July 29th, 2016
When we got back to Germany, we saw a bunch of trucks unloading carnival rides and kiosks in our village square. We asked the owner of the restaurant we frequent what was going on. In German (and a little broken English), he spoke for a while and the gist of what we got was something about…a festival, a few days, street closed, for the family and lots of fun. It was a good start!
The next day, my friend Amy (the soccer one), helped fill in some of the gaps for us as she often does. I’m so grateful for her! She really loves immersing herself in the German culture and learning about local and regional fairs and festivals. I can’t wait to take a one of the culinary hikes she keeps talking about! The festival was called “Kerwe” and had roots in the church but has since morphed into a local fair that many villages host to celebrate the good fortunes of the past year. She told us about some strange pole, possible shenanigans, story telling and other interesting tidbits. It was enough to peak our interest further.
The strange pole is called a Kerwestrauß. (Side note: Do you notice this letter (ß) that looks like a fancy, capital B? Its only found in the German language! It is a lowercase letter that is pronounced like the “s” in “see” and can also be written as a double s. So, Kerwestrauß can also be written out as Kerwestrauss). It is covered with colorful strips of paper and is made by the village youth. They keep the pole hidden until its official unveiling to prevent other youth from neighboring villages from stealing it. Its placed in a prominent position in the village or town. With time, the sun bleaches out the papers.
Amy took this picture of the pole in our village after it made its official debut…
I have no idea why there is a random, green alien attached at the top of it!
As we continued to fight jet lag, the Kerwe proved to be a great distraction to help us stay awake longer into the evenings. The boys enjoyed the rides, the treats and popping balloons to win prizes at one of the stands.
Hubby rode on the bumper cars with the boys because of their size. We are so glad he did because the bumper cars were CRAZY! They actually lifted off the ground when they hit into each other. Oh my!! I’m so glad the boys had their Daddy to protect them! (Daddy might have needed an extra adjustment at the chiropractor afterwards…)
We ate crepes and the boys LOVED their chocolate covered marshmallows!
Live music filled the air and people filled the streets!
On Saturday evening, we met up with Amy and her boys. Her hubby joined us later. We also ran into our other friend, Amy and her family. Its fun to see people we know now out and about our village. Yay!!!
On Sunday, we took a bike ride with the boys. We rode by the festival again and couldn’t help but stop in for another crepe! It was such a beautiful evening!
We probably just skim the surface with our cultural understanding of the different festivals we attend but we still enjoy the experiences of each one!
