living without holidays

today is labor day (first monday in september) here, which means in the united states. just like with most holidays nothing really happens. people hang out at home or catch up with friends and work that needs to be done. children are happy to be out of school.

i have been a student in the united states during all my time in the country. being a student comes with its own events, days off, and celebrations in the united states more so than in germany: ohio university celebrates homecoming, graduation, journalism day, spring break, parents weekend, mom's weekend, dad's weekend, sib's -- short for siblings -- weekend, reading day, president's day, and probably some other days that i forgot. let alone the holidays celebrated by the great number of international students: holi by indians, chinese new year, ramadan by the muslims to name just a few.

point being: it`s been hard for me to keep track of all other special days such as regular holidays, birthdays of (german) friends, and vacation cycles of german universities and schools to know when family members and friends are off.

i had to get essays researched, papers written, and presentations prepared when they needed to be done. as a student work never stops, there´s no 9am to 5pm routine, and weekends are often used to read yet another study.

except for occasional peripheral reminders by my calendar, conversations, or surprisingly closed stores (why the heck is the post office closed when the deadline to send this paper is today?) i have come to live without holidays.

only christmas can`t be ignored thanks to common custom and commercialization.
(the low price chain big lots and seasonal sections of supermarkets deliver clues to find out which holidays is next. the kroger supermarket in athens even drew some attention to jewish holidays, displaying unleavened bread right at the entrance for pesach or passover).

this goes for u.s. american and german holidays. so everytime a holiday comes up i´m surprised.

even about the big u.s. holidays thanksgiving, also called turkey day, (fourth thursday in november), independence day, who could theoretically forget that one, (july 4), and the quasi holiday halloween (october 31), that we all learnt about in english class at school. but these are not all.

there's more: martin luther king day (january 19), memorial day (last monday of may), columbus day (second monday in october), and veteran`s day (november 11 except if it falls on a sunday, then the day-off is the following monday), to name the ones i remember having heard of one time or another in my periphery.

but they have not been bred in my bone since childhood.

the german holidays, which have been bred in my bone, alas, are slowly fading away. e-mails from home remind me, wait a minute, there´s a second day off for christmas, germany got reunited (october 3), and the holy three kings (january 6) as well as martin luther and his reformation (october 31) get you a day off in at least sachsen-anhalt (one of the sixteen german states - Bundesländer).

despite socialization i find that for me these culturally constructed rituals need reinforcement via social networks and media attention to remember them let alone their meaning.

except christmas. bound by common western christian heritage, it`s hard to forget the many, many customs that go along with Weihnachten, as it is called in german, in both countries. it´s the holiday anchor point for me every year.

i have celebrated three Weihnachten in the united states. they are pretty similar to german custom. okay, people in the united states are much more liberal about when to exchange gifts compared to the german Bescherung, which is the holy highlight for atheists and children. some u.s. americans are more church-bound around christmas, subdivisions turn more often into mini las vegas displays, and food is different. (but that´s not special to christmas. how many debates have i had with my favorite u.s. american about how to properly prepare a pancake or eat soft-boiled eggs? but that needs to be left for a different post).

but overall, german Weihnachten and u.s. christmas share common features: green and red colors everywhere, panicking to find the right gift, having and decorating a tree, doing secret santa games, called wichteln in german, seeing family and friends, and baking and devouring cookies.

other national days are quite different, memorial and labor day in the united states mark the beginning and end the barbeque season. officially both were created to remember fallen soldiers. socially they tell you when summer is over. one u.s. american woman told me that after labor day it was just not right to wear white summery pants anymore. there is no equivalent in my mind to these two in germany.

u.s. independence day comes with parades and fireworks whereas in germany fire crackers, sparklers, and all sorts of lights in the sky are reserved for Silvester, as germans call new year's eve. our national day to celebrate the reunification of germany is mostly solemn with speeches by politicians, sometimes demonstrations, and documentations on television about the past and the peaceful revolution.

father´s day in the united states (third sunday in june) comes with gifts from sons and daughters. the german version (39 days after easter sunday) is highlighted by a jolly, hard-to-describe ritual of men dressed up in funny clothing who ride bicycles pulling self-constructed carts to carry beer and other booze. praying (not literally although german father´s day is always celebrated on ascension day, called Christi Himmelfahrt in german) for good weather they hike, ride, and stumble along in the country side for a day out without Weiber, a german slightly derogative term for women. in the evening you might find one or the other in the ditch to face a hang-over the next day. if they can still walk they might stop your car on the road for a friendly chat.

or take carnival, in german Karneval. it´s not a national holiday, but a strong german tradition, especially in the south and west, which i never got into. it can be compared to mardi gras in the united states to a certain degree. but nobody in germany wears beads, Plastikperlenketten in german, around her or his neck to exchange them for a look at flashed breasts (entblößte Brüste durch T-Shirt hochheben). no, Karneval offers papier maché figures mounted on floats and carnival jester´s speeches, in german called Büttenrede, to proclaim popular political jokes everyone can understand and laugh at. alaaf! helau!

talking about floats, or Festwagen in german, they a specialty for independence day again in the united states and homecoming, the strange ritual in high schools and colleges to celebrate alumni. these floats usually feature local stores -- the kroger supermarket chain rattled and danced down the cobble stones of court street in athens with shopping carts --, the fire fighters, local parties, university groups etc.

most german students in whatever educational level are happy to leave their Penne, as the german Gymnasium/grammar school is often called, or Uni, short for university in german, behind. especially after fighting a master's thesis.

having been raised without religious teachings all christian inspired holidays except for easter and Weihnachten, haven't been strong in my awareness. as goes for easter: when the time to find chocolate and hard-boiled painted eggs hidden in the bushes was bygone, a simple family lunch to eat Klöße (potato dumplings), Rotkraut (red cabbage), and Kaninchen (broiled rabbit) was the only left-over.

other than another day off to slouch about at home and catch up with homework and friends.

happy labor day!

p.s.: labor day in germany is on may 1. in the german democratic republic (DDR or communist germany as many u.s. americans call it) people wore red carnations to celebrate.

do you have tales of u.s. american or german holidays celebrated at home or in the other country? go ahead and post them!

list of public federal holidays in the united states (english)
liste mit staatlichen feiertagen in den usa (deutsch)

list of public federal holidays in germany (english)
liste mit staatlichen feiertagen in deutschland (deutsch)