Easter in Germany

This year I will spend Easter here in England. As I’m German, I would usually spend the time around Easter with my parents, my sister and my grandmother back in Germany. Easter is a very important feast in Germany and you would never celebrate that day without your closest family members unless- as it is in my case- you are away from home. So what is so special about Easter in Germany? Well, first of all not only little children, but also teenagers and adults enjoy that day very much.

There are many things to prepare for Easter: a couple of days before Easter Sunday, people colour eggs at home or blow eggs and paint then. Also, the house will be decorated with appropriate Easter decoration and flowers will be put on the table. Not to forget all the shopping, cooking and baking that has to be done!

On Easter Sunday, the smaller (or more grown up) children will search for chocolate Easter eggs, either in the garden or inside the house. My family and I always have a big breakfast or even a brunch with many delicious things: fresh rolls, croissants, sweet yeast bread, cheese, ham, eggs with mayonnaise, jam, Nutella, quark, yoghurt, coffee/tea/hot chocolate and many more things! After that, we go to church and remember why we actually celebrate Easter at all. In the afternoon many other family members will be expected and we will eat cake, very often a carrot cake, and drink coffee. Later, we will go for a walk in the park or forest.  There will also be a special meal on that day- some potatoes, meat (maybe lamb) and vegetables. In a nutshell, there is a lot of eating involved on that day and a lot of time will be spent with your loved ones.

Frohe Ostern!

Karoline (German Assistant)

Recipe for a (German) carrot cake:

-          250g sugar

-          5 eggs

-          some vanilla sugar

-          250g ground almonds or hazelnuts

-          50g flour

-          some baking powder

-          a little bit of cinnamon

-          250g grated carrots

First, cream the sugar, eggs and vanilla sugar together. Later, add ground nuts, flour and baking powder and cinnamon to it. Finally, add the grated carrots.

Put the dough into an oval cake tin and bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes (200°).

Later, mix some icing sugar and lemon juice to make some icing!