A question I hear very often (almost as often as the Christmas Pickle question) came up again today… “Is German Chocolate Cake German?”. Well… the short answer is- NO, it’s not. But before you go off to read something else, let me share some German Chocolate cake history, and how it got its name. German Chocolate Cake History German Chocolate…
Category: German legends
Krampus in German Folklore – Who IS Krampus?
)I grew up the child of Northern German parents, so I didn’t learn about Krampus until I was much older. In my world, Knecht Ruprecht was St Nicholas’s sidekick, and Krampus lived in Bavaria and Austria. But now, because of movies and popular culture… as well as annual Krampus Runs… the myth of Krampus is becoming synonymous with German Christmas.…
Germany Land of Legend and Real Fairy Tale Locations
Germany is a land of legends and real Fairy Tale locations, and the most amazing thing is that you actually can visit these places! Ancient forests, Castles with high towers, wide open fields, and Statues. Imagine, visiting an enchanted castle where Sleeping Beauty waited for her prince, or wandering the forest where Little Red Riding Hood met the Wolf. You can…
The Tale of Kunigunde von Kynast- a Silesian Folk Tale
Love this story I got from Paul Von Stache. It’s a fairy tale or folk story from Silesia (Schelsien). I had never heard it before. It sounds like an original Grimm tale, and definitely not a Disney-Happy-Ending-with-singing-Animals Story. The tale is about Kunigunde von Kynast. It took place in Kynast Castle (a/k/a Burg Kynast) in Schlesien. Here’s the story- …
The Elves of Cologne -The story of the Heinzelmännchen of Köln
Once upon a time, so the legend goes, the city of Cologne was helped along by a little race of creatures called Heinzelmännchen. It began simply enough… when the humans went to bed, the Heinzelmännchen came along and finished up all the work that had been left undone. The idea of Elves or Gnomes doing work while humans sleep has…
Groundhog Day- An old German Tradition in America
Groundhog Day a GERMAN Tradition? Turns out that weather prediction using a burrowing animal on the 2nd of February Candlemas has roots in Germany. The Pennsylvania Dutch German immigrants who landed in America brought their traditions with them. Of course… a few adjustments had to be made… in Pennsylvania, there were no Badgers, and or Hedgehogs (Igel), so a Groundhog…