German New Year’s Eve traditions are a nice mix of staying in with family and friends and sending the old year out with a BANG and fireworks! How you celebrate depends on you. Personally, I’m a big fan of stay in… but ever since I was a child, we’ve made noise with fireworks and cheers when the clock strikes 12. (Mostly now, it’s cheers, banging of drums, and tooting of horns since Fireworks are banned in the city where I live). Whether you go out or stay in, here are ways to spend New Year’s Eve like a German.
German New Year’s Eve Traditions
Like all traditions… some make sense, some don’t. Have fun enjoying the ones you like.
Dinner for One
Same Procedure every Year.Dinner for One, a short film about a 90 year old woman’s birthday has been a TV fixture on New Year’s Eve since the 1970s. In it, James the Butler sets the table for Miss Sophie and her 4 friends as he does every year…. only, the friends have been dead for 25 years. She seems oblivious to this, and he plays along by not only pouring Sherry, Champagne, Wine and Port into the guest’s glasses, he drinks it all as well. There are a few stumbles (watch out for the Tiger). It’s slapstick and silly. Go ahead, watch and drink along…. Click to read more about Dinner for One and get a link to the film here
Carp for Dinner
In some areas of Germany, carp is the traditional New Year’s Eve dinner. My mom has stories about how people would allow their carp to swim around in the Bathtub for a few days before it was time to dispatch it for the special meal. Carps are bottom feeders, so letting them spend a few days in clean water would clean them up. (This, of course, meant that the Bathtub was off-limits to humans for a few days.) Kids would even name their carp like pets! (Oh… I can imagine how festive dinner was when the kids discovered that “Bubbles” was on the menu).
Bibel Stechen aka Bibliomancy
I’ve only read about this method of fortune telling, and I believe the Catholic Church frowns on it, but it still might be an interesting exercise. It goes like this-
On the night of the turn of the year, close your eyes, open your Bible using only your thumbs, and then hold it in place with one thumb (no PEEKING). Use a finger from your other hand to point to a spot on the page. What is in the Bible text is intended to shed light on the coming year.
Berliner/ Pfannekuchen
Berliner/ Krapfen/ Pfannekuchen are the German version of the Jelly Donuts. These popular treats from Karneval/Fasching are back for New Year! (As are many other fried foods). Why not? Enjoy as many as you like to soak up the Sekt! But beware! Some prankster may have filled a few of them with Mustard or Onions. (who says Germans don’t have a sense of humor?)
Note- made with jelly, not MUSTARD
Bleigießen
Many German New Year’s Eve Traditions focus on the future. Why not spend a part of New Year’s Eve predicting your future? For Bleigießen (Bly- geese in), you melt some lead in a spoon and then pour it into water. The shape your form takes predicts your next year. Does it look like a bird? That’s Good LUCK!! Maybe it looks like a gate? That means you will change your residence. Does it look like a spoon? That means people are talking about you. Keep in mind that the shapes are vague and probably open to interpretation (how can you tell if it’s a lamppost and not a nail?) Still, it’s fun. Finding a Bleigießen kit is getting harder and harder because of the lead. Click here to learn more about Bleigießen, find a kit, and figure out what it means if your shape is a slipper.
Carp Scale in Your Wallet
This is one of those odd traditions that make people question why we follow bizarre traditions. Apparently, if you put a Carp Scale … that’s right, a FISH SCALE FROM A CARP in your wallet, it will bring you money. (Because it looks like a coin, get it?) But not a different kind of Fish Scale. Other fish are bad luck. (Look out! Here comes our New Year’s Eve friend, Pope Silvester, again). According to legend, all of the non-believers who were at Pope Silvester’s deathbed DIED because they choked on fish bones. So Carp is a YES, Salmon is a no.
My Oma’s Krapfen
My Oma always made RheinischeKrapfen for New Year. Unlike the Berliner version, her Krapfen are more like fried dumplings. These “hooked” fried treats are filled with raisins and covered in sugar. Honestly, they are the best right out of the fryer (so stand by the chefs elbow, and prepare to burn your mouth!) So good!
Fireworks and Loud Noise!
One of Germany’s oldest New Year’s traditions goes back to pre-Christianity. In the Pagan times, the Rauhnächte are the 12 days after the solstice, when the wild spirits run free. And, of course, Silvester falls right in the middle of that time. People believed Spirits could be scared off by loud noise… so bang the pots! shoot off the canons! and blow your horns! Send Wotan back to where he came from. Fireworks are noisy! And it’s logical that they were incorporated into the celebrations.
