I think traditionally it was also more the 25th and you go to Church at midnight. Because that is so late it go´s a little bit earlier. And especially for Children it´s to late, so there is Christmas mass for Children earlier, and then after that they open the Gifts. So it goes from the 25th to the 24th I think.
On “celebrating the day before”: a lot of feasts and traditional holidays used to be celebrated at night. So Christmas eve was the highlight of the Christmas celebration. From that perspective, christmas day feels more like “the day after”. Visiting friends and family and having a good time. But Christmas eve (especially at night!) was the main event.
Totally! Everyone I know (including myself) sees it more like Christmas Eve is the real Christmas and the 25. & 26. are more add-ons and for more family, friends or relaxing.
i want to add on to that what i learned when i lived in Germany is pretty simple. Historically it is always told Jesus Christ was Born on the 24th not the 25th or 26th, so Christmas eve is the actual celebration of his Birth and receiving the gift of life. So after hearing this as background story to it it makes so much more sense to do all the stuff on "Heilig Abend" (Christmas Eve) then the morning after.
Celebration the day before is a custom long long before... even not christian, but jewish or much older: Today a full day starts at 00:00 h in the middle of the night and goes until 23:58 h. In ancient times the full day started with the moment the sun had went down and night started and lasted until the next night started. Christianity still performes all feasts in that way: "All hallows eve" (Halloween) is the evenig (starting when night begins) of the feast "all saints day". And christmas eve is Christmas day's beginning at the moment night sets in. Or think of easter: many christians go to a service in the middle of the night of easter-sunday. You can do it, because easterday already begun with the start of the night before
Well, thats not correct. Its not historically, its religious. Historically christmas was just another created day on the date of the viking julfest to make it easier to convert them to christianity.
On washing machines in the kitchen: Most apartments don‘t have a laundry room because of restricted space. Thus your washing machine goes where the utilities are. Kitchens an bathrooms have water and drainage, so that’s where the appliances go.
Yeah, exactly. My dads washer is actually in the basement, because that's where the laundry room is. We did used to have dryer in dads bderoom when I was smaller. Now we hang the clothes to dry them, because dryers are expensive and we don't have the space. The place where I live has th washing machine in the bathroom of my roommates, because that's the only place it would fit in. And we also don't have a dryer. But we do have Wäsche Recks. And he had a weird hangup about Christmas. Like, why is it so important for Americans to open the presents on the first holiday after christmas? Christmas is on Christmas eve. At least that's how it's always been for me and my family and literally everywhere else I've been to. I hope he learns more to not just believe the one place he sees is joe it's everywhere else. I'm still learning that too, but at least I know not every house in the US is exactly the same. At least i hope it's not.
In normal houses you do have a separate room called Wirtschaftsraum. There you wash and dry your cloth. Only in small Apartments you might see what he descrobes
my Grandma used to call the room in which she did her laundry "Waschküche"/cleaning kitchen. So I like his comparison of the kitchen as the place where the cleaning is done because I think it describes an older way of how things where done
@@mkud1984 In ancient days of the last century my grandma „cooked“ her laundry. So Waschküche seems appropriate. And often there was an oven for heating the water to do the laundry and it was also used to cook your marmalade or heat up the glasses with fruits and sugar to make them durable.
@@elfriedesommer938 Only in older or larger houses and often in the basement which is not so common anymore. My older house has two parts with the washing machine outlets in the bathrooms and no Wirtschaftsraum. My apartment before had a very small room with outlets which had place for the washing machine but nothing else.
I have been in Germany since 1983 and love the way they celebrate Christmas they open gifts on Christmas eve and then have Christmas day one and Christmas day two so you have more time to celebrate with family and friends .
@@thrakiamaria yes, but not all Europeans open their presents on christmas eve.. for instance in France they also open it on the 25th like in the US or in Albania the main celebrations are also on the 25th (and the UK obviously also do that)...in Middle Europe and Scandinavia people open it on Christmas Eve
we dont celebrate christmas "the day before". if you ask any german (and tons of other countries) when Christmas is, they say the 24th. and the 25th and 26th is just extra free days to celebrate and visit family and eat even more.
@@nclsDesign But it's Christmas in the sense of "it's Jesus´ birthday". That's also why we celebrate the mass and open the presents on that day. So it's congruent with the whole birthday thing Ryan mentioned. ;)
In Germany we hardly any more use the phrases "communist" or "socialist" when adressing a living person. We just call them "links" (left) or they vote for "Die Linke" (the leftist party). And it is most of the time not labelled as something negative.
Die SPD hat aber neuerdings Sozialismus als Staatsziel im Parteiprogram stehen agiert auch so, also sind es Sozialisten, da gibt es nicht blumig zu kaschieren.
Depends on who you ask ^^ Some call them "Links grün versiffte Zecke" (translation for Ryan: "Left green filthy tick", Explanation of the term: Left obviously for the political left, green because most left leaning people are typically also interested in green policies and vice versa, and some people really like to put everyone they hate in a single category, and filthy tick because they (according to the right wing) are sucking the life blood out of the state, because green and labor policies are typically expensive for the state)
At least most people in Germany and Europe in general know what communism and socialism really are. When someone calls a mainstream member of the democrat party left, I must lough. Democrats are just a little less right that the members of the GOP. Compared with the European parties, both of them are on the political right side.
The only negative term for more left-leaning ideology is "links-grün-versifft" and that is most often heard in an ironic context. Often heard together with "Öko-Faschisten".
Ryan, with a little one now, I strongly recommend for you to pick up the tradition of giving Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, as it ensures that the kids will play with the new toys on the morning of the 25th and leave you parents to sleep in for another hour or two and actually enjoy the quiet holiday…
I absolutely agree, when our son was small I developed strong feelings against the Easter bunny and Nikolaus, as our son used to wake us up at 5 o‘clock. It changed when he became older knowing that we were Easter bunny and co. So now he knows the office hours of all these don‘t start before 7 🤭
The morning after opening the gifts was amazing. Getting up early, sneaking through the house quietly to get some time alone with toys, cookies and the christmas tree.
Some of the traditions before christmas include: - 1., 2., 3., 4. Advent (the four Sundays before christmas) - Adventskranz (a wreath with four candles and each sunday you light up one more candle until all candles are burning on the fourth sunday) - Weihnachtsmarkt (a christmas market you can visit with your friends or family to have a nice time there drinking Glühwein or hot chocolate) - Adventskalender (A calendar with 24 pieces of chocolate in it. Every day you get one of those until you reach christmas.) - And the time before christmas (the „Weihnachtszeit“) is the cookie season in Germany. Everyone is baking and a lot of sweets are only eaten in that christmas time, like Lebkuchen, Baumkuchen, Spekulatius or Zimtsterne.
Another important tradition are Christmas trees and fairy lights that shine in December until January 6 (Epiphany). And December 6 is celebrated St. Nicholas, where many put their shoes outside the door and parents put chocolate in at night.
Just an FIY: In English, indicating ordinal numerals with dots isn't a thing. In fact, I don't know of any other language that writes "erster" as "1.", "zweiter" as "2." and so on, than German. English only has "1st", "2nd", an so on, so writing "1., 2., 3., 4. Advent" is very confusing for non-German speakers.
In Austria the mayor of the second biggest city is communist. There surely are not that much "real" communists there. But the party got votes because in contrast to other parties they engaged for poorer people and had no scandals. But there are discussions about their political standpoints regarding some controversial themes which are more in the dark communist past and would need adaptions today.
Ryan, the american concept is not the traditional one. The original christmas tradition is based on the "Jul Fest", when people celebrate rebirth of light. This on 21st of december (Wintersonnenwende), when the longest night occurs. This was a typical germanic tradition. In times when political and religious usage changed the catholic church mixed germanic traditions with christian tradition. Jesus was born in june but to make the new religion attractive to the people they put the birth of Jesus and the Jul Fest together in winter. So ist ended up that Christmas gets celebrated on 24th of december and we do celebrate Jesus' birth. Gifts are delivered by Jesus child or Christ child in Christmas Eve. The modern tradition of Santa Claus is a mixup of St. Nikolaus (celebrated on 6th of december) and Christmas....and got also manifested through Coca-Cola as a advertisement for their brand. So Santa Claus is an artificial impersonation of Christmas.
you know christmas is a roman invention if you will. there were a lot of celebrating traditions within the roman empire and they wanted to create something that included all traditions somehow. you know the christmas tree is from the jule fest. the nordic folks would bring in trees in winter cause it reminded them of warmer days. the wreath is a roman symbol. and Santa is a mixture of a lot of figures from different cultures. so there was st nikolaus, julu pukki, the holy three kings, christkindl, father christmas, father frost. and Santa clause or "der Weihnachtsman" is just a mixture of all these figures. yulu pukki had reindeers. st nikolaus had a red robe, father christmas had the costume santa has now but in green and so on. so basicly the romans increased their empire and they wanted ONE celebration and thats how christmas was born and since the christian religion was rising they made it a christian celebration.
Rouladen is thin rolled up meat filled with bacon, gherkins and mustard. It comes with gravy. We've got square and rectangle pillows, depending on your preference. I've got both. Washing machines in the kitchen or bathroom are common in an apartment. In a house you would have a laundry room on the ground floor or in the basement. In a big apartment block you might have washing and drying facilities in the basement.
Our classic regional recipe for Rouladen is this: th-cam.com/video/8Dw-mfeuTvY/w-d-xo.html Unfortunately, there are no English subitles, but you'll get the basic idea.
I'm German, and a child once asked me how Santa was able to bring all the presents in one night and I went into a whole explanation to how that might be possible (Yes, I explained that the sun goes around the earth which makes one night into 24 hours and he has his sleigh so...) and he fully understood and even asked: That's why we open them at Christmas eve, because we get them first? And I just said yes 🤣
@@silkwesir1444 Yeah... in my defense: I AM German and only now saw what you meant 💀 But I did, in fact, say the earth goes around the sun 🤣🤣🤣 You're still right tho xD
@@Sammy_The_Umbreon Depends on your religion. Protestants (I think it's called that in English, that what Martin Luther kicked lose) like me, have the Christkind and the Santa. It's more like a little helper like the elves of Santa but much more important. I always imagined it to be Santa's Daughter or smth like that. I guess theres people in Germany who only have the Christkind for that, but in my area it was mixed 😅
Is Santa really a long time thing in Germany. For me it was always for the Americanized family’s that also put up Halloween decoration and the Catholics. Growing up I was told Jesus would come as an angelic toddler or angel woman with golden hair and bring my presents.
its not opening the presents the "day before" on christmas day it would be considered "strange" or "Late" its always opened at christmas eve most often at like 8pm
Tatsächlich ist das auch in Deutschland verbreitet, allerdings bei den evangelischen (da macht es bestimmt auch nicht jeder so). Ich glaube das hat eine religiöse Aufteilung. Es sind ja auch hauptsächlich Protestanten in die USA damals ausgewandert.
@@Grovinchen Its part of Christmas. Christian liturgical day stats at sunset. Which is when Germans start to celebrate it as the Bescherung happens in the evening
About christmas: Christmas eve is called the Holy Evening in Germany, this is the actual day in their view as being the day Christ was born. So on that evening, after church, to celebrate the birth of Christ, Germans open up their presents. Now, this next bit is a bit different in each family, so I can only speak about mine, but: Christmas eve is for your own household, so mom, dad + kids, then first christmas day is with one set of grandparents and the second christmas day is for the other set of grandparents. (We usually swap who goes first every year). I hope this is a bit more clarifying for you, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Yes, that's how it is for most. It's always hard for grandparents when the kids celebrate with their own family on the 24th and the celebration with them is moved to the 25th :D
Nein, Jesus wurde am 25.12. geboren (Wir nehmen das Datum jetzt einfach mal so hin), Jedoch beginnt nach antiker Vorstellung der neue Tag nachdem die Sonne untergegangen ist. Deshalb gibt es in der Kirche auch eine "Vesper", z.B. Samstag Abends (für den Sonntag) oder die Osternacht (an Karsamstag) für den Ostersonntag.
In my family my parents and about two to four of my fathers/ family friends and my uncle who are single and would celebrate alone otherwise, celebrate with us on the 24th The swaping is also new to me For us, it is allways the family of my mother on the 25th and the family of my father on the 26th Because my father has so many brothers, it is easier this way because while we are at the home of my mothers parents, my uncles are at the home of their wifes parents It was this way since over 25 years while all the kids lived at home
Cushions for the bed were 80 x 80 cm in former times, but nowadays, we have all sorts of cushions. There are a lot of rectangular ones, for example, 40 x 80 cm or 60 x80 cm. Washing machines are only in the kitchen when the flat is too small to put them elsewhere. Usually, they are in the bathroom or in a separate household room or in the cellar. When it comes to Advent, we don't celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the waiting time. Advent comes from the Latin word "advenire" which means "coming". It's supposed to be a special time to calm down and think of the most important things in life, particularly love and care. So you meet your family and/or friends and colleagues for all sorts of little Advent parties. 🤗❤️
Germans open their Christmas gifts during the night, that means, opening of the gifts does not start before sunset (which is around 4 p.m. in Germany on Christmas Eve). Martin Luther, who introduced the idea of Christmas as a season for making and getting gifts argued that the Birth of Jesus was the greatest gift to humankind, and thus it should be celebrated by small gifts. As the birth happened during the night according to the Bible, the night is also the time for getting the Christmas gifts.
