Germany Edition
World Common Cup Day leads today's complete edition for Germany.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
A day for tea, coffee, water, juice, and the conversations that begin when someone offers another person a drink.
In Cologne, Duesseldorf, Mainz, and the Rhineland, the Karneval season officially opens at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The Narren, the fools, take over the Rathaus. The Dreigestirn, the triumvirate of Prince, Peasant, and Virgin, is proclaimed. The session begins. The Karneval lasts until Aschermittwoch. The number 11 is sacred: the 11th hour, the 11th commandment of the Narren, the 11th of 11 at 11:11.
Children carry lanterns in procession through the streets, singing St. Martin songs. A man on horseback in a red cloak shares his cloak with a beggar. The Martinshoernchen, a sweet pastry shaped like a croissant, is eaten. The Weckmann, a bread man with a clay pipe, appears in bakeries. The lanterns are homemade. The procession is ancient. The Weckmann is delicious.