TRADITIONS AND CULTURE
DOS AND DON’TS
The people, language, and traditions are what make the German culture unique. It has had a key role
in the history of Europe, and not only. English speakers call it Germany, Germans themselves call it
Deutschland. Germany is known as the country of poets and thinkers.
German culture has been influenced and shaped throughout Germany‘s rich history once as an
important part of The Holy Roman Empire, and later on as one of the most stable economies in the
world.
Whereas today, Germany is home to 82.2 million people including Germans and minorities of other
nationalities that respect each other, and together make Germany a country of values, unique
celebrations, and customs.
Firstly, here are some facts about today’s Germany. Though English-speaking countries call it
Germany, Germans themself call it Deutschland. It is Germania in Latin, l’Allemagne in French and
Almanya in Turkish.
Berlin is its capital, but Hamburg, Munich and Cologne are also among the main cities of Germany. It
is estimated that the average woman in Germany lives around 83 years, while the average man lives
79 years. The main language is German and main religion is Christianity.
There are a lot of stereotypes about Germans, as that they drink a lot of beer (which is true), they
are hardworking and punctual (which is also true), and that the rate of unemployment in Germany
is very low (true again).
Today, the average German dress is typically western. Both men and women wear dark simple suits
and shirts in business context. However, each region of the country have their own traditional
costumes, which differ a bit from one another. For example, in the state of Bavaria, the
traditional costume for men is leather trousers that end just above the knee, while for women it is a
dress that incorporates a bodice, blouse, full skirt and an apron. You can see people wearing these
costumes, especially during carnivals or festivals.
Germans drink a lot of beer, eat sausages and make bread of different taste. That is not only a
stereotype, but a true fact. It is estimated that the average German consumes around 140 liters of
beer per year. Only in 2012 alone, Germans drank 2.25 gallons of beer, which is actually the lowest
level since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990. They are the second largest beer consumers in Europe,
after the Czech.
Wurst, which means sausages in German, are an important part of the German cuisine, which are
made of pork, beef or veal and flavored differently. As for bread, there is a long tradition of
bread-baking of which Germans take pride in. There are breads with different shapes, black and
white, with different tastes and names, sweet, soft, plain with all types of seeds you could think of.