In Germany, beer is called “liquid bread”. So it should come as no surprise that despite appearances to the contrary, these people know how to celebrate. And while they may not have a calendar of holidays like Spain, they step up when it comes to festival time. Germany’s world-famous Oktoberfest may not be an official national holiday, but it’s a prime example of how Germans refuse to pigeon-hole an excuse to drink beer and eat sausages into a single day. No less than a month will do.
But Germany’s not just about beer and sausages. It”s a land of castles and cathedrals, fairy tales and dark legends, river valleys and mountain peaks. Germany is a Christian nation, but one whose Celtic pagan roots often peer through the country’s many folk celebrations.
National Holidays:
New Year’s Day (January 1)
Good Friday / Karfreitag (Friday before Easter)
Easter & Easter Monday / Oster & Ostermontag
Labour Day (May 1)
Ascension Day (39 days after Easter)
Whit Monday (50 days after Easter)
Oktoberfest (mid-September — early October)
German Unity Day (October 3)
Christmas (December 25)
St. Stephen’s Day (December 26)
Religious Holidays:
Epiphany / Heilige Drei Konige (January 6)
Corpus Christi / Fronleichnam (60 days after Easter)
Assumption / Maria Himmelfahrt (August 15)
All Saints’ Day / Allerheiligen (November 1)
St. Nick’s Eve (December 5)
Christmas Eve (December 25)
Other Holidays:
Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27)
Witches Night / Walpurgisnacht (April 30)
Reformation Day (October 31)
Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9)
New Year’s Eve (December 31)
Regional Holidays:
Store Bededag (Bavaria & Saxony; Wednesday before November 23)
Anniversary of Firebombing of Dresden (February 13)