@@SiqueScarface Eh, that's hardly a closely observed rule. Besides, the sun sets somewhen around 4 PM on that day, so it's not like it matters much anyway.
Well yes, it's supposed to be a special time to calm down, but in reality people are going crazy over buying Christmas presents, and going into any kind of shop (at least in larger cities) is a special version of hell.
@@Llortnerof It is so closely observed that it was mentioned in the radio News on Christmas Eve. I was driving on Dec 24th, and I had the car radio playing. On each hour, there was a different German tradition mentioned that is happening right now.
German light switches work pretty much the same, they're just bigger. Makes them easy to hit in the dark or when you're not looking, when you've got your hands full etc.. If there's a lot of seperate circuits in a room, you may also encounter ones split in the middle that control two circuits. Typically, the main light has a single switch if one is present. The size is likely due to the SchuKo plug (the entire plug is inserted, not just the contacts, requiring the socket to be larger and deeper, but also preventing accidental dislodging... and occassionally intentional dislodging). This size allows for both switches and sockets to be fitted into the same frame.
You can manipulate these switches with nearly everything you are carrying or the elbow, nose or whatever. Must be much easier for disabled or injured persons.
In old houses, you'd sometimes find those bakelite rotary switches instead, but only in places like attic or basement where nobody thought of renewing the wiring for at least half a century (those probably lack protective earth and might use aluminum instead of copper). They are really hard to operate, about as inconvenient as door knobs that are meant to be turned.
Well calling them German light switches can be misleading since according to wikipedia "In Europe, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and India this type is near-universal, and toggle style switches would be considered old-fashioned"
@@Kristjan0209 when USA discover the electric switch that the whole world uses since 20 yrs...🤣😂😂 They are so backwards at everything. Maybe in 50 years, they'll discover respect, culture, freedom... and all the things that humans have known for thousands of years...
@@markwaypoint Absolutely. Speaking and using the language is what gives proficiency. I learned more about speaking english since I left school than I did in school.
the most shocking thing for me was to realise that adventskalener arent really a thing in many countries? theyre one of my favourite things in december.. and for impatient children its so nice to have a countdown to christmas. i was brought up to never wish someone a merry christmas before christmas mass was over, but thats not really widespread anymore i think, since everyone always wishes me merry christmas while im still at mass, haha. oh and some people i know keep holding on to the superstition that youre not supposed to do laundry between christmas and new year cause itll bring death or something? (honestly its a great excuse to chill during the days after christmas), but im not sure where that tradition comes from its so interesting to watch this videos and realise that some things you took for granted aren't a thing elsewhere
True! Eventhough I wont go to Mass any more, I still can't and wont wish any one a Merry Christmas before it gets dark or after 7pm. : ) Never heard about the bad luck one with laundry between the years but every region has their own traditions!
@@haberschnack i know some people who don't go to mass (im not judging, i only do it for traditionand cause im invovled in the music there) who just.. start christmas eve in the afternoon whcih is so weird to me. its like mass holds the line before gifts for me xDD i think the bad luck laundry one could be a northern/eastern thing? the only people i asked who knew or practised that came from there but its not representative im afreaid
I think the superstition to not do laundry at that time comes from the fear of the 'Wilde Jagd' which is out hunting during the 'Rauhnächte' and could get entangled in the clothes lines.
In a lot of older apartments, there is only 1 water pipe access - usually in the kitchen, so the washer has to be in the kitchen as well. In most modern apartments, you have them in the bathroom or in the cellar/basement in a shared room (because of the noise and moisture).
Others have said it as well how we do it with presents on the 24th, but "Christmas" really is a three day event - it's Christmas Eve ("Heiliger Abend" / Holy Evening) (24th), which is considered a half working day and everything usually closes at the latest at 2pm, and then there's the 1st and 2nd "day of christmas" (1. und 2. Weihnachtstag) on the 25th and 26th, both are public holidays.
About that birthday thing (that I hear sooo often about Germany): The reason why we dont congratulate the day before is usually not because of bad luck, but because it just makes no sense to congratulate on something, that hasnt happend yet 😄 You also wouldnt congratulate before a baby ist born, before an exam is passed etc.. You do it, after it happend. The reason why you say "Happy Birthday" on the birthday is usually because you like that person and want to let him/her know that you think about him/her on that special day. If a person did it one day or some days before, it would seem like that person would think: If I do it now, its done and than on the day itself I dont have to think about it anymore. Like it would be an annoying thing to do. If you congratulate after the Birthday, then its usually because you forgot the birthday and want to say you're sorry. Or you're not that close with a person and you know, its ok to do it, when you see the person the next time, e.g. a colleague. "Happy Christmas" we usually say only on Christmas (and Christmas Eve, because thats the actual christmas for us, thats just our tradition). "Happy new year" you also say only AFTER the new year has startet. But there is always that debate on how long after January 1 you can say "Happy new year". There is actually no rule for that ;) If you want to say something before January 1, you say "Guten Rutsch", which means something Like "Have a nice slide into the new year". You can also say "Have a nice Christmas" or "Have a nice birthday" in advance, you can simply not say "Happy" something 😂
We have a so called "Bescherung" on Christmas Eve. That basically means gift giving and receiving. But that is after nightfall, not during the day. You light up your Christmas tree, maybe your fireplace, and some more candles in your house, then you might ring a little bell (specifically when there are children in the house) and then they can come, see the tree in all its glory, and have their gifts (which come from the Christkind or the Weihnachtsmann, depending on the region where you live). After that families often sit down for the first Christmas dinner. What is served also depends on region, and/or family traditions. On Christmas Day often families gather (perhaps you get to visit relatives living further away, or get visited by them), some more presents are exchanged and more traditional food like roasted turkey, roasted duck or roasted goose is served. Same goes on on Second Christmas Day (Boxing Day, which happens to be a public holiday still). In the end, you have gained a lot of weight and you might feel a little sick as well. Too much greasy food, too much drink (alcohol).
Note on wide roads: interestingly enough, especially for highways having a large number of parallel lanes doesn't increase throughput as much as you'd think - in fact, frequent lane switching can cause other cars to slow down or even cause accidents, leading to more congestion than you'd have on a smaller road. Although he might have been talking about within cities, most cities that weren't razed in ww2 still have medieval city cores whose roads are barely wide enough for one way traffick, since they were originally built for foot traffick mostly (and with any luck we'll eventually be able to ban cars from city centers, but this is a car lover nation so that may take a while). Fwiw: actual communists are rare in Germany, including former East Germany. He's probably not actually talking about "real" communists. Maybe people who are somewhat nostalgic for _aspects_ of the old communist rule, maybe modern socialists... I mean of course full on communists do still exist, but I just don't think it's likely that's actually what he meant.
Munic is a example for a city with a good road network, you have one Central Ring Street kind of like an Highway tho it's majority 2lanes each direction. This keeps cars from the smaller streets in the city center as you can just drive around it which is usually faster. Munic also has the most Traffic heavy bridge in Europe and the bridge is struggling under the load as it was not build for it
you would be surprised how many communists anarchist and socialists there are in germany. a lot of them just dont talk about it because of social stigma
@@Eddneton94 Truckers will be Truckers they do this here on Germany to despite the standard Autobahn having 3lanes and it being illegal of it takes longer then a certain amount of time
@@salac1337 you have to add tho that there was never any real communist state and they were a rather socialist with dictators which just happened to treat every subject under them equally shitty... true communism is like a utopia so I don't get why americans look down on it so much, they should just change it to hating Soviets, not their political system (they're treating it like a religion) there are so many good points to communism and communism can just be a part of a democracy, most just don't have any idea what they're talking about
As a German I can say that the 24th of December is Christmas to me (and as far as I know to every other German too). Like if you would ask me “What are your plans for Christmas“ I would just tell you what I‘m doing on the 24th. This is the main day we celebrate here and to hear that Christmas should be on the 25th just sounds weird.😂
The advent time ist the time leading to the "arrival of the lord" or adventus Domini. Every advent sunday Germans light a candle on their "Adventskranz". When the fourth candle is lit you know Christmas only one week away :) We have whole songs about that tradition and also special advent songs like "Maria durch den Dornwald ging". The tradition to get your presents on Christmas eve is called "Bescherung". Back in the days that happend only for children and at midnight from 24th to 25th after church. Later it became common to give adults presents too and because children shouldn't be awake that long, the tradition evolved into having the "Bescherung" late in the afternoon or in the early evening hours.
I n my first apartment, the washing machine and dryer were in the bathroom. We had a shared laundry room, but the public washing machine was really disgusting. In the other apartments, the connection for the washing machine was in the kitchen and there was no other possibility in the house. In my husband's first apartment there was no possibility to connect a washing machine, he has to go to the laundry center some streets further.
it's pretty common all over europe to open the presents on the 24th. we have christmas dinner on the 24th, then open the presents. some people wait until midnight to open the presents, thus technically making it the 25th. and then on the 25th we have christmas lunch, sometimes it's at a different relative's house, and we also visit other relatives that we didn't spend christmas with, and sometimes someone that might be a really close family friend
A somewhat traditional dinner on the 24th is bockwurst and potato salad. Not everywhere and not in every family, but it's not uncommon to do the 24th smaller. We for example always met with everyone at grandma's on the 25th.
2:44 nope, it is quite unusual, but in my last apartment the bath was so small, I did not want to fit the washing machine in there, neither did I want it to place it in the communal area, therefore I have placed it in the kitchen, behind a cover door.
The Pillows really are squares, the washing machines are mostly in the bathroom, but it's quite common in small apartments that they are in the kitchen. "Rinderrouladen" are like really flat beef rolled up and in the middle are little pickles, bacon and mustard, really tasty!
Fun thing: We have the term “Waschküche” which means “cleaning kitchen” or more accurate “washing kitchen”. It’s the room in old houses where the laundry stuff was. The reason is, that you had to boil water in big vessels to do the laundry in old days. It’s like cooking. This explains the term “Kochwäsche” (it means something like “cooked laundry”) for laundry which should be washed at high temperature.
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My grandma actually did cook laundry on her stove (she also had an old wood/coal stove in her kitchen… in addition to a modern electric one). In a pot that was used *exclusively* for that purpose. :D She didn't have a washing machine. And she had an outhouse toilet for ages…
Yea in summer it gets pretty hot here in Germany, especially where I live. Normally there is like 30 to 35°C in summer (86 to 95°F) but for days, maybe a week long the temperatures sometimes spike up to 42°C (108°F). In the past years it happens more often that the temperatures spike above 40°C (104°F). The coldest winter I ever witnessed here where I live in Germany was like -25°C (-13°F)
Regarding Christmas and the "Adventszeit": The 24th is basically the main Christmas day where you go to church, eat/prepare traditional food and open presents with your close family (Mom, Dad, Siblings). The 25th is called first Christmas day and the 26th the second, on these you go to your other family members like Aunts and Uncles or Grandparents where you get to open the presents they give you/you give them. The four Sundays before Christmas are only marginally celebrated, religious people go to church for a kinda special church service and you light one of four candles at home. That´s it. Celebrating isn´t really the right word for it.
But some families , especially with smaller children come together on Adventssonntag afternoon, light the candles on the Adventskranz, eat homemade Plätzchen (christmas cookies), sing Christmas songs or read a christmas book for children. So it is a little bit of celebration.
4:45 because Christmas is on the 24th. At least here. Wouldn’t it be strange to celebrate your birthday on one day but only allowed to open presents the next day? The 25th and 26th isn’t really anything special here, except religious people go to church and it’s a national holiday, alas like Sunday.
For Germans, december 24th is NOT "the day before Christmas", december 24th IS Christmas. Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) is the most important Christmas day for many families, with church visits, everyone dressed up etc., the two Christmas days after (1. + 2. Weihnachtstag) are mostly just visiting extended family. When I ask someone "What do you planning for christmas?" almost everyone (at least in my region) will tell me their plans for the 24th. I think the 24th is the "christmas presents day" in many European countries - in some I think it is the 25th like in the US, and in some it is the january 6th (like it is in Russia). I was a little bit shocked you have never been on a train - I guess I never met an adult person who hasn't. I think in Germany trains are much more common than subways, as subways only exist in a few of the biggest cities and trains also connect the smaller cities and more rural regions.
Rouladen refers to rolled-up and stuffed pieces of meat or fish of any kind, but the most well-known ones are beef (Rinderrouladen), filled with mustard, onion, thinly-sliced pickles and bacon, and then cooked in gravy. My mom got a recipe that's absolutely delicious and mostly prepares them for the whole family for new year's or does a large batch that's then frozen in ones and twos with some gravy and stored for later.
