Tonight I will participate in a quaint German tradition.
 

The friends I am staying with in Germany had a son a few months ago. Tonight, many of their friends will gather in the village and begin walking to their farm. With them they will bring a long loaf of specially prepared bread.

They will stop at homes along the way and sing songs about the new baby boy, asking, "where is Joel? Have you seen Joel?"

The neighbors will tell them no, but give them beer and wine to warm them up. They will do this all the way to the farm, and by the time they get here, most will be "very drunken."

Here we have several cases of beer, Jaeger, schnapps, rum, cognac; and some fresh meats and cheeses which we will put on the bread that they have brought.

I have a feeling I will not be getting much sleep tonight as I have to get up early to fly back to NL and then home. At least I should be able to sleep on the flight home.

So, are there any traditions in your country that rival this?

weird, never heard about that. sounds fun

Dont know about that one either.. in which part of germany are you? Sounds like Bavaria or somewhere in the Eifel.

We were at another farm yesterday that had about 50 socks hanking from a rope that went along the length of the house. It reminded my of Xmas stocking hung over a fireplace mantle. I asked what that was about.

Apparently, a girl that lives there turned 25, so many of the people in the village brought these socks with various gifts and cash in them. They have to leave them up for 4-6 weeks, and them the girl can take them down and must open each one to see what she received.

Ever hear of that one?

Northern Germany. Cloppenburg/Molbergen area.

Jesus fucking christ on a pogo stick! THAT'S AWESOME!

damn sounds like some people may be going to jail

That is why they walk. Which I don't envy as it was 8 or 9 C last I looked, and raining off and on all week.

that sounds like one hell of a good time. I would love be a part of any tradition that involves excellent beer and walking through a foreign country side

that must be a rather local german tradition - asked 2 german friends (as i am from austria) and they have never heared - but those traditions are something special and valuable ...
seems as i have missed that when my baby arrived

I like the german Oktoberfest tradition myself. It was wild there this year. What a blast

It was wild this year too but, so much fun. I want to go back!

nope, never heard of that either

all i know is:

when you are not married as a guy at 30 you have to clean the stairs of the town hall with a broom until a virgin kisses you. while your friends make a party and watch you.

as a girl you have to clean door handles

(the virgin part will not be verified and since everyone nowadays has sex at 12 years it would be difficult anyways)

Either Baddog is full of shit and in need of attention OR he's staying with the village idiots who make up their own quircky traditions :1orglaugh

I talked to my friends about it and it is a very localized tradition. It is a small village (800 people) and they said that traditions they have are different than the traditions of other villages.

I have to say I was a little apprehensive when I first hear about it, but after all was said and done, it was a kick. Even one of my German buddies that is pretty Americanized, who was totally dissing the entire idea and told me he would come [but leave early] stayed until the end (4 AM).

German girls are very friendly when you get some of that crap they call alcohol in them.

here in America we go out and get drunk...no new borns involved...hopefully

Quaint German tradition? Must be the one where they steal dead people's teeth.

well now we know why the german's lost 2 ww's :(

For those interested, the party was a Kilmerstuten, a wiki definition can be found here

And a short video.

yes, i have heard of this tradition... when they get to the farm, they sodomize the oldest american in the group...

good luck and have fun....