German Culture Site
	Francine McKenna BellaOnline's German Culture Editor

Children´s Songs in Midi [offsite link]
This is a website that lists children´s songs, along with their midi sound track, in order to help you learn.

Chocolate Museum in Cologne, Germany
Cologne´s Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum, a fun, and interactive, museum which is the world´s largest and most comprehensive chocolate museum. A futuristic building, designed as a boat moored alongside the River Rhine, where you can visit a sub-tropical forest with cocoa plants, learn about chocolate history, and watch as a chocolate bar begins life as cocoa beans and ends up ground, processed, molded and wrapped in silver foil. With a short video.

Decorating Eggs - And not only for Easter
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. A ´how to´ with a few ideas.

Easter in Germany – And Coloring Eggs
Coloring eggs for Easter has been a tradition in German speaking countries for centuries, when they are used to decorate houses, gardens, wells and fountains. Easily found at any Easter Market, Ostermarkt, it is still the custom, and much more fun, for the the young, and not so young, to color their own on school free afternoons.

Enchanted Learning [offsite link]
The German Theme Page of Enchanted Learning offers K-12 graders English-German information, dictionaries, quizzes and much more, presented in a fun and enjoyable style. Despite being a subscription site there are many, and varied, options and possibilities open to non subscription users.

Father´s Day in Germany
Father’s Day in Germany is something of a ‘moveable feast’, as it is linked to Ascension Day which changes each year. But ´the sons and daughters´ of those fathers are not as involved as they would be in other countries, and, to anyone who is new to it, the first experience of a German Father’s Day can come as a bit of a shock, as that is not the only way the celebration differs from other countries.

Forest Schools, Germany´s Waldkindergarten
Waldkindergarten, nature´s pre-school nursery for children, where fresh air, the natural world and exploration replace classroom walls. A system of education that began in 19th century Germany, and is becoming increasingly popular throughout the country.

German Gummi Bears, the Cult Candy
Gummy Bears began life in 1922 as Fruit Gummi Dancing Bears, in a small German confectionery company. Their form based on dancing bears and a Teddy Bear. Today as a cult candy, not only for children but also "grown-ups", they are used for couture dresses, party "Hedgehogs" and Vodka cocktails.

Halloween Celebrations in Germany
Halloween has arrived in Germany. Although not quite in the style of the USA’s huge ‘Trick or Treat’ Festival nevertheless the witches have returned, parties are held and pumpkins, ghosts and ghouls are to be seen in the country´s cities and suburbs.

Hedgehogs, Candlemas and Groundhog Day
February 2nd is Groundhog Day. An annual tradition with roots in Candlemas, a Christian festival, ancient European and German "Hedgehog" superstitions, the weather, and pagan ceremonies bound to the cycles of nature which celebrated the approaching end of winter, and arrival of spring.

Kidsville [offsite link]
The "Mitmachstadt" (participation city) for children in the Internet.

My Father´s Keeper - Book Review
My Father´s Keeper: Children of Nazi Leaders - An Intimate History of Damage and Denial: follows the lives of children, many of whom are still alive, their unenviable legacy: being born to senior members of the Third Reich.

Schultueten and the First Day of School
The first day of school is a milestone in the lives of German first graders. Parents and grandparents accompany the new pupil to school where after welcoming speeches, songs, "photo calls", and with "Schultuete", School Cone, held tightly, it is time for school life to begin.

St. Martin's and Halloween Children's Lanterns
Making and carrying lanterns are something of a favorite pastime for most children, so these safer versions of lamps are fun to make as well as practical for everything from Halloween, St. Martins and New Year, to those "any occasion will do" celebrations.

St. Martin's Day in Germany, November 11
Germany's children bring light and music to a typical Sankt Martinstag. Candle lit lantern processions, children singing, a "Weckmann" eaten by an open fire. The day begins with church services in his honor and ends with the traditional supper, "Martinsgans" - Martin's Goose.

Summer Solstice and Midsummer Eve in Germany
Many of Germany´s festivities for Sommer-Sonnenwende, summer solstice, and Johannisnacht, midsummer eve, can be traced back to pagan and pre-Christian days. The triumph of sun and light over cold and darkness is still celebrated by huge bonfires throughout the country.

The Potato and The Medieval Crime Museums
In Bavaria the Potato has a Museum all to itself, and it is billed as a work of art, while Rothenburg ob der Tauber´s Medieval Crime Museum, also in Bavaria, verges on the gruesome at times.

Voyage Kids [offsite link]
A colourful interactive German English dual language website for the very young. Frequently updated, and a joint UK/German government project, it offers all types of possibilities to have fun with German, from interesting topics, Games, Puzzles, Songs and Stories, to Craft and Cookery corners.

Young Germany [offsite link]
Run by Germany´s Federal Foreign Office, it is a lifestyle, career and education guide, a colourful and informative English language website, including up-to-date news and developments, and aimed at high school and college students. Covering diverse topics relating to Germany, from life, living and education, to events, comments and news, it offers possibilities for not only increasing familiarity with, and understanding of, the country and its people, but also learning the language.

Links marked with the [offsite link] designation point to websites not associated with BellaOnline.com. BellaOnline.com is not responsible for the material found there.

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