It’s that time of year.
Ascension, Whit Monday, and Corpus Christi fall in rapid fire over the next few weeks.
Three days that in my American-Life weren’t even on my calendar are days off in Germany.
Beer-To-Go
Tomorrow is Ascension, a day that in Thüringen, and probably other parts of Germany, turns into Men’s Day, the day that men fill a wheelbarrow or other wagon with crates of beer and go for long hikes into the woods. There are probably drinking games involved—probably something on the order of how many beers can you drink per kilometer without throwing up.
At least last year’s combo disaster is not being repeated: Ascension was on the Tag der Arbeit, which made for difficult parental choices: Does Daddy go with their kid to the Weimar Soap Box Races, or does Daddy go with his buddies to the woods and get drunk. That said, given the fact that most adults in the soap box races, there’s was some ability to combine events, although no matter what, the combining of two days off into one, still meant one fewer days off for Germans last year.
As I’m not really into drunken louts, I’d rather avoid the wheelbarrows of forest bound beer. One of my friends confessed that he usually stays home and avoids contact with society-at-large on Ascension. If I didn’t already have alternative plans, I would suggest to him that we hang out and watch movies, cook food, and avoid drunken louts together.
Instead I’m heading for the big city: off to see the new Star Trek movie (OV), do some dancing, and seeing friends.
Currently I have no plans for the next two holidays—given my current project set, I suspect I won’t even notice them.
I love the German name for the Ascension. Christi Himmelfahrt.
it is much more descriptive in German than it is in English… I prefer it in German as well!
LOL. Beer to go! Sounds like a giant frat party.
The German name for the holiday is quite amusing. 🙂
While you may not enjoy the experience, I’m sure I would have liked to see this mass migration of beer to the woods. It would have been another example of something I wouldn’t see in the US, although around here, perhaps the opening of hunting season would be the closest equivalent? Far more dangerous, drunk rednecks and guns… oh my!
I do agree that there was some possibility of the Spacekid Headcup (soapbox races) to get merged with the beer in the woods thing. I think I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of watching the drunk adults slam into the hay bales and seeing them try to negotiate the turn at the top of the hill.
My understanding is that it’s Fathers’ Day, not Men’s Day.
It’s only Father’s Day in the West; in the East it’s the more drunken Männertag.