Germany probably has more annual
festivals than any other European
country, with almost every village
having its own summer fair, as
well as a rich mixture of
Christian and pagan festivals that
have merged over the ages to fill
the whole calendar.
These tend to flourish most in
Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and
the Rhineland. In the former GDR,
there are far fewer festivals -
Communism is by no means entirely
to blame for this, the roots lying
in the puritanism which has long
characterized the area. Since the Wende
, a fair number of festivals have
been initiated or reinstated.
The most famous German festival
is undoubtedly the Oktoberfest
in Munich, but Carnival and
the Christmas fairs are
other annual highlights, and take
place all over the country.
There's also a wealth of music
festivals , ranging from opera
seasons to open-air jazz and rock
concerts. A general overview of
events is listed below.
January is a quiet
month, though there are various
events associated with the Carnival
season , particularly the
proclamation of the "Carnival
King". Climax of the season
comes in February or March
, seven weeks before the date
nominated for Easter. The Rhenish Karneval
tends to have rather more gusto
than its Bavarian counterpart,
known as Fasching . Cologne
has the most spectacular
celebrations, followed by those of
Mainz and Düsseldorf; in each
case, the Rosenmontag
parade is the highpoint. Baden-Württemberg's
Fastnet is a distinctive,
very pagan, carnival tradition,
best experienced in Rottweil.
Another old pagan rite is the Schäfertanz
held in Rothenburg in March and
repeated on several subsequent
occasions throughout the year.
During Holy Week, and particularly
on Easter Day (variable
date in March/April), colourful
church services are held
throughout the country,
particularly in rural Catholic
areas. Another important April
festival is the witches' sabbath
of Walpurgisnacht ,
celebrated throughout the Harz
region on the 30th of the month.
May marks the start of
many of the summer festivals
. Costume plays such as the Rattenfängerspiele
in Hameln begin regular weekend
performances, while there are
classical concerts in historic
buildings, notably the
Schlosstheater in Schwetzingen.
Every ten years (next in 2010),
the famous Passionspiele in
Oberammergau begins its run. On a
lighter note, there's the Stabenfest
in Nördlingen. Whitsun
(variable date in May/June) sees
distinctive religious festivals in
many towns. On the same weekend,
there are two celebrated
reconstructions of historic events
- the Meistertrunk drama in
Rothenburg and the Kuchen- und
Brunnenfest in Schwäbisch
Hall. Shortly afterwards, Corpus
Christi is celebrated in
Catholic areas, and is best
experienced in Cologne or Bamberg.
June sees important classical
music festivals , with the Bach-Woche
during the second weekend of the
month in Lüneburg, the Händel-Festspiele
in Göttingen and Halle, the Schumann-Woche
in Zwickau and the Europäische
Wochen in Passau, while
there's a big festival of all
kinds of music held under canvas
in Freiburg. Throughout northern
Germany, the shooting season is
marked by Schützenfeste ,
the largest being Hannover's. Bad
Wimpfen's Talmarkt , which
begins at the end of the month, is
a fair which can trace its history
back a thousand years.
July is a particularly
busy festival month, with summer
fairs and both wine and beer
festivals opening up every
week; pick of the latter is that
in Kulmbach. Dinkelsbühl's Kinderzeche
and Ulm's Schwörmontag are
the most famous folklore events at
this time. The Bayreuth Opernfest
, exclusively devoted to Wagner,
begins its month-long run during
late July, but note that all
tickets are put on sale a year in
advance and immediately snapped
up. A more wide-ranging Opernfest
takes place in Munich around the
same time.
August is the main month
for colourful displays of
fireworks and illuminations, such
as the Schlossfest in
Heidelberg and Der Rhein in
Flammen in Koblenz. There are
a host of Weinfeste during
the month in the Rhine-Mosel area,
notably those in Rüdesheim and
Mainz, while Straubing's Gäubodenfest
is one of the country's largest
beer festivals. Other important
events at this time are the Plärrer
city fair in Augsburg, the Mainfest
in Frankfurt and the Zissel
folk festival in Kassel.
Paradoxically, Munich's
renowned Oktoberfest
actually takes place mostly in September
- it usually starts on the second
last Saturday, but can be the
third last. This month sees many
of the most bacchanalian
festivals, such as Heilbronn's Weindorf
and Bad Cannstatt's Volksfest
. October sees things
quietening down, though there's
still the odd Weinfest in
the Rhineland, along with the Freimarkt
folk festival in Bremen, while in
the Alpine region there are a
number of religious festivals with
an equestrian component; the Colomansfest
in Schwangau is the most famous of
these. In November ,
there's the month-long Hamburger
Dom fair in Hamburg, while the
Martinsfest on the
10th/11th of the month is
celebrated in northern Baden and
the Rhineland, most notably in Düsseldorf.
Finally, December is the
month of the Christmas market
(variably known as Christkindelsmarkt
or Weihnachtsmarkt ), which
features stalls selling handmade
goods of all kinds, from toys and
leatherware to sweets and
biscuits. Practically every town
in the country has one; the most
enjoyable are those, such as the
ones at Nürnberg and Augsburg,
which are most faithful to
tradition.
