Heidelberg's Witch Festival

The city of Heidelberg (HD) loves it's cult-related rituals.  In fall, there is a Vampire ball where people dress in extravagant Vampire costumes (think "Interview with a Vampire" outfits).  And in spring there is Walpurgisnächt, more commonly known as "witch night."

Witch night happens on the last night in April.  According to Wikipedia, this holiday originated by witches holding large celebrations with bonfires to celebrate the arrival of spring. Many in Heidelberg (HD) continue to celebrate the witch tradition.

On the top of the hill opposite of HD are monastery ruins and a Nazi amphitheatre.  These were all built on top of druid ruins.  On the last night in April, people (mostly hippies and students) hike the mountain - in darkness - and go to the ampitheatre.  Hiking at night to the ampitheatre is no problem... there is a constant stream of people walking up the forest trails to the mountain (as one friend put it "follow the dreadlocks, drum beats, and smell of pot"). 

At the top of the mountain (which we made without injury!), we encountered 2 parking lots with 30+ ambulances.  Seeing this was slightly alarming.

The ampitheatre (a short distance from the parking lot) was easy to find as there were loud drum noises coming from it.  In the ampitheatre, there were 3,000+ people, many bonfires (1 big bonfire, many small BBQs turned into bonfires), loud drums, people dancing (hippie style) everywhere, and random fireworks.   In the 30 min which we were there, 2 people were carried out of the ampitheatre by paramedics.  Many of the people in the ampitheatre were set to camp there overnight. 

The walk down was much easier than the walk up.  The path was filled with (drunk) people sitting and some (stupidely) attempting to walk in not-so-straight lines (this was done in a crooked path with frequent crashes into the trees and fences on either side of the path).  All in all, we hiked about 5km that night. 

Next year, we decided that we're going to have a cart next to the ampitheatre where we sell ice cream, water, and hamburgers/hot dogs.  None were there and we're sure many people would buy them.

Teenagers growing up in Europe... what's next for them?

On St. Patty's Day, my friends and I went to the local Irish pub for Irish dancing and green beer.  It seems that we were not the only ones with this idea. Many of the the teenagers from the US base also went to the Irish pub. This is legal as the drinking age in German is 14.

Seeing the teenagers on St. Patty's day made me wonder what life is like for them growing up in Germany.  I was even more curious after I ran into one group of students near the toilet - this group was wearing green Guiness hats, making an especially loud scene (a difficult feat in an already loud Irish pub on St. Patty's day), acting like the rulers of the bar, and already drunk from drinking lots of green beer.  They were all 15-16 years old.  This is common behaviour amongst the US base teenagers.  In a small town* like Heidelberg, it is quite frequent to see teenagers who you know drinking in restaurants, bars , etc. on any given night.  A friend of mine who works with the high schoolers mentioned that she's overheard many of the students discuss how often they drink (frequently) and the best places to sleep when they're drunk and can't go home (to avoid being caught drunk by their parents).  These teenagers are living in an almost surreal world of their making where the options are limitless. 

Typically this type is seen at the beginning of the 1st year college.  Then it tapers off.  If these teenagers are drinking heavily at 15 yrs old, what is next for them?  Do they drink less as they grow older or do they try to top this? What happens to them when they return to the US or when they start college? 


*From the US perspective, Heidelberg is a village.  Locals prefer to call it a city.  Small town is a good compromise.  It's qute frequent to see people you know, or people with whom you work, while out in town.