Typisch Deutsch

One Friday evening in late August, we returned home from a dinner out. As we got out of the car, we heard music from across the way and walked over to investigate. It was the Kindsbach Kerwe. I took the opportunity to take pictures of a typical German event. Now, I believe Kerwe is dialect for the anniversary of the founding of a church, which is also considered the founding of the town itself. In real terms, a Kerwe usually is a festival of some sort...the Kaiserslautern Kerwe is a week-long carnival. Here in the small town, the Kerwe includes a small carnival and some evening events.

And what does one do to celebrate the founding of the church? Well, pull the beer truck up to the church grounds, of course!




Don't get me wrong, though, bratwurst and beer equals socializing and celebration, not (necessarily) drunkenness, here. It's just a bit unusual to raised-a-Methodist (founded during the Temperence Movement) me.

Anyway, it's also not a German celebration without long tables under a tent, conducive to communal talking, eating, and drinking. Very few individual tables.





Music, too, is essential. We hear live music pretty regularly coming from the church grounds. I don't know if community bands, orchestras, and singing groups are more common in Germany than in the States, or if they are just easy to overlook in the DC suburbs as opposed to a small town.



And really, what's music without dancing?



OK, OK, so my kid was the only one dancing. And I was the only one taking pictures. Yeah, we blended well. But I wanted to record this typically German celebration. Wherever you go around here, you can find these elements...beer, brats, music, long tables, white tents, community.