My grandpa, who was very religious, allways got realy grumpy when we wished him "Fröhliche Weihnachten" ("Merry christmas") on christmas eve. Schnitzel with Rotkohl and Kloesse is a weird combination. Rotkohl and Kloesse fit best with braised roasts, turkey, goose or Sauerbraten for example. We most commonly eat Schnitzel either with fries, potatoe salad or fried potatoes. The "rolled up meat" he talked about were "Rouladen", which traditionally is thinly sliced beef, filled with bacon, mustard, onion slices and pickles, rolled up and braised in red wine sauce.
the big difference is: we don't let a man break into our house, we allow him in after he rang the doorbell and the children actually talk with him as well (usually played by a parent or more likely grandparent, up until the children are old enough to know there is no santa) and this has nothing to do with bad luck/ wanting to be earlier, we don't consider the 25th morning as the main christmas tradition time at all, thats just the time you visit your family, but christmas eve, they come to you, you eat together and then the children/all can unpack their presents. I guess it's rooted in the fact that jesus was born according to the nativity story at night and not in the morning, so when he gets his presents in the evening/night, why should children get pushed back a day for no reason?
I have watched the original video that you reacted to a few years ago and I loved it. Thanks for reacting to it! I loved all of the channel's videos about different countries...
Happy New Year´! "Rouladen" are basically steaks that are rolled around smoked bacon, oignons, mustard... They're tied before cooking to stay in shape (they would unroll otherwise but once they're cooked they stay rolled and you can remove the yarn).
These light switches are really easy to switch. Like if you carry something you can easily switch it with your elbow. Guess its also good for weak people with hurting fingers and such. Proper door handles are good for the same reason.
Besides fashion, I am also a real estate photographer in NYC, having shot thousands of apartments, I can say that even in this city, washer/dryer combinations in the kitchen area are not unusual. Matter of fact, just shot this in a high end building on the Upper East Side near Central Park. Might be not as common in other parts of the US.
As a german, Christmas is on dec 24. The 25 and 26 are public Holidays (24 is not), but the Christmas Eve on 24 is Christmas for me and I guess for all germans.
The thing about dishwashers and/or washing machines is that you need an actual water outlet for those. In German apartments those are usually found in the kitchen (at least one) OR in a bathroom. In big, mutli tenant apartment blocks, washing machine outlets can also be in the basement. Same for single-family houses.
It's not only the water outlet but you need something for the waste water. That is more difficult in some places. My last apartment needed a pump in the basement to get the wastewater back on a level for the main sewage.
On the topic of Christmas Eve, in Bavaria you don’t have Santa or the Weihnachtsmann as we call him bringing the presents. We got the Christkind coming around for that. 😅
I imagine it would be a lot of fun talking through in person all these things you discover in the videos you watch 😁 I'm also very interested in the differences between Germany and the US and watch a lot of your videos to learn about them. Grettings from Aachen, Germany
I would say it’s more common to have the washing machine in the bathroom or the basement in Germany. In the UK however, washing machines are usually in the kitchen.
My washing-machine is in the living- and bedroom. (because there is no space for it in the kitchen and I live in 3rd floor, so basement would be very unpractical) It is connected to the water tubes of the kitchen, so I shouldn't use washing-machine and dish-cleaner at the same time.
Just to clarify that: The meaty pleasure is spelled Rouladen, „Rolladen/Rollläden“ are the rolling shutters, that come down on the outside of windows :)
@@lieschenmuller9931 das hast du richtig erkannt, nur habe ich auf die Betonung im Video angespielt, daher auch die Fett-Schreibung des Wortes. Im übrigen wäre inzwischen für Roll-Laden also Rollladen orthographisch korrekt, aber aus Gewohnheitsgründen ist es mit 2 L ebenfalls zulässig.
i dont think the guy in the video really understand whats a communist xD basicly no german even at that time was communist, we are a socialist democracy, but i feel americans doesnt understand the difference of communism and socialism xD honestly hand on hart in 36 years i never met a communist in germany xD thats not a thing. and i am far left socialist xD
I live in the east german city of Dresden and I only know exactly one communist. he's an old man thats always in the citycenter and that tries to lecture people about it, whilest swinging a gient communist flag.
@@mucxlx Not really but similar. Both ideologies arose as anti capitalist protest. Under communism, the people are compensated or provided for based on their needs. In a pure communist society, the government provides most or all food, clothing, housing and other necessities based on what it considers to be the needs of the people. Socialism is based on the premise the people will be compensated based on their level of individual contribution to the economy. Effort and innovation are thus rewarded under socialism.
@@AysKuz So socialism is communism with a social credit system like in china? Doesnt each person know what he needs himself? Why violently force something on them someone else thinks he needs? Anyway both things failed everytime they tried it with millions of dead people in the end.
The society and economy of Germany is called "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (social capitalism or Rhine economy). It combines capitalism with government intervention (when needed). When markets are unbalanced the state (Federal Republic) intervenes on behalf of the less powerful side. The doctrine is "As much intervention as needed and as less intervention as possible". E.g. as employers have more market powers than employees German law provides employees (and trade unions) with certain protective rights to balance the labor market - protection against being fired at will, protection of pregnant women against being fired, and against working conditions that could be detrimental for the unborn child, maternity leave, minimum wage, minimum days of vacation, "unlimited" sick leave (not counting against your vacation days). Other areas of government intervention are the housing (rental) market with laws protecting tenants, anti-trust laws, or the medical market protecting patients from high costs by big pharma. Our society is "social" not socialist.
Greetings from Germany! At first, we do not only celebrate the Christmas eve, we also celebrate the 1. and 2. Christmas Day. Mostly we do the close family eve at the 24. and the children can open the presents under the Christmas tree and on the other 2 days mostly we enjoy the time with the whole family so like visiting the mother in law or the grandparents. To your question ; Where is the toilette - - Wo ist die Toilette\ Wo ist das WC And the the food he called dumplings, these are Klöße, a mixture of potatoes smashed and mixed with starch to a jam, after that forming a little bit smaller than tennis ball size and simmer it for an short time. Have a nice day ^^
Hey Ryan, I watched this video from "RobWords" "How anyone (including you) can read german". I found it really interessting, he basically gives rules for Letterswapping to get german texts more to their english equivalent. Even as a person, who speaks both languages, most of his rules were unknown by me too.
@@Anika6.91 RobWords Video is only uploaded 1 month ago, so i searched Ryans reaction and didn't found it. If he has no second channel it seems like he hasn't seen it yet
Me googling American light switch: WHAT??? We had that design too. In the ancient past. My grandparents had a few of them left, that were not exchanged for newer types yet. The house is from the 17th century, but I guess the switches were more like from the 1950s 😂 You can search YT for Rinderrouladen. There are a few nice videos about making them. There are variations regarding what is rolled up inside, but the basic recipe is always the same. Our family Christmas tradition when I was a child was, my parents prepared the tree on the evening of 23th, when me and my sister were sleeping. On 24th, the living room with the tree and gifts inside was locked. We were eating in the kitchen. After evening dinner on 24th, we were sent to our bedrooms for a short time and when my mom ringed our Christmas bell (a small pottery bell) we went to the living room. There we saw the tree for the first time (decoration was a bit different every year), got our gifts, unpacked them and spent the evening with our parents. On 25th and 26th, we visited grandparents and uncles and aunts.
I have to say the weather is pretty different in Germany per region, even if we're actually a small country. In the middle and south it can get pretty hot in summer. I live in northern Germany. We had pretty hot summers the last years too, but mostly not for long and the heat feels a little bit different cuz it's often pretty windy here. I'm living in the north of northern Germany :D We're right between the North and Baltic sea. That's why it rains a lot here and like I said before we have to deal with a lot wind, storms etc. Never get over it that I once lived close to Berlin and I heard how people saying: "Damn it's pretty windy today!" And I thought: "Huh? That's normal day weather :D" We're saying here: "Es ist erst windig, wenn die Schafe keine Locken mehr haben" = ( It's only windy when the sheep have no more curls) :D
Ryan - yer have to take a talk with Feli from Germany, i would think yer find that wery interesting - btw. Happy new year my friend and welcome in 2023, could be nice to see yer experience Germany in 2023.
0F ... rather rarely in many places... In the last few winters, 0 Celsius was reached, at least for a few days, probably almost everywhere in Germany... but 0 Fahrenheit? Maybe high up on the mountains in the south... but probably not in most of Germany
@@tobyk.4911 in northern Germany we did go to 0F and below. I admit that is rare in many places in Germany, though much of Germany does only slightly hover above 10-20F in winter.
My dad told me that when he was young, he celebrated Christmas on Dezember 25. The normal family had to work on Christmas eve. So my grandma was a hairdresser and she went into the rich householdes to make their hair for Christmas. Whe she finishes their hair they started celebrating Christmas while my grandma had to go to the next rich family. Rich people started celebrating Christmas on Christmas eve because they had enough money so they could afford not to work on Christmas eve. It was like a Status Symbol. Rich people celebrated on Christmas eve while the workers had to work and weren't able to celebrate.
My grandparents had a so called "washin kitchen" in their farm house, right next to the living room, which contained the actual (cooking) kitchen. The washing kitchen contained cloth washing and dish washing machines, had a tiled floor with a drain etc.
We have one in the cellar of the house we life in, which was built in the 1950s. It is a pretty common feature in my area, along with the so called "Kartoffelkeller" and/or "Kohlenkeller".
4:57 it's more like the 24th IS Christmas than the day before christmas, so Christmas is generally celebrated in the evening of the 24th and the 25th is usually the day where you visit the other part of the family or something like that (might differ depending on the region)
@@Sashimi1408 I said "older" houses. I maybe should have specified I mean actually old ones. Old houses didn't always _have_ bathrooms, it's pretty recent (on a historical scale) that these are ubiquituous, whereas houses pretty much always had kitchens (or at least kitchen areas if not a dedicated room). It used to be pretty common that if you had indoor bathing at all, it'd basically just be in a large bowl you filled with hot water or just wiping yourself down with wet towels. Similarly, indoor toilets are also pretty new, latrines/outhouses (private/public depending on exact time period, location and such) were more common in the past. Now of course even old houses nowadays _almost_ always have bathrooms retrofitted (because otherwise you can't legally rent out these places as living spaces), but again we're talking about a relatively modern development, these weren't all that common historically. (Note that this is describing the situation in germany, and only relatively "recent" history, and further mostly pertaining to "common" people; Various bathing and shitting solutions have existed, fallen out of favour and been rediscovered throughout the world and throughout history) (Keep in mind that even in places where the general mechanics of toilets/flushing were understood, there wasn't necessarily always a convenient location to flush _to_; Sewage systems have been built for milllennia but require a lot of initial investment and upkeep, wherever population wasn't so dense to absolutely necessitate it simpler solutions were usually sought; Even as of the 19th and 20th century in a lot of big cities it was still common that the "sewage system" was based on gathering excrements in tanks, to be regularly exchanged or pumped out and dumped outside the city with wagons and later cars).
@@hannessteffenhagen61 Well, that's WAY before my time. In my family home there's been a bathroom with running water since the 1950s and the house was built pre-WW1. Anything dating back to the 19th century is certainly not what's been talked about in this video, the guy is very likely talking about flats for rent.
About presents 1 day before Christmas: Well, that is Christmas Eve, and to my understanding, also Americans agree that this is the actual day of Jesus birth (ok, I know the real, real birthday probably was in September) while Christmas is the festival commemorating his birth - following this birth. Kinda makes sense to receive presents on the actual birthday, not one day later😊 Long story: originally, German Christmas tradition look at bit different and had no “Weihnachtsmann” (Santa Claus), but a Christmas child…. But I’ll start at the beginning… So, first, long before Christmas, on 6th of December to be precise, the “Nicolaus” comes to town, and brings smaller presents to children (eg sweets and a small toy). This happens on the 6th because this is the catholic name day of the Saint Nicolas. There are clear similarities to Santa Claus, but also some difference. E.g. while both wear red with white cloths, the Nikolaus wears a Bishop’s Robe (as Saint Nicolas actually was a Bishop), while Santa Claus wears a coat and trousers. Then, on the Christmas Eve (24th), the Christkind (essentially Baby Jesus with wings) arrives and brings the big presents. He is very shy, so everybody must leave the room, only grandma stays, as she knew him for a long time. So the Christkind quickly places the presents under the tree, and leaves ringing its bell, so the kids know they can enter now. The window ist still open (the Christkind had to enter and leave somehow, after all), so it’s somewhat chilly now. But all presents have arrived, and the party can start (and the disappointment about having missed the Christkind yet again fades quickly) So yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense to receive your presents on the day Jesus was born, esp if the baby itself brings the presents. A day later? From a man who wears a Coca Cola truck drivers outfit? (This is true, look it up). Now, that is somewhat weird 😂
4:00 "I didnt know it got, like, particularly hot in germany[...]" well this summer there were major rivers that simply dried up in certain areas which was more severe than ever before, kind of like those 100°F heatwaves you had in america
It's so funny to me that you couldn't believe we Germans have square pillows. I hated rectangular pillows when I was in places that had them, and I love my square pillow. You usually fold them in the middle, so actually you sleep on a rectangular, but having it folded is just nice. I like putting one of my hands in the fold, for example.
Because of water pipes in the wall kitchens and bathrooms in apartments are most likely placed next to each other and depending on the available space in each room you place the washing machine in on or the other. Haven't seen a laundry room or washing kitchen on a long time. But some times your storeroom/pantry (mostly placed behind the kitchen) is large enough to put the washing machine in it too. But that only works if the water pipes are placed with this purpose for that room in mind.
