Frohe Ostern

Easter in Hannover has a smell. It's not the smell of chocolate or a roast in the oven.
It smells like a campfire.
This is because, the night before Easter, there are huge bonfires all over the city. Big piles of brush and old Christmas trees throw flames into the sky.

Most German Easter traditions immigrated to the U.S. along with our ancestors: decorating eggs, hanging eggs from a tree, the easter bunny, Easter baskets, etc. What didn't make it across the ocean (as far as I know) is the slightly pagan ritual of burning stuff on Holy Saturday.

Here's the history of the bonfire tradition, according to Deutsche Welle:

The bonfire is an old pagan ritual and in the past peasants used to watch the fire carefully because superstition said the fields would be fruitful and the households protected from sickness as far as the light from the fire reached. Today the event is mainly a social gathering and an excuse for the Germans to get together and celebrate over a beer.

Brian and I did not go to the bonfire. We did go to German Mass on Easter. Often, we go to the Spanish language Mass on Sunday evenings. It always felt a little more familiar. But now Brian tells me he is learning more German at church than anywhere else. He reads the words to the old hymns during Mass and figures out all sorts of new vocabulary. I am a little worried that he might learn too much and start speaking German like someon. Instead of saying 'hi, how are you?' he might come up with a 'good morrow, dear sir, how dost thou?'

At German Easter Mass, you wouldn't have known it was the biggest religious holiday of the year. The pews were about half full. The people wore jeans. Most kept their coats on. The songs were solemn. Mass lasted precisely 58 minutes.

But what do you expect, my husband reminded me, in the heartland of the Reformation? This is the part of the world where drama and ceremony and flash caused a lot of trouble for the Catholics. Of course they are subdued. Of course they won't splash holy water or wear Easter dresses.

Even though the Catholics in Hannover don't make a big production for Easter, the whole weekend is an event. Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are all public holidays. Everything is closed. Everyone has the day off. The Easter bunny (he's actually a hare here) is hanging around. The Easter eggs are painted and hanging from branches. Or they were, until the branches got tossed into the bonfire.

So Frohe Ostern to you all.