Feiertage

     Many holidays in Germany share similarities with the United States, and the World for that matter, in when and how they are observed.  However, some holidays in Germany are celebrated differently and in some cases there are holidays that are unique to Germany.  For instance, there are some holiday's in Germany that are only celebrated in certain regions within Germany.
     To begin, some of the most important and widely observed holidays in Germany are religious in nature.  These include Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, All Saints Day, and of course, Christmas.  Easter is celebrated in a similar fashion as in the United States, usually with fun Easter egg hunts and egg coloring events in order to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Also, a small number of people partake in Lent, and will abstain from eating meat and sweets.  Similarly, Ascension Day celebrates the ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven, All Saints Day celebrates all of the deceased saints and the Pentecost observes the giving of hope to Jesus' disciples 50 days after his ascension.  These are all mostly observed with prayer and rest.
     Some of the other major German holiday's are more nationalistic or economic.  For example, May Day is the recognition of the end of terrible working conditions and is celebrated with giving all German people a day off of work or school.  In addition, one of the newest, most important, and only federally mandated holiday is German Unification Day.  It is held on October 3 and celebrates the anniversary of the joining of East and West Germany after the fall of the Soviet Union and the crumbling of the Berlin Wall.
     Many of these share similarities with the holiday's that my family and I celebrate.  For instance, my family has historically enjoyed Easter by doing Easter egg hunts and coloring eggs.  One striking thing I also notice is the similarity of May Day to Labor Day.  While Labor Day is celebrated over the weekend, it seems as if people in Germany and the United States share many similar feelings about each one.  But of all of these holiday's, Christmas is the most important and widely observed both in Germany and in the United States.

     In Germany, Christmas lasts from the 24th of December to the 26th of December and commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.  It usually starts with Christmas mass at their churches as well as other religious traditions, much like in the United States.  However, one uniquely German tradition is that after religious mass, the people set up Christmas markets where they buy and sell traditional German foods like sausages as well as ornaments and gifts. Then they will all wait for Santa Claus, (a German name I might add) Here is an example above:
     My family and I claim German heritage, so we celebrate Christmas very similarly to how it is celebrated in Germany.  We usually will spend the majority of the time at one of my relatives houses on Christmas Eve then relax back at our house on Christmas Day opening gifts.  One of our traditions that has come from Germany is the classic "pickle in the tree".  It's an old German tradition that the parents will hide a "pickle" ,we just use an ornament, inside the Christmas tree.  On Christmas morning, whoever finds the "pickle" first gets to open the first gift.
    Overall, many German holidays are similar to those celebrated in the United States and other European nations.  After all, the majority of the U.S population claims European ancestry.  But there seems to be more of an emphasis on religious holiday's in Germany, especially those associated with the Catholic Church since many Germans are Catholic.  In the end, Germans place a special importance on their holiday's and
celebrations.

Works Cited:
https://www.study-in.de/en/life/culture-travel/--16984
http://www.holidays-info.com/Holidays-Germany/2013/holidays_2013.html