If you are interested in german christmas traditions look into this video from the channel "My Merry Messy Life" "7 deutsche Traditionen, die wir zu unserem Weihnachten hinzugefügt haben 🇩🇪 Adventszeit". There are some traditions broken down e.g. Adventszeit
Sometimes some bathrooms are really compact and it is nearly cramped with the things that're inside...like bath tub, toilet sink and there's no room for an washing machine or an dryer... 🤷 And in Germany we also had an other type of switches, but they're still pretty old and rare to find nowadays...just search for "Drehschalter Bakelit"
For the der/die/das question The German language uses 3 different definite articles instead of the one article in English. The nouns are assigned to one gender. The best example of this is: Der Mann / the man Die Frau / the woman Das Kind / the child The child isn't gender specific so you use the "das" as article. The difficulty in the german language is to know what noun use which article. And if you have the plural form of a noun. For example: Der Baum / the tree - use the male article Die Bäume / the trees - use the female article for the plural form. That is only a small portion but I hope that make it a bit more clearer.
I have never ever seen a washing machine in the kitchen in Germany. All the houses and apartments I have been to had them in the bathroom or a utility room.
Rouladen are not just rolled up meat, it's also filled with stuff. Depends on your grandma's secret recipe, its filled with cheese, pickles, pepperbells, bacon, and so on. Its marinated in whatever you like, our family recipe uses mustard-honey-marinade.
3:25 Rouladen: The meat is spread with medium hot mustard, a slice of bacon is placed on top and a few thinly sliced pickles are added. Then the prepared meat is rolled up and tied with a little kitchen twine. After a short, vigorous roasting, the roulades then should simmer gently in a broth of beef stock, tomato paste and a bay leaf for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Goes well with red cabbage and dumplings 😋
I'm German and I've never seen a washing machine or a dryer in the kitchen anywhere. If the washing machine (dryers are rare over here) was in the apartment it usually was in the bathroom or a separate storage room.
Could be a regional thing, then. Up in the north, it's very normal to have the washing machine in the kitchen. I have both it and my dryer in the kitchen.
I've never seen it before because my family lives in a house so it's in the basement. Now that I am in a city to study it's in the kitchen under the counter for space reasons and cause there is the only watee supply for it
Hey Ryan, I´m from Germany and I have noticed that you are very interested in Germany and would therefore like to make you the suggestion to take a look at Volker Pispers. You can learn much about Germany politics and also about America (USA) There are some videos of him with English subtitles. Take a look and if you like it make a video of it ;)
Never trust a German with the coat of arms as their profile pic. Volker Pispers seems to be distancing himself from all kinds of extremists, yet the far right party AfD and conspiracy theorist have quoted him for their agenda. However, patriotism is not as broadly accepted here as in the US and national symbols are hardly ever used by people with moderate political standpoints. Therefore, if you stumble across someone who does that, take their advice with a grain of salt.
@Ryan Wass about "opening presents at christmas eve" at evening (7pm-8pm) someone of the family dress up as Santa for the little children and hand out the presents.
My mother was from East Germany 1964 and even was in the FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend) in her youth. For me who was born in 1998 in what was West germany it really is strange to see her way of thinking that has been tought to her in her childhood. She is VERY work-focused and an ABSOLUTE MACHINE when it comes to work. She doesnt like to call in sick because back in the DDR doctors can actually reject/deny "Sicknotes", which nowadays isnt a thing anymore to my knowledge. Back in the DDR EVERYTHING revolved around work basically. She still has a bit of older ways of thinking which she took over: She doesnt trust foreigners for example. In her school they had like pictures of Lenin on the wall etc. and she was tought that the russians were "our friends" since they freed germany in WWII and so on. She was pretty confused when the whole thing started in february let me tell you xD.
The Point is that in Germany christmas is the 24th, Christmas Eve, or „Heiligabend“ in German. Christmas Morning or the 25th is the first Christmas holiday, and the 26th the second Christmas holiday
One thing I have to say being German and having learned English being immersed in a language and essentially getting yourself spammed with translation cards is the way to go. The moment you know you're really breaking through is when you dream or start to think in the foreign language.
We have washing machines almost every where like in the Wäschekeller (laundry room), bathroom, and in the kitchen too, except in the living room. Christmas is at December 24th over here and, we open our gifts in the evening.
I live in Germany, and luckily, our bathroom is big enough to fit the washing machine in it. And it's practical to have the washing machine in the bathroom. You get undressed, and throw the dirty clothes into the laundry basket before showering. Then when the laundry basket is full, you don't have to carry the dirty laundry anywhere, you just yeet it into the washing machine when it's full.
If you are in the public in Germany never asked for a bathroom 😅. Please ask for a toilet (WC). You have a bathroom at home, this incl. toilet, sink and bathtub or shower.
I have my washing machine and extra dryer in the kitchen, too. Not because I like it, but as the only possbile emergency solution. Our multi familiy house is old and has no space in the basement or bathroom for it. In the past I had appartments with my machine in the basement or bathroom and only my dryer in the kitchen. Do you want them in your living room instead ?
That washing-machine/dryer things comes from the fact that most cities and towns in Europe are much older than washing machines. To run a washing machine you need water and electricity. With bathrooms being traditionally small the only other place in a home where you have water and electricity at the same time is the kitchen. People with large bathrooms often have them in there while people who build new houses often have extra rooms for that, like the US would. But some people just know them as a part of their kitchen from when they were young, so they don't even think about where to put them.
We don't have smaller roads because people use more public transportation. We have smaller roads because the cities are older. Houses and roads have been built in a time where cars didn't exist.
On washing machines in the kitchen, only people with very small appartments and limited spaces do that, most of the appartments either have shared laundry rooms where each tendant has keeps their washer and dryer, has a private laundry room, as for me I have my washer and dryer in my bathroom, like a tower on top of each other..... and as far as Rouladen goes, he left out most of the Details.... Rouladen is a traditional German dish featuring long, thin strips of meat slathered with mustard and filled with bacon, onions, and pickles. The filling is enclosed by rolling up the meat strips and the roulades are then browned and slow-simmered in a rich gravy.
Germany has three days of Christmas with the first one, Heiligabend (lit. Holy Evening, Christmas Eve), being the most important of them. Although it is not a bank holiday like the other two. But most businesses close early to let the employees celebrate the "Bescherung" (the handing over of the presents) with their kids. And that's also the day when most go to church. Either the early children mess with the nativity play or at midnight. The other two days are either used to visit the relatives or just chill at home. There are four advent sundays before Christmas but when Christmas Eve falls on a sunday it counts as the fourth one. Many people have an Adventskranz. Often on their kitchen or dining room table. That's a wreath made from evergreens with four candles on top. Each Sunday you can light one more of those candles until on the fourth sunday all are lit. That's why on some advent wreaths the candles have four different sizes so they burn down more or less the same in the end. There's also a bunch of songs about this advent wreath. For example a very choral like one: Wir sagen Euch an den lieben Advent. (We announce to you the dear Advent.) Sehet die [erste, zweite, dritte, vierte] Kerze brennt. (See, the [first, second, third, fourth] candle burns.) Wir sagen Euch an eine heilige Zeit. (We announce to you a holy time.) Machet dem Herrn den Weg bereit. (Pave the way for the Lord.) Freut euch Ihr Christen. (Be happy, Christians.) Freuet euch sehr. (Be very happy.) Schon ist nahe der Herr. (Soon the Lord is near.) Or a little simpler one: Advent, Advent! Ein Lichtlein brennt. (A small light is burning.) Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier (First one, then two, then three, then four.) Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür. (Then Baby Jesus is at your door.) We used to sing these with our parents each of those four sunday morning when lighting the advent wreath candles on the breakfast table. Also there's an advent calendar which is a box with 24 doors or a garland with 24 bags which you fill on your own (like the Christmas sock). The store bought boxes are mostly filled with chocolate but there are also some with small toys. And there are also some for adults with small bottles of liquor or with sex toys and so on. They were originally ment to make the waiting time for Christmas easier for the kids and stop them from constantly asking their parents how many nights they have to sleep until Christmas Eve.
3:15 Rouladen recipe: INGREDIENTS UNITS: US 2 1⁄2 lbs lean high-quality beef round steak, cut into 8 equal rectangular sections and pounded flat 8 tablespoons yellow mustard salt and pepper, to taste 4 slices bacon, chopped 1⁄2 cup white onion, chopped 1⁄4 cup dill pickle, finely chopped (may use dill relish) 1⁄4 cup oil, for frying 3 1⁄2 cups hot water, to cover (or hot beef broth) 1 bay leaf 1⁄3 cup flour 1⁄4 cup fresh parsley, minced (for serving) wooden toothpick (or may use cooking twine or white thread for securing rouladen) DIRECTIONS 1. Spread 1 tablespoon mustard evenly on one side of each pounded steak. 2. Sprinkle salt and pepper over mustard. 3. Evenly sprinkle chopped bacon, onion, and pickles over mustard side of each steak. 4. Roll up firmly jelly roll fashion (with filling to inside, starting at narrow end), and secure each rouladen shut (so filling stays in) with wooden toothpicks, cooking twine, or white sewing thread. 5. In a large dutch oven, heat the cooking oil over medium-high heat. When hot, carefully add the rouladen rolls. Fry until nicely browned, turning once (about 7 minutes per side). 6. Add enough hot water or broth to almost cover the rouladen. Add bay leaf. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. 7. Cover and reduce heat to low. 8. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours on low heat, checking once halfway through to give a stir and see that meat is covered with sufficient liquid (you may add a little hot water at this point, if necessary). 9. With a large slotted spoon, carefully remove the rouladen from the hot broth to an oven-proof dish; cover with foil and keep warm in the oven while making the gravy.
5:04 where im living (brandeburg) ther are a lot of cars also because, there is berlin. but in like bayern guys dont live that close to each other so there are not so many cars
![GERMANY IS SO COOl. American reacts to the BEST GERMAN TIKTOKS [pt 3]](/img/n.gif)
We in Germany don't open the presents early, you open them late.
Definitely true... Jesus Christ was born on 24th of December so you open your presents on that evening... Not one day off
@@leutnant_lama4290 Wasn't he born the night of the 24th after midnight (technically the 25th) ? That's how we view it in the orthodox.
Poland here. I'm sure it's all of Europe that opens presents on the 24th.
Only England opens them on 25 or 26th, and they exported that habit abroad.
I think traditionally it was also more the 25th and you go to Church at midnight. Because that is so late it go´s a little bit earlier. And especially for Children it´s to late, so there is Christmas mass for Children earlier, and then after that they open the Gifts.
So it goes from the 25th to the 24th I think.
Hä, Where are the other Answers? When I write my first there where 4 others and yet they are all gone.
On “celebrating the day before”: a lot of feasts and traditional holidays used to be celebrated at night. So Christmas eve was the highlight of the Christmas celebration. From that perspective, christmas day feels more like “the day after”. Visiting friends and family and having a good time. But Christmas eve (especially at night!) was the main event.
Totally! Everyone I know (including myself) sees it more like Christmas Eve is the real Christmas and the 25. & 26. are more add-ons and for more family, friends or relaxing.
i want to add on to that what i learned when i lived in Germany is pretty simple. Historically it is always told Jesus Christ was Born on the 24th not the 25th or 26th, so Christmas eve is the actual celebration of his Birth and receiving the gift of life. So after hearing this as background story to it it makes so much more sense to do all the stuff on "Heilig Abend" (Christmas Eve) then the morning after.
Factually it's total BS that he was born in the winter though :D
Celebration the day before is a custom long long before... even not christian, but jewish or much older: Today a full day starts at 00:00 h in the middle of the night and goes until 23:58 h. In ancient times the full day started with the moment the sun had went down and night started and lasted until the next night started. Christianity still performes all feasts in that way: "All hallows eve" (Halloween) is the evenig (starting when night begins) of the feast "all saints day". And christmas eve is Christmas day's beginning at the moment night sets in. Or think of easter: many christians go to a service in the middle of the night of easter-sunday. You can do it, because easterday already begun with the start of the night before
Well, thats not correct. Its not historically, its religious. Historically christmas was just another created day on the date of the viking julfest to make it easier to convert them to christianity.
On washing machines in the kitchen: Most apartments don‘t have a laundry room because of restricted space. Thus your washing machine goes where the utilities are. Kitchens an bathrooms have water and drainage, so that’s where the appliances go.
Yeah, exactly. My dads washer is actually in the basement, because that's where the laundry room is. We did used to have dryer in dads bderoom when I was smaller. Now we hang the clothes to dry them, because dryers are expensive and we don't have the space. The place where I live has th washing machine in the bathroom of my roommates, because that's the only place it would fit in. And we also don't have a dryer. But we do have Wäsche Recks. And he had a weird hangup about Christmas. Like, why is it so important for Americans to open the presents on the first holiday after christmas? Christmas is on Christmas eve. At least that's how it's always been for me and my family and literally everywhere else I've been to. I hope he learns more to not just believe the one place he sees is joe it's everywhere else. I'm still learning that too, but at least I know not every house in the US is exactly the same. At least i hope it's not.