The fireworks may also be related to the old tradition of rolling burning wheels down the hill. Pagans considered this a good way to bring the sun back. And since it has every year, why not?
(Note. Some German cities are limiting or restricting fireworks this year, especially personal ones. I’ve heard from people in Berlin that it’s about safety and controlling the chaos.)
Feuerzangenbowle
New Year’s Eve, the perfect time to set your drink on FIRE! Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate Feuerzangenbowle even more. (I made quite a study of it at the German Christmas Markets). Basically, you start with Glühwein, then soak a cone of sugar with rum and place it on a rack over the Glühwein. Now set the sugar on fire. Drip drip drip… the sweet caramelly goodness falls into the Glühwein adding a special punch. It’s perfect for parties. Click to get my recipe for Feuerzangenbowle here
Sekt
Simply put, Sekt is sparkling wine, and what’s New Year’s Eve without sparkling wine? (Remember, the word Champagne can only be used to describe sparkling wine specifically from the Champagne region of France.) You can have Champagne if you like. Pop open a bottle at Midnight and toast your friends with the word “Prosit!” Fun fact! The word “Prosit” comes from Latin and means “may it succeed“!
Guten Rutsch!
This time of year, Germans will wish you a “Guten Rutsch”… a good slide? (They must have seen me walk on icy cobblestones!) There are few different etiologies for this word. One comes from the Grimm brothers dictionary for sliding (when Rutsch is used in the feminine form.) So, wishing you a good slide into the New Year. The masculine form means a short journey. (WHY are their differences? My daughter would say, “blame the patriarchy,” but the reality is that German is a funky language) ANYWAY… Goethe used the term anrutschen in a humorous way to describe traveling or arriving. (Is anyone surprised that New Year’s Traditions in Germany will dwell on grammar?)
Another theory is that Rutsch comes from the Yiddish word Rosh. Since Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, which is actually nowhere near the Silvester, the word just stuck.
Wherever the words come from, they mean the same thing… HAPPY NEW YEAR and All the best in the New Year!!
Good Luck Charms
Germans love good luck charms. And they give a LOT of them as gifts for New Year. Usually, the charms are pigs or mushrooms. Why a pig? Years ago, if you had a pig on your farm, you would survive without starving. Why a mushroom? Because the red and white Amanita muscaria grows near Christmas Trees. Also lucky are ladybugs, horseshoes, and clover. These little charm gifts are sometimes made from Marzipan or Chocolate (yum). And this time of year, there are LOADs to choose from in the stores and markets.
Chimney Sweeps
We can’t forget that luckiest of people of all, the Chimney Sweep. The German word “Schornsteinfeger” is one of the ultimate tongue twisters! Remember Bert in Mary Poppins singing about the “good luck” that rubs off (actually, that’s soot)… well it turns out that Schornsteinfeger are lucky for a reason. In a world where everything was flammable, no one had insurance (a German nightmare), and chimneys frequently caught fire. The guy servicing those chimneys was everyone’s best buddy. Learn more about that here-> Chimney Sweeps
Raclette
Let’s end with cheese. Raclette is a relatively new New Year’s Eve tradition in Germany, but it is quite popular. Think melted cheese… lots of melted cheese. At dinner parties, a Raclette Grill is placed in the center of the table surrounded by all sorts of accompaniments, including small boiled potatoes, ham, vegetables, pickles and of course, Raclette cheese. The Grill will melt the cheese and cook the vegetables. People can cook and eat for hours… which makes it a lovely way to spend an evening. Click to learn more about Raclette here
I’m hoping my computer will let me write this letter. Been having many problems lately. Silvester Abend, we poured the Blei into water and as you said, we were looking for what the New Year would bring us. Adult young girls were always hoping to get something that would resemble a Ring, wedding Ring of course. I was a child and didn’t care what the Blei resembled. It sure was lots of fun. Dog gone it, computer acting up again. But I like to wish everybody a Happy and better New Year. I’m glad all the hupla over Christmas is done with. Mine had so much drama going on. Sheeesh. Needed a couple Zantac to calm me down. I slept the New Year into the 2021. Did not watch the ball fall down. It is so boring to me. When my husband was still alive, we only watched that show twice, and let me tell you all, it was boring then too. In Germany my mother always told me, what you do in the first New year, you be doing a lot of that during the whole year. I woke up at 8am, took my medication, laid back down and promptly went back to sleep. Guess I will be doing a lot of that, if my mom was right. You all have a pleasant day. Gigi.