chocolate Museum Cologne, Germany
Something for all chocolate fans It looks like a ship moored on the Rhine River, but 3,000 years of chocolate history, a child and adult friendly interactive journey from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, and free samples, are found in Cologne's Chocolate Museum, the world's largest.

Easter in Germany - Coloring Eggs
Coloring eggs for Easter has been a tradition in German speaking countries for centuries, used to decorate houses, gardens, wells and fountains. Found at any Easter Market, Ostermarkt, it is still the custom, and much more fun, to color your own.

Easter in Germany - Customs and Traditions
Easter in Germany is a mass of color, where decorated eggs and chocolate rabbits play their part in the celebrations, but from Palm Sunday onwards there are many religious, secular and folk traditions and customs around the days of remembrance and festivity.

Easter in Germany - Decorating Eggs
The ancient practice of ornately decorating eggs, to hang from trees or add color to homes during the Easter holiday, is still going strong, but in German speaking countries eggs are decorated and given as gifts at other times of the the year also. A 'how to' with a few ideas.

Easter in Germany - Easter Recipes
In Germany the Thursday before Easter is Green Thursday, Gruendonnerstag, when traditionally meals for the day should be 'Green'. 'Green Bean Soup' and 'Seven Herb Soup' are two of the most popular recipes, with any herbs left used in 'Eggs with Frankfurter Green Sauce' on Easter Sunday.

Easter in Germany - Eggs and Easter Trees
An Easter without eggs is hard to imagine, and in Germany from Easter Trees and Easter Fountains to Easter Sunday's Egg Hunts and Breakfast Table, eggs of one type or another still play a starring role in the country's Easter celebrations.

Easter in Germany - The Rabbit , Egg and Ostara
The Egg, the Hare and Ostara are interwoven in Germany’s Easter celebrations. It is a mixture of History, Easter symbols, Pagan and Christian tradition, and of course now with the addition of all those chocolate eggs and rabbits.

Germany's Palmbuschen for Palm Sunday
Palm Bouquets are a ancient German Easter tradition. Good Luck charms kept until Ash Wednesday next year or added to Easter Sunday Easter Fires, the colorful bunches of twigs, herbs and flowers are decorated, carried in Palm Sunday processions then blessed in church. With DIY instructions.

Pentecost and Corpus Christi
The Christian festival began with Palm Sunday and Easter and ends with Pentecost and Corpus Christi, celebrated in German speaking areas with a colorful mix of religious, secular and pre-Christian traditions, ranging from devotional processions to decorated oxen.