In normal houses you do have a separate room called Wirtschaftsraum. There you wash and dry your cloth. Only in small Apartments you might see what he descrobes
my Grandma used to call the room in which she did her laundry "Waschküche"/cleaning kitchen. So I like his comparison of the kitchen as the place where the cleaning is done because I think it describes an older way of how things where done
@@mkud1984 In ancient days of the last century my grandma „cooked“ her laundry. So Waschküche seems appropriate. And often there was an oven for heating the water to do the laundry and it was also used to cook your marmalade or heat up the glasses with fruits and sugar to make them durable.
@@elfriedesommer938 Only in older or larger houses and often in the basement which is not so common anymore. My older house has two parts with the washing machine outlets in the bathrooms and no Wirtschaftsraum. My apartment before had a very small room with outlets which had place for the washing machine but nothing else.
I have been in Germany since 1983 and love the way they celebrate Christmas they open gifts on Christmas eve and then have Christmas day one and Christmas day two so you have more time to celebrate with family and friends .
German here: Yeah, some ppl. do that, like visiting in-laws or friends....the vast majority of us? Just stuffing our faces and watching tv.
And the kids have more time to play with their new toys... So the adults can talk (and drink a bit). ☝🏻😁
@@AlexandraVioletta as well yes....I don´t drink but...yes I guess XD
In whole Europe we have 2 days not one, this is the European system
@@thrakiamaria yes, but not all Europeans open their presents on christmas eve.. for instance in France they also open it on the 25th like in the US or in Albania the main celebrations are also on the 25th (and the UK obviously also do that)...in Middle Europe and Scandinavia people open it on Christmas Eve
we dont celebrate christmas "the day before". if you ask any german (and tons of other countries) when Christmas is, they say the 24th. and the 25th and 26th is just extra free days to celebrate and visit family and eat even more.
Not imo. 25th and 26th are christmas. 24th is just christmas eve (Heiligabend) it's kinda part of christmas but I don't consider it to BE christmas.
@@nclsDesign But it's Christmas in the sense of "it's Jesus´ birthday". That's also why we celebrate the mass and open the presents on that day. So it's congruent with the whole birthday thing Ryan mentioned. ;)
@@pascalkempa8005 But the birth of Jesus is dated on 25th. ;)
@@nclsDesignThey didn’t even get the Year right, so I highly doubt, that Jesus was born on the 25.12.
@@MrLiesegang I never said he was born there. But it's dated there and that's what we celbrate on christmas.
In Germany we hardly any more use the phrases "communist" or "socialist" when adressing a living person. We just call them "links" (left) or they vote for "Die Linke" (the leftist party). And it is most of the time not labelled as something negative.
Die SPD hat aber neuerdings Sozialismus als Staatsziel im Parteiprogram stehen agiert auch so, also sind es Sozialisten, da gibt es nicht blumig zu kaschieren.
Depends on who you ask ^^ Some call them "Links grün versiffte Zecke" (translation for Ryan: "Left green filthy tick", Explanation of the term: Left obviously for the political left, green because most left leaning people are typically also interested in green policies and vice versa, and some people really like to put everyone they hate in a single category, and filthy tick because they (according to the right wing) are sucking the life blood out of the state, because green and labor policies are typically expensive for the state)
At least most people in Germany and Europe in general know what communism and socialism really are. When someone calls a mainstream member of the democrat party left, I must lough. Democrats are just a little less right that the members of the GOP. Compared with the European parties, both of them are on the political right side.
Depends on whom you're talking to. 🙈
The only negative term for more left-leaning ideology is "links-grün-versifft" and that is most often heard in an ironic context. Often heard together with "Öko-Faschisten".
Ryan, with a little one now, I strongly recommend for you to pick up the tradition of giving Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, as it ensures that the kids will play with the new toys on the morning of the 25th and leave you parents to sleep in for another hour or two and actually enjoy the quiet holiday…
I absolutely agree, when our son was small I developed strong feelings against the Easter bunny and Nikolaus, as our son used to wake us up at 5 o‘clock. It changed when he became older knowing that we were Easter bunny and co. So now he knows the office hours of all these don‘t start before 7 🤭
Well...i bought my nephew a drum... 😄
@@KayDSmith You monster!
;)=
The morning after opening the gifts was amazing. Getting up early, sneaking through the house quietly to get some time alone with toys, cookies and the christmas tree.
@@KayDSmith smart move to give to your nephew, not your son! However, I can see how this is counterproductive…
Some of the traditions before christmas include:
- 1., 2., 3., 4. Advent (the four Sundays before christmas)
- Adventskranz (a wreath with four candles and each sunday you light up one more candle until all candles are burning on the fourth sunday)
- Weihnachtsmarkt (a christmas market you can visit with your friends or family to have a nice time there drinking Glühwein or hot chocolate)
- Adventskalender (A calendar with 24 pieces of chocolate in it. Every day you get one of those until you reach christmas.)
- And the time before christmas (the „Weihnachtszeit“) is the cookie season in Germany. Everyone is baking and a lot of sweets are only eaten in that christmas time, like Lebkuchen, Baumkuchen, Spekulatius or Zimtsterne.
Another important tradition are Christmas trees and fairy lights that shine in December until January 6 (Epiphany).
And December 6 is celebrated St. Nicholas, where many put their shoes outside the door and parents put chocolate in at night.
Only thing to nitpick: it’s Christkindlmarkt not Weihnachtsmarkt 😜
@@hk-4886 Depends on where in Germany you live.
Just an FIY: In English, indicating ordinal numerals with dots isn't a thing. In fact, I don't know of any other language that writes "erster" as "1.", "zweiter" as "2." and so on, than German. English only has "1st", "2nd", an so on, so writing "1., 2., 3., 4. Advent" is very confusing for non-German speakers.
@ Flauschiger_Keks We have/do exactly the same in Czech Republic
Sozialist and Kommunist are not bad words in Germany! It´s only a political direction.
In Austria the mayor of the second biggest city is communist. There surely are not that much "real" communists there. But the party got votes because in contrast to other parties they engaged for poorer people and had no scandals. But there are discussions about their political standpoints regarding some controversial themes which are more in the dark communist past and would need adaptions today.
@@reinhard8053 In
I'm from Germany and for me they are bad words. These people destroied our country
Jo ...right wing is a bad word but it's also just a political direction, in my opinion unjustified.
@@locke9425 You have the legal right to hold that wrong opinion.
Ryan, the american concept is not the traditional one.
The original christmas tradition is based on the "Jul Fest", when people celebrate rebirth of light. This on 21st of december (Wintersonnenwende), when the longest night occurs.
This was a typical germanic tradition.
In times when political and religious usage changed the catholic church mixed germanic traditions with christian tradition.
Jesus was born in june but to make the new religion attractive to the people they put the birth of Jesus and the Jul Fest together in winter. So ist ended up that Christmas gets celebrated on 24th of december and we do celebrate Jesus' birth. Gifts are delivered by Jesus child or Christ child in Christmas Eve.
The modern tradition of Santa Claus is a mixup of St. Nikolaus (celebrated on 6th of december) and Christmas....and got also manifested through Coca-Cola as a advertisement for their brand.
So Santa Claus is an artificial impersonation of Christmas.
Yes. ExACTly
you know christmas is a roman invention if you will. there were a lot of celebrating traditions within the roman empire and they wanted to create something that included all traditions somehow. you know the christmas tree is from the jule fest. the nordic folks would bring in trees in winter cause it reminded them of warmer days. the wreath is a roman symbol. and Santa is a mixture of a lot of figures from different cultures. so there was st nikolaus, julu pukki, the holy three kings, christkindl, father christmas, father frost. and Santa clause or "der Weihnachtsman" is just a mixture of all these figures. yulu pukki had reindeers. st nikolaus had a red robe, father christmas had the costume santa has now but in green and so on. so basicly the romans increased their empire and they wanted ONE celebration and thats how christmas was born and since the christian religion was rising they made it a christian celebration.
Rouladen is thin rolled up meat filled with bacon, gherkins and mustard. It comes with gravy. We've got square and rectangle pillows, depending on your preference. I've got both.
Washing machines in the kitchen or bathroom are common in an apartment. In a house you would have a laundry room on the ground floor or in the basement. In a big apartment block you might have washing and drying facilities in the basement.
Depends on the area,
Our 'rollade' is mix fat pork and beef, garlic, union's, but also mustard indeed.
Our classic regional recipe for Rouladen is this: th-cam.com/video/8Dw-mfeuTvY/w-d-xo.html Unfortunately, there are no English subitles, but you'll get the basic idea.
@Scrap Metal Fryslân true, I forgot the onions.
A gherkin would be a pickle in the US
@@BinneReitsma a Rolladen is a window shutter tho. Roulade, independent what in it is always spelled that way.
I'm German, and a child once asked me how Santa was able to bring all the presents in one night and I went into a whole explanation to how that might be possible (Yes, I explained that the sun goes around the earth which makes one night into 24 hours and he has his sleigh so...) and he fully understood and even asked: That's why we open them at Christmas eve, because we get them first? And I just said yes 🤣
So you taught him geocentrism? Shame on you.
@@silkwesir1444 Yeah... in my defense: I AM German and only now saw what you meant 💀 But I did, in fact, say the earth goes around the sun 🤣🤣🤣 You're still right tho xD
Does Santa bring gifts in germany? I thought it was the Christkind?
@@Sammy_The_Umbreon Depends on your religion. Protestants (I think it's called that in English, that what Martin Luther kicked lose) like me, have the Christkind and the Santa. It's more like a little helper like the elves of Santa but much more important. I always imagined it to be Santa's Daughter or smth like that. I guess theres people in Germany who only have the Christkind for that, but in my area it was mixed 😅
Is Santa really a long time thing in Germany. For me it was always for the Americanized family’s that also put up Halloween decoration and the Catholics. Growing up I was told Jesus would come as an angelic toddler or angel woman with golden hair and bring my presents.
its not opening the presents the "day before" on christmas day it would be considered "strange" or "Late" its always opened at christmas eve most often at like 8pm
The 24th is not Christmas
Tatsächlich ist das auch in Deutschland verbreitet, allerdings bei den evangelischen (da macht es bestimmt auch nicht jeder so). Ich glaube das hat eine religiöse Aufteilung. Es sind ja auch hauptsächlich Protestanten in die USA damals ausgewandert.
@@Grovinchen No, it's Christmas Eve like he said. And that's when Germans hand out and open their presents. Always has been like that.
@@Sashimi1408 Christmas Eve is not Christmas. The 25th is the first day of Christmas and therefore Germans open the presents before Christmas.
@@Grovinchen Its part of Christmas. Christian liturgical day stats at sunset. Which is when Germans start to celebrate it as the Bescherung happens in the evening
About christmas: Christmas eve is called the Holy Evening in Germany, this is the actual day in their view as being the day Christ was born. So on that evening, after church, to celebrate the birth of Christ, Germans open up their presents. Now, this next bit is a bit different in each family, so I can only speak about mine, but: Christmas eve is for your own household, so mom, dad + kids, then first christmas day is with one set of grandparents and the second christmas day is for the other set of grandparents. (We usually swap who goes first every year).
I hope this is a bit more clarifying for you, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
I can confirm. We did also celebrate 24 with close family, 25 with one set of grandparents and 26 with the other, but we didn't swap around
Yes, that's how it is for most. It's always hard for grandparents when the kids celebrate with their own family on the 24th and the celebration with them is moved to the 25th :D
Nein, Jesus wurde am 25.12. geboren (Wir nehmen das Datum jetzt einfach mal so hin), Jedoch beginnt nach antiker Vorstellung der neue Tag nachdem die Sonne untergegangen ist. Deshalb gibt es in der Kirche auch eine "Vesper", z.B. Samstag Abends (für den Sonntag) oder die Osternacht (an Karsamstag) für den Ostersonntag.
In my family my parents and about two to four of my fathers/ family friends and my uncle who are single and would celebrate alone otherwise, celebrate with us on the 24th
The swaping is also new to me
For us, it is allways the family of my mother on the 25th and the family of my father on the 26th
Because my father has so many brothers, it is easier this way because while we are at the home of my mothers parents, my uncles are at the home of their wifes parents
It was this way since over 25 years while all the kids lived at home
@@blitzfuria4623 for my family we swap, because we don't want one set of grandparents to feel like we prefer the other one 🤷🏼♀️
Cushions for the bed were 80 x 80 cm in former times, but nowadays, we have all sorts of cushions. There are a lot of rectangular ones, for example, 40 x 80 cm or 60 x80 cm.
Washing machines are only in the kitchen when the flat is too small to put them elsewhere. Usually, they are in the bathroom or in a separate household room or in the cellar.
When it comes to Advent, we don't celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the waiting time. Advent comes from the Latin word "advenire" which means "coming". It's supposed to be a special time to calm down and think of the most important things in life, particularly love and care. So you meet your family and/or friends and colleagues for all sorts of little Advent parties. 🤗❤️
I love my 80x80 pillow and wouldn't go to anything smaller
Germans open their Christmas gifts during the night, that means, opening of the gifts does not start before sunset (which is around 4 p.m. in Germany on Christmas Eve). Martin Luther, who introduced the idea of Christmas as a season for making and getting gifts argued that the Birth of Jesus was the greatest gift to humankind, and thus it should be celebrated by small gifts. As the birth happened during the night according to the Bible, the night is also the time for getting the Christmas gifts.
