On New Year's Eve in Germany public transport, including the major metro lines in Berlin operates more or less as usual. Revellers can reach the major city squares or travel to their favourite city venues snugly in a warm metro coach while temperatures outside drop below zero. Carrying alcohol is permitted, but for those who prefer to leave home empty-handed, you’ll find stalls at most street corners selling beer and mulled wine.
Fortune-telling
Although Germany celebrates Silvester with fireworks, parties and street spectacles like most other European countries, there are some popular national traditions such as Bleigießen; fