Karfreitag is the name for Good Friday – the Friday before Easter Sunday.
It is also known as Stiller Freitag or Hoher Freitag and is a day in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
For Catholics it is a day of fasting and traditionally people eat fish on this day and avoid alcohol.
In Germany it is a public holiday.
To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:
(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)
Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday) is the Sunday before Easter.
On this day the Church remembers Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, riding a donkey, where the bystanders waved palm leaves and hailed “Hosana”.
In addition the Catholic Church remembers Christ’s suffering – the so-called Passion, whereas the Protestant Church does this later on in the week on Good Friday.
On this day people go to Church and take palm leaves with them to be blessed.
Two other traditions on this day are:
To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:
(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)
The 29th of Februar is a Leap Day or Schalttag – a day is which added to the calendar every four years to make up for the difference between the length of a normal year and the Earth’s orbit around the sun.
Thus the year 2008 is a Leap Year or Schaltjahr.
There are also Leap Seconds – Schaltsekunden – which compensate for the small difference that only modern atomic clocks can detect.
But did you know, that in some countries there used to be a 30th of February?
To find out where and to hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:
(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)
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