@@SiqueScarface Eh, that's hardly a closely observed rule. Besides, the sun sets somewhen around 4 PM on that day, so it's not like it matters much anyway.
Well yes, it's supposed to be a special time to calm down, but in reality people are going crazy over buying Christmas presents, and going into any kind of shop (at least in larger cities) is a special version of hell.
@@Llortnerof It is so closely observed that it was mentioned in the radio News on Christmas Eve. I was driving on Dec 24th, and I had the car radio playing. On each hour, there was a different German tradition mentioned that is happening right now.
German light switches work pretty much the same, they're just bigger. Makes them easy to hit in the dark or when you're not looking, when you've got your hands full etc..
If there's a lot of seperate circuits in a room, you may also encounter ones split in the middle that control two circuits. Typically, the main light has a single switch if one is present.
The size is likely due to the SchuKo plug (the entire plug is inserted, not just the contacts, requiring the socket to be larger and deeper, but also preventing accidental dislodging... and occassionally intentional dislodging). This size allows for both switches and sockets to be fitted into the same frame.
You can manipulate these switches with nearly everything you are carrying or the elbow, nose or whatever. Must be much easier for disabled or injured persons.
In old houses, you'd sometimes find those bakelite rotary switches instead, but only in places like attic or basement where nobody thought of renewing the wiring for at least half a century (those probably lack protective earth and might use aluminum instead of copper). They are really hard to operate, about as inconvenient as door knobs that are meant to be turned.
Well calling them German light switches can be misleading since according to wikipedia "In Europe, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and India this type is near-universal, and toggle style switches would be considered old-fashioned"
@@Kristjan0209 when USA discover the electric switch that the whole world uses since 20 yrs...🤣😂😂
They are so backwards at everything. Maybe in 50 years, they'll discover respect, culture, freedom...
and all the things that humans have known for thousands of years...
I totally agree on enabling yourself to ask for words and explanations in German is key to learning the language.
The real key is to want to learn the language. Then you automatically ask. Many think they want to learn a language but actually they don't.
Immersion helps. I haven’t had a choice while spending 10 month in the US.
@@markwaypoint Absolutely. Speaking and using the language is what gives proficiency. I learned more about speaking english since I left school than I did in school.
the most shocking thing for me was to realise that adventskalener arent really a thing in many countries? theyre one of my favourite things in december.. and for impatient children its so nice to have a countdown to christmas.
i was brought up to never wish someone a merry christmas before christmas mass was over, but thats not really widespread anymore i think, since everyone always wishes me merry christmas while im still at mass, haha. oh and some people i know keep holding on to the superstition that youre not supposed to do laundry between christmas and new year cause itll bring death or something? (honestly its a great excuse to chill during the days after christmas), but im not sure where that tradition comes from
its so interesting to watch this videos and realise that some things you took for granted aren't a thing elsewhere
True! Eventhough I wont go to Mass any more, I still can't and wont wish any one a Merry Christmas before it gets dark or after 7pm. : )
Never heard about the bad luck one with laundry between the years but every region has their own traditions!
@@haberschnack i know some people who don't go to mass (im not judging, i only do it for traditionand cause im invovled in the music there) who just.. start christmas eve in the afternoon whcih is so weird to me. its like mass holds the line before gifts for me xDD
i think the bad luck laundry one could be a northern/eastern thing? the only people i asked who knew or practised that came from there but its not representative im afreaid
I think the superstition to not do laundry at that time comes from the fear of the 'Wilde Jagd' which is out hunting during the 'Rauhnächte' and could get entangled in the clothes lines.
@@thomashintz8609 oh i never heard of that! will be looking that up, thanks!
@@thomashintz8609 Yes, that's exactly the reason
In a lot of older apartments, there is only 1 water pipe access - usually in the kitchen, so the washer has to be in the kitchen as well. In most modern apartments, you have them in the bathroom or in the cellar/basement in a shared room (because of the noise and moisture).
Sometimes they are on the balcony, often the case in 70s high rise buildings.
And what helps against moisture? Lüften! 😁😁😁
Others have said it as well how we do it with presents on the 24th, but "Christmas" really is a three day event - it's Christmas Eve ("Heiliger Abend" / Holy Evening) (24th), which is considered a half working day and everything usually closes at the latest at 2pm, and then there's the 1st and 2nd "day of christmas" (1. und 2. Weihnachtstag) on the 25th and 26th, both are public holidays.
About that birthday thing (that I hear sooo often about Germany): The reason why we dont congratulate the day before is usually not because of bad luck, but because it just makes no sense to congratulate on something, that hasnt happend yet 😄 You also wouldnt congratulate before a baby ist born, before an exam is passed etc.. You do it, after it happend.
The reason why you say "Happy Birthday" on the birthday is usually because you like that person and want to let him/her know that you think about him/her on that special day. If a person did it one day or some days before, it would seem like that person would think: If I do it now, its done and than on the day itself I dont have to think about it anymore.
Like it would be an annoying thing to do.
If you congratulate after the Birthday, then its usually because you forgot the birthday and want to say you're sorry. Or you're not that close with a person and you know, its ok to do it, when you see the person the next time, e.g. a colleague.
"Happy Christmas" we usually say only on Christmas (and Christmas Eve, because thats the actual christmas for us, thats just our tradition). "Happy new year" you also say only AFTER the new year has startet. But there is always that debate on how long after January 1 you can say "Happy new year". There is actually no rule for that ;)
If you want to say something before January 1, you say "Guten Rutsch", which means something Like "Have a nice slide into the new year".
You can also say "Have a nice Christmas" or "Have a nice birthday" in advance, you can simply not say "Happy" something 😂
Yes, absolutely this.
Some years I wished a happy new year around easter - depending on when I first meet a person irl that year
@ It can be too early to wish a new year, but it can never be too late.
We have a so called "Bescherung" on Christmas Eve. That basically means gift giving and receiving. But that is after nightfall, not during the day. You light up your Christmas tree, maybe your fireplace, and some more candles in your house, then you might ring a little bell (specifically when there are children in the house) and then they can come, see the tree in all its glory, and have their gifts (which come from the Christkind or the Weihnachtsmann, depending on the region where you live). After that families often sit down for the first Christmas dinner. What is served also depends on region, and/or family traditions. On Christmas Day often families gather (perhaps you get to visit relatives living further away, or get visited by them), some more presents are exchanged and more traditional food like roasted turkey, roasted duck or roasted goose is served. Same goes on on Second Christmas Day (Boxing Day, which happens to be a public holiday still). In the end, you have gained a lot of weight and you might feel a little sick as well. Too much greasy food, too much drink (alcohol).
Note on wide roads: interestingly enough, especially for highways having a large number of parallel lanes doesn't increase throughput as much as you'd think - in fact, frequent lane switching can cause other cars to slow down or even cause accidents, leading to more congestion than you'd have on a smaller road.
Although he might have been talking about within cities, most cities that weren't razed in ww2 still have medieval city cores whose roads are barely wide enough for one way traffick, since they were originally built for foot traffick mostly (and with any luck we'll eventually be able to ban cars from city centers, but this is a car lover nation so that may take a while).
Fwiw: actual communists are rare in Germany, including former East Germany. He's probably not actually talking about "real" communists. Maybe people who are somewhat nostalgic for _aspects_ of the old communist rule, maybe modern socialists... I mean of course full on communists do still exist, but I just don't think it's likely that's actually what he meant.
Munic is a example for a city with a good road network, you have one Central Ring Street kind of like an Highway tho it's majority 2lanes each direction. This keeps cars from the smaller streets in the city center as you can just drive around it which is usually faster. Munic also has the most Traffic heavy bridge in Europe and the bridge is struggling under the load as it was not build for it
you would be surprised how many communists anarchist and socialists there are in germany. a lot of them just dont talk about it because of social stigma
any 4 lane autobahn that permits truckers to overtake, sooner or later clogs up thanks too truckers driving parrallel for about 1-10 km
@@Eddneton94 Truckers will be Truckers they do this here on Germany to despite the standard Autobahn having 3lanes and it being illegal of it takes longer then a certain amount of time
@@salac1337 you have to add tho that there was never any real communist state and they were a rather socialist with dictators which just happened to treat every subject under them equally shitty... true communism is like a utopia so I don't get why americans look down on it so much, they should just change it to hating Soviets, not their political system (they're treating it like a religion)
there are so many good points to communism and communism can just be a part of a democracy, most just don't have any idea what they're talking about
As a German I can say that the 24th of December is Christmas to me (and as far as I know to every other German too). Like if you would ask me “What are your plans for Christmas“ I would just tell you what I‘m doing on the 24th. This is the main day we celebrate here and to hear that Christmas should be on the 25th just sounds weird.😂
The advent time ist the time leading to the "arrival of the lord" or adventus Domini. Every advent sunday Germans light a candle on their "Adventskranz". When the fourth candle is lit you know Christmas only one week away :) We have whole songs about that tradition and also special advent songs like "Maria durch den Dornwald ging".
The tradition to get your presents on Christmas eve is called "Bescherung". Back in the days that happend only for children and at midnight from 24th to 25th after church. Later it became common to give adults presents too and because children shouldn't be awake that long, the tradition evolved into having the "Bescherung" late in the afternoon or in the early evening hours.
Ahm the classic rhyme "Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt. Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier, dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür"
I n my first apartment, the washing machine and dryer were in the bathroom. We had a shared laundry room, but the public washing machine was really disgusting. In the other apartments, the connection for the washing machine was in the kitchen and there was no other possibility in the house. In my husband's first apartment there was no possibility to connect a washing machine, he has to go to the laundry center some streets further.
it's pretty common all over europe to open the presents on the 24th. we have christmas dinner on the 24th, then open the presents. some people wait until midnight to open the presents, thus technically making it the 25th. and then on the 25th we have christmas lunch, sometimes it's at a different relative's house, and we also visit other relatives that we didn't spend christmas with, and sometimes someone that might be a really close family friend
A somewhat traditional dinner on the 24th is bockwurst and potato salad. Not everywhere and not in every family, but it's not uncommon to do the 24th smaller.
We for example always met with everyone at grandma's on the 25th.
2:44 nope, it is quite unusual, but in my last apartment the bath was so small, I did not want to fit the washing machine in there, neither did I want it to place it in the communal area, therefore I have placed it in the kitchen, behind a cover door.
The Pillows really are squares, the washing machines are mostly in the bathroom, but it's quite common in small apartments that they are in the kitchen. "Rinderrouladen" are like really flat beef rolled up and in the middle are little pickles, bacon and mustard, really tasty!
Fun thing: We have the term “Waschküche” which means “cleaning kitchen” or more accurate “washing kitchen”.
It’s the room in old houses where the laundry stuff was. The reason is, that you had to boil water in big vessels to do the laundry in old days. It’s like cooking. This explains the term “Kochwäsche” (it means something like “cooked laundry”) for laundry which should be washed at high temperature.
My grandma actually did cook laundry on her stove (she also had an old wood/coal stove in her kitchen… in addition to a modern electric one). In a pot that was used *exclusively* for that purpose. :D She didn't have a washing machine. And she had an outhouse toilet for ages…
Yea in summer it gets pretty hot here in Germany, especially where I live. Normally there is like 30 to 35°C in summer (86 to 95°F) but for days, maybe a week long the temperatures sometimes spike up to 42°C (108°F). In the past years it happens more often that the temperatures spike above 40°C (104°F). The coldest winter I ever witnessed here where I live in Germany was like -25°C (-13°F)
Christmas day for me (a german) is the 24th of december. The 25th and 26th are just extendes Christmas days to visit the rest of your family.
Regarding Christmas and the "Adventszeit": The 24th is basically the main Christmas day where you go to church, eat/prepare traditional food and open presents with your close family (Mom, Dad, Siblings). The 25th is called first Christmas day and the 26th the second, on these you go to your other family members like Aunts and Uncles or Grandparents where you get to open the presents they give you/you give them.
The four Sundays before Christmas are only marginally celebrated, religious people go to church for a kinda special church service and you light one of four candles at home. That´s it. Celebrating isn´t really the right word for it.
It is with Christmas markets and Adventcalendars
But some families , especially with smaller children come together on Adventssonntag afternoon, light the candles on the Adventskranz, eat homemade Plätzchen (christmas cookies), sing Christmas songs or read a christmas book for children. So it is a little bit of celebration.
You are right. Thats the way we celebrate Christmas in Germany.
4:45 because Christmas is on the 24th. At least here. Wouldn’t it be strange to celebrate your birthday on one day but only allowed to open presents the next day?
The 25th and 26th isn’t really anything special here, except religious people go to church and it’s a national holiday, alas like Sunday.
For Germans, december 24th is NOT "the day before Christmas", december 24th IS Christmas. Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) is the most important Christmas day for many families, with church visits, everyone dressed up etc., the two Christmas days after (1. + 2. Weihnachtstag) are mostly just visiting extended family. When I ask someone "What do you planning for christmas?" almost everyone (at least in my region) will tell me their plans for the 24th.
I think the 24th is the "christmas presents day" in many European countries - in some I think it is the 25th like in the US, and in some it is the january 6th (like it is in Russia).
I was a little bit shocked you have never been on a train - I guess I never met an adult person who hasn't. I think in Germany trains are much more common than subways, as subways only exist in a few of the biggest cities and trains also connect the smaller cities and more rural regions.
Happy New Year, Ryan and all your followers!
Rouladen refers to rolled-up and stuffed pieces of meat or fish of any kind, but the most well-known ones are beef (Rinderrouladen), filled with mustard, onion, thinly-sliced pickles and bacon, and then cooked in gravy. My mom got a recipe that's absolutely delicious and mostly prepares them for the whole family for new year's or does a large batch that's then frozen in ones and twos with some gravy and stored for later.
My grandpa, who was very religious, allways got realy grumpy when we wished him "Fröhliche Weihnachten" ("Merry christmas") on christmas eve.
Schnitzel with Rotkohl and Kloesse is a weird combination. Rotkohl and Kloesse fit best with braised roasts, turkey, goose or Sauerbraten for example. We most commonly eat Schnitzel either with fries, potatoe salad or fried potatoes.
The "rolled up meat" he talked about were "Rouladen", which traditionally is thinly sliced beef, filled with bacon, mustard, onion slices and pickles, rolled up and braised in red wine sauce.
the big difference is: we don't let a man break into our house, we allow him in after he rang the doorbell and the children actually talk with him as well (usually played by a parent or more likely grandparent, up until the children are old enough to know there is no santa)
and this has nothing to do with bad luck/ wanting to be earlier, we don't consider the 25th morning as the main christmas tradition time at all, thats just the time you visit your family, but christmas eve, they come to you, you eat together and then the children/all can unpack their presents.
I guess it's rooted in the fact that jesus was born according to the nativity story at night and not in the morning, so when he gets his presents in the evening/night, why should children get pushed back a day for no reason?
But that is St.Nikolaus and not christmas.
Christmas it is the little Jesus that brings the presents an when he finishes he rings a bell.
I have watched the original video that you reacted to a few years ago and I loved it. Thanks for reacting to it! I loved all of the channel's videos about different countries...
Happy New Year´! "Rouladen" are basically steaks that are rolled around smoked bacon, oignons, mustard... They're tied before cooking to stay in shape (they would unroll otherwise but once they're cooked they stay rolled and you can remove the yarn).
These light switches are really easy to switch. Like if you carry something you can easily switch it with your elbow. Guess its also good for weak people with hurting fingers and such. Proper door handles are good for the same reason.
Besides fashion, I am also a real estate photographer in NYC, having shot thousands of apartments, I can say that even in this city, washer/dryer combinations in the kitchen area are not unusual. Matter of fact, just shot this in a high end building on the Upper East Side near Central Park.
Might be not as common in other parts of the US.
Ein frohes neues Jahr und einen guten Rutsch, like we say here in germany. Enjoy all of your great Videos. Thx.🍾🍀🥳❤️
As a german I genuinely enjoy your videos about Germany and the people there
As a german, Christmas is on dec 24. The 25 and 26 are public Holidays (24 is not), but the Christmas Eve on 24 is Christmas for me and I guess for all germans.
The thing about dishwashers and/or washing machines is that you need an actual water outlet for those. In German apartments those are usually found in the kitchen (at least one) OR in a bathroom. In big, mutli tenant apartment blocks, washing machine outlets can also be in the basement. Same for single-family houses.
It's not only the water outlet but you need something for the waste water. That is more difficult in some places. My last apartment needed a pump in the basement to get the wastewater back on a level for the main sewage.
On the topic of Christmas Eve, in Bavaria you don’t have Santa or the Weihnachtsmann as we call him bringing the presents. We got the Christkind coming around for that. 😅
I imagine it would be a lot of fun talking through in person all these things you discover in the videos you watch 😁 I'm also very interested in the differences between Germany and the US and watch a lot of your videos to learn about them. Grettings from Aachen, Germany
I would say it’s more common to have the washing machine in the bathroom or the basement in Germany. In the UK however, washing machines are usually in the kitchen.
My washing-machine is in the living- and bedroom. (because there is no space for it in the kitchen and I live in 3rd floor, so basement would be very unpractical) It is connected to the water tubes of the kitchen, so I shouldn't use washing-machine and dish-cleaner at the same time.
Happy new year Ryan!
#3:25 -- *Rolladen* means flattened meat spread with pepper, salt and mustard in the middle with sour cucumber.
Just to clarify that: The meaty pleasure is spelled Rouladen, „Rolladen/Rollläden“ are the rolling shutters, that come down on the outside of windows :)
@@lieschenmuller9931 das hast du richtig erkannt, nur habe ich auf die Betonung im Video angespielt, daher auch die Fett-Schreibung des Wortes. Im übrigen wäre inzwischen für Roll-Laden also Rollladen orthographisch korrekt, aber aus Gewohnheitsgründen ist es mit 2 L ebenfalls zulässig.
i dont think the guy in the video really understand whats a communist xD basicly no german even at that time was communist, we are a socialist democracy, but i feel americans doesnt understand the difference of communism and socialism xD
honestly hand on hart in 36 years i never met a communist in germany xD thats not a thing. and i am far left socialist xD
I live in the east german city of Dresden and I only know exactly one communist. he's an old man thats always in the citycenter and that tries to lecture people about it, whilest swinging a gient communist flag.
You've never seen election posters of the DKP? Or flags of the DKP at left demonstrations?
Isnt communism and socialism the same thing?
@@mucxlx Not really but similar. Both ideologies arose as anti capitalist protest.
Under communism, the people are compensated or provided for based on their needs. In a pure communist society, the government provides most or all food, clothing, housing and other necessities based on what it considers to be the needs of the people.
Socialism is based on the premise the people will be compensated based on their level of individual contribution to the economy. Effort and innovation are thus rewarded under socialism.
@@AysKuz So socialism is communism with a social credit system like in china? Doesnt each person know what he needs himself? Why violently force something on them someone else thinks he needs? Anyway both things failed everytime they tried it with millions of dead people in the end.
The society and economy of Germany is called "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (social capitalism or Rhine economy). It combines capitalism with government intervention (when needed). When markets are unbalanced the state (Federal Republic) intervenes on behalf of the less powerful side. The doctrine is "As much intervention as needed and as less intervention as possible".
E.g. as employers have more market powers than employees German law provides employees (and trade unions) with certain protective rights to balance the labor market - protection against being fired at will, protection of pregnant women against being fired, and against working conditions that could be detrimental for the unborn child, maternity leave, minimum wage, minimum days of vacation, "unlimited" sick leave (not counting against your vacation days).
Other areas of government intervention are the housing (rental) market with laws protecting tenants, anti-trust laws, or the medical market protecting patients from high costs by big pharma.
Our society is "social" not socialist.
Greetings from Germany! At first, we do not only celebrate the Christmas eve, we also celebrate the 1. and 2. Christmas Day. Mostly we do the close family eve at the 24. and the children can open the presents under the Christmas tree and on the other 2 days mostly we enjoy the time with the whole family so like visiting the mother in law or the grandparents.
To your question ; Where is the toilette - - Wo ist die Toilette\ Wo ist das WC
And the the food he called dumplings, these are Klöße, a mixture of potatoes smashed and mixed with starch to a jam, after that forming a little bit smaller than tennis ball size and simmer it for an short time.
Have a nice day ^^
We in Bavaria say Knödl and they are often as big as tennis balls😉
Hey Ryan, I watched this video from "RobWords" "How anyone (including you) can read german". I found it really interessting, he basically gives rules for Letterswapping to get german texts more to their english equivalent. Even as a person, who speaks both languages, most of his rules were unknown by me too.
Oh, yes, I saw that video. Highly recommended!
I think he already has reacted to that
@@Anika6.91 RobWords Video is only uploaded 1 month ago, so i searched Ryans reaction and didn't found it. If he has no second channel it seems like he hasn't seen it yet
He already reacted to that, only a few days after it came out.
@@endersoul72 Ryan has several other channels, but this is the only one about Germany (as far as I know). Other channels are about other countries.
Me googling American light switch: WHAT??? We had that design too. In the ancient past. My grandparents had a few of them left, that were not exchanged for newer types yet. The house is from the 17th century, but I guess the switches were more like from the 1950s 😂
You can search YT for Rinderrouladen. There are a few nice videos about making them. There are variations regarding what is rolled up inside, but the basic recipe is always the same.
Our family Christmas tradition when I was a child was, my parents prepared the tree on the evening of 23th, when me and my sister were sleeping. On 24th, the living room with the tree and gifts inside was locked. We were eating in the kitchen. After evening dinner on 24th, we were sent to our bedrooms for a short time and when my mom ringed our Christmas bell (a small pottery bell) we went to the living room. There we saw the tree for the first time (decoration was a bit different every year), got our gifts, unpacked them and spent the evening with our parents. On 25th and 26th, we visited grandparents and uncles and aunts.
I have to say the weather is pretty different in Germany per region, even if we're actually a small country. In the middle and south it can get pretty hot in summer.
I live in northern Germany. We had pretty hot summers the last years too, but mostly not for long and the heat feels a little bit different cuz it's often pretty windy here.
I'm living in the north of northern Germany :D We're right between the North and Baltic sea. That's why it rains a lot here and like I said before we have to deal with a lot wind, storms etc.
Never get over it that I once lived close to Berlin and I heard how people saying: "Damn it's pretty windy today!" And I thought: "Huh? That's normal day weather :D"
We're saying here: "Es ist erst windig, wenn die Schafe keine Locken mehr haben" = ( It's only windy when the sheep have no more curls) :D
Ryan - yer have to take a talk with Feli from Germany, i would think yer find that wery interesting - btw. Happy new year my friend and welcome in 2023, could be nice to see yer experience Germany in 2023.
"I didn't know it gets hot in Germany"
If you want to experience 100F and 0F just stay in Germany for a year, don't even have to move around!
0F ... rather rarely in many places... In the last few winters, 0 Celsius was reached, at least for a few days, probably almost everywhere in Germany... but 0 Fahrenheit? Maybe high up on the mountains in the south... but probably not in most of Germany
@@tobyk.4911 in northern Germany we did go to 0F and below. I admit that is rare in many places in Germany, though much of Germany does only slightly hover above 10-20F in winter.
My dad told me that when he was young, he celebrated Christmas on Dezember 25. The normal family had to work on Christmas eve. So my grandma was a hairdresser and she went into the rich householdes to make their hair for Christmas. Whe she finishes their hair they started celebrating Christmas while my grandma had to go to the next rich family. Rich people started celebrating Christmas on Christmas eve because they had enough money so they could afford not to work on Christmas eve. It was like a Status Symbol. Rich people celebrated on Christmas eve while the workers had to work and weren't able to celebrate.
My grandparents had a so called "washin kitchen" in their farm house, right next to the living room, which contained the actual (cooking) kitchen. The washing kitchen contained cloth washing and dish washing machines, had a tiled floor with a drain etc.
There is also the reason that the only place to get hot water used to be the kitchen.
We have one in the cellar of the house we life in, which was built in the 1950s. It is a pretty common feature in my area, along with the so called "Kartoffelkeller" and/or "Kohlenkeller".
4:57 it's more like the 24th IS Christmas than the day before christmas, so Christmas is generally celebrated in the evening of the 24th and the 25th is usually the day where you visit the other part of the family or something like that (might differ depending on the region)
The washing machine goes where you have access to water. In many older houses that's just the kitchen.
... and the bathroom (should also have access to water)
What about the bathroom? That's more common than the kitchen. In fact, I don't know any German household where the washing machine is in the kitchen.
@@Sashimi1408 I said "older" houses. I maybe should have specified I mean actually old ones. Old houses didn't always _have_ bathrooms, it's pretty recent (on a historical scale) that these are ubiquituous, whereas houses pretty much always had kitchens (or at least kitchen areas if not a dedicated room). It used to be pretty common that if you had indoor bathing at all, it'd basically just be in a large bowl you filled with hot water or just wiping yourself down with wet towels. Similarly, indoor toilets are also pretty new, latrines/outhouses (private/public depending on exact time period, location and such) were more common in the past.
Now of course even old houses nowadays _almost_ always have bathrooms retrofitted (because otherwise you can't legally rent out these places as living spaces), but again we're talking about a relatively modern development, these weren't all that common historically.
(Note that this is describing the situation in germany, and only relatively "recent" history, and further mostly pertaining to "common" people; Various bathing and shitting solutions have existed, fallen out of favour and been rediscovered throughout the world and throughout history)
(Keep in mind that even in places where the general mechanics of toilets/flushing were understood, there wasn't necessarily always a convenient location to flush _to_; Sewage systems have been built for milllennia but require a lot of initial investment and upkeep, wherever population wasn't so dense to absolutely necessitate it simpler solutions were usually sought; Even as of the 19th and 20th century in a lot of big cities it was still common that the "sewage system" was based on gathering excrements in tanks, to be regularly exchanged or pumped out and dumped outside the city with wagons and later cars).
@@hannessteffenhagen61 Well, that's WAY before my time. In my family home there's been a bathroom with running water since the 1950s and the house was built pre-WW1. Anything dating back to the 19th century is certainly not what's been talked about in this video, the guy is very likely talking about flats for rent.
Dude you're actually on the german TH-cam Trends lmao! this video is #19 in the top 50 congrats!!
we dont celebrate christmas one day too early, to us 24th is just christmas
Ryan i‘m from Austria were we also speak German and when you would want anything almost every Austrian and German can speak englisch very well
About presents 1 day before Christmas:
Well, that is Christmas Eve, and to my understanding, also Americans agree that this is the actual day of Jesus birth (ok, I know the real, real birthday probably was in September) while Christmas is the festival commemorating his birth - following this birth.
Kinda makes sense to receive presents on the actual birthday, not one day later😊
Long story:
originally, German Christmas tradition look at bit different and had no “Weihnachtsmann” (Santa Claus), but a Christmas child…. But I’ll start at the beginning…
So, first, long before Christmas,
on 6th of December to be precise, the “Nicolaus” comes to town, and brings smaller presents to children (eg sweets and a small toy). This happens on the 6th because this is the catholic name day of the Saint Nicolas. There are clear similarities to Santa Claus, but also some difference. E.g. while both wear red with white cloths, the Nikolaus wears a Bishop’s Robe (as Saint Nicolas actually was a Bishop), while Santa Claus wears a coat and trousers.
Then, on the Christmas Eve (24th), the Christkind (essentially Baby Jesus with wings) arrives and brings the big presents. He is very shy, so everybody must leave the room, only grandma stays, as she knew him for a long time. So the Christkind quickly places the presents under the tree, and leaves ringing its bell, so the kids know they can enter now. The window ist still open (the Christkind had to enter and leave somehow, after all), so it’s somewhat chilly now. But all presents have arrived, and the party can start (and the disappointment about having missed the Christkind yet again fades quickly)
So yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense to receive your presents on the day Jesus was born, esp if the baby itself brings the presents.
A day later? From a man who wears a Coca Cola truck drivers outfit? (This is true, look it up). Now, that is somewhat weird 😂
4:00 "I didnt know it got, like, particularly hot in germany[...]"
well this summer there were major rivers that simply dried up in certain areas which was more severe than ever before, kind of like those 100°F heatwaves you had in america
It's so funny to me that you couldn't believe we Germans have square pillows. I hated rectangular pillows when I was in places that had them, and I love my square pillow. You usually fold them in the middle, so actually you sleep on a rectangular, but having it folded is just nice. I like putting one of my hands in the fold, for example.
I fold and turn mine (square) a lot, but not neatly. I more or less scrunch it up into the perfect messy shape to be comfortable 😊
@@rainghostly Haha, yeah, that is also common. :) It's great to have options.
Because of water pipes in the wall kitchens and bathrooms in apartments are most likely placed next to each other and depending on the available space in each room you place the washing machine in on or the other. Haven't seen a laundry room or washing kitchen on a long time. But some times your storeroom/pantry (mostly placed behind the kitchen) is large enough to put the washing machine in it too. But that only works if the water pipes are placed with this purpose for that room in mind.
If you are interested in german christmas traditions look into this video from the channel "My Merry Messy Life" "7 deutsche Traditionen, die wir zu unserem Weihnachten hinzugefügt haben 🇩🇪 Adventszeit". There are some traditions broken down e.g. Adventszeit
Sometimes some bathrooms are really compact and it is nearly cramped with the things that're inside...like bath tub, toilet sink and there's no room for an washing machine or an dryer... 🤷
And in Germany we also had an other type of switches, but they're still pretty old and rare to find nowadays...just search for "Drehschalter Bakelit"
For the der/die/das question
The German language uses 3 different definite articles instead of the one article in English. The nouns are assigned to one gender. The best example of this is:
Der Mann / the man
Die Frau / the woman
Das Kind / the child
The child isn't gender specific so you use the "das" as article.
The difficulty in the german language is to know what noun use which article. And if you have the plural form of a noun.
For example:
Der Baum / the tree - use the male article
Die Bäume / the trees - use the female article for the plural form.
That is only a small portion but I hope that make it a bit more clearer.
I have never ever seen a washing machine in the kitchen in Germany. All the houses and apartments I have been to had them in the bathroom or a utility room.
Rouladen are not just rolled up meat, it's also filled with stuff. Depends on your grandma's secret recipe, its filled with cheese, pickles, pepperbells, bacon, and so on.
Its marinated in whatever you like, our family recipe uses mustard-honey-marinade.
Happy new year from Germany 🥳
Christmas eve is kinda more important in Germany than Christmas day itself.
Greetings from Germany. Happy New Year.
McCarthyism is still alive in the US 🤣
3:25 Rouladen: The meat is spread with medium hot mustard, a slice of bacon is placed on top and a few thinly sliced pickles are added. Then the prepared meat is rolled up and tied with a little kitchen twine. After a short, vigorous roasting, the roulades then should simmer gently in a broth of beef stock, tomato paste and a bay leaf for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Goes well with red cabbage and dumplings 😋
I'm German and I've never seen a washing machine or a dryer in the kitchen anywhere. If the washing machine (dryers are rare over here) was in the apartment it usually was in the bathroom or a separate storage room.
Could be a regional thing, then. Up in the north, it's very normal to have the washing machine in the kitchen. I have both it and my dryer in the kitchen.
I've never seen it before because my family lives in a house so it's in the basement. Now that I am in a city to study it's in the kitchen under the counter for space reasons and cause there is the only watee supply for it
As a german i love your videos an would welcome you at my home for your first visit in germany
Hey Ryan,
I´m from Germany and I have noticed that you are very interested in Germany and would therefore like to make you the suggestion to take a look at Volker Pispers. You can learn much about Germany politics and also about America (USA)
There are some videos of him with English subtitles. Take a look and if you like it make a video of it ;)
Never trust a German with the coat of arms as their profile pic. Volker Pispers seems to be distancing himself from all kinds of extremists, yet the far right party AfD and conspiracy theorist have quoted him for their agenda. However, patriotism is not as broadly accepted here as in the US and national symbols are hardly ever used by people with moderate political standpoints. Therefore, if you stumble across someone who does that, take their advice with a grain of salt.
@Ryan Wass about "opening presents at christmas eve" at evening (7pm-8pm) someone of the family dress up as Santa for the little children and hand out the presents.
Sorry about my bad english, I'm german, maybe someone can clarefy what I'm saying.
My mother was from East Germany 1964 and even was in the FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend) in her youth.
For me who was born in 1998 in what was West germany it really is strange to see her way of thinking that has been tought to her in her childhood.
She is VERY work-focused and an ABSOLUTE MACHINE when it comes to work. She doesnt like to call in sick because back in the DDR doctors can actually reject/deny "Sicknotes", which nowadays isnt a thing anymore to my knowledge. Back in the DDR EVERYTHING revolved around work basically.
She still has a bit of older ways of thinking which she took over: She doesnt trust foreigners for example.
In her school they had like pictures of Lenin on the wall etc. and she was tought that the russians were "our friends" since they freed germany in WWII and so on. She was pretty confused when the whole thing started in february let me tell you xD.
The Point is that in Germany christmas is the 24th, Christmas Eve, or „Heiligabend“ in German. Christmas Morning or the 25th is the first Christmas holiday, and the 26th the second Christmas holiday
One thing I have to say being German and having learned English being immersed in a language and essentially getting yourself spammed with translation cards is the way to go. The moment you know you're really breaking through is when you dream or start to think in the foreign language.
We have washing machines almost every where like in the Wäschekeller (laundry room), bathroom, and in the kitchen too, except in the living room.
Christmas is at December 24th over here and, we open our gifts in the evening.
I live in Germany, and luckily, our bathroom is big enough to fit the washing machine in it. And it's practical to have the washing machine in the bathroom. You get undressed, and throw the dirty clothes into the laundry basket before showering. Then when the laundry basket is full, you don't have to carry the dirty laundry anywhere, you just yeet it into the washing machine when it's full.
Frohes neues Jahr! Ich wünsche dir und deiner Familie alles gute
Belated Happy New Year to you and yours.
If you are in the public in Germany never asked for a bathroom 😅. Please ask for a toilet (WC). You have a bathroom at home, this incl. toilet, sink and bathtub or shower.
I have my washing machine and extra dryer in the kitchen, too. Not because I like it, but as the only possbile emergency solution. Our multi familiy house is old and has no space in the basement or bathroom for it. In the past I had appartments with my machine in the basement or bathroom and only my dryer in the kitchen. Do you want them in your living room instead ?
That washing-machine/dryer things comes from the fact that most cities and towns in Europe are much older than washing machines.
To run a washing machine you need water and electricity. With bathrooms being traditionally small the only other place in a home where you have water and electricity at the same time is the kitchen.
People with large bathrooms often have them in there while people who build new houses often have extra rooms for that, like the US would.
But some people just know them as a part of their kitchen from when they were young, so they don't even think about where to put them.
We don't have smaller roads because people use more public transportation. We have smaller roads because the cities are older. Houses and roads have been built in a time where cars didn't exist.
On washing machines in the kitchen, only people with very small appartments and limited spaces do that, most of the appartments either have shared laundry rooms where each tendant has keeps their washer and dryer, has a private laundry room, as for me I have my washer and dryer in my bathroom, like a tower on top of each other..... and as far as Rouladen goes, he left out most of the Details....
Rouladen is a traditional German dish featuring long, thin strips of meat slathered with mustard and filled with bacon, onions, and pickles. The filling is enclosed by rolling up the meat strips and the roulades are then browned and slow-simmered in a rich gravy.
Germany has three days of Christmas with the first one, Heiligabend (lit. Holy Evening, Christmas Eve), being the most important of them. Although it is not a bank holiday like the other two. But most businesses close early to let the employees celebrate the "Bescherung" (the handing over of the presents) with their kids. And that's also the day when most go to church. Either the early children mess with the nativity play or at midnight. The other two days are either used to visit the relatives or just chill at home.
There are four advent sundays before Christmas but when Christmas Eve falls on a sunday it counts as the fourth one. Many people have an Adventskranz. Often on their kitchen or dining room table. That's a wreath made from evergreens with four candles on top. Each Sunday you can light one more of those candles until on the fourth sunday all are lit. That's why on some advent wreaths the candles have four different sizes so they burn down more or less the same in the end.
There's also a bunch of songs about this advent wreath.
For example a very choral like one:
Wir sagen Euch an den lieben Advent.
(We announce to you the dear Advent.)
Sehet die [erste, zweite, dritte, vierte] Kerze brennt.
(See, the [first, second, third, fourth] candle burns.)
Wir sagen Euch an eine heilige Zeit.
(We announce to you a holy time.)
Machet dem Herrn den Weg bereit.
(Pave the way for the Lord.)
Freut euch Ihr Christen.
(Be happy, Christians.)
Freuet euch sehr.
(Be very happy.)
Schon ist nahe der Herr.
(Soon the Lord is near.)
Or a little simpler one:
Advent, Advent!
Ein Lichtlein brennt.
(A small light is burning.)
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier
(First one, then two, then three, then four.)
Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür.
(Then Baby Jesus is at your door.)
We used to sing these with our parents each of those four sunday morning when lighting the advent wreath candles on the breakfast table.
Also there's an advent calendar which is a box with 24 doors or a garland with 24 bags which you fill on your own (like the Christmas sock).
The store bought boxes are mostly filled with chocolate but there are also some with small toys. And there are also some for adults with small bottles of liquor or with sex toys and so on. They were originally ment to make the waiting time for Christmas easier for the kids and stop them from constantly asking their parents how many nights they have to sleep until Christmas Eve.
3:15 Rouladen recipe:
INGREDIENTS
UNITS: US
2 1⁄2 lbs lean high-quality beef round steak, cut into 8 equal rectangular sections and pounded flat
8 tablespoons yellow mustard salt and pepper, to taste
4 slices bacon, chopped
1⁄2 cup white onion, chopped
1⁄4 cup dill pickle, finely chopped (may use dill relish)
1⁄4 cup oil, for frying
3 1⁄2 cups hot water, to cover (or hot beef broth)
1 bay leaf
1⁄3 cup flour
1⁄4 cup fresh parsley, minced (for serving)
wooden toothpick (or may use cooking twine or white thread for securing rouladen)
DIRECTIONS
1. Spread 1 tablespoon mustard evenly on one side of each pounded steak.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper over mustard.
3. Evenly sprinkle chopped bacon, onion, and pickles over mustard side of each steak.
4. Roll up firmly jelly roll fashion (with filling to inside, starting at narrow end), and secure each rouladen shut (so filling stays in) with wooden toothpicks, cooking twine, or white sewing thread.
5. In a large dutch oven, heat the cooking oil over medium-high heat. When hot, carefully add the rouladen rolls. Fry until nicely browned, turning once (about 7 minutes per side).
6. Add enough hot water or broth to almost cover the rouladen. Add bay leaf. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
7. Cover and reduce heat to low.
8. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours on low heat, checking once halfway through to give a stir and see that meat is covered with sufficient liquid (you may add a little hot water at this point, if necessary).
9. With a large slotted spoon, carefully remove the rouladen from the hot broth to an oven-proof dish; cover with foil and keep warm in the oven while making the gravy.
5:04 where im living (brandeburg) ther are a lot of cars also because, there is berlin. but in like bayern guys dont live that close to each other so there are not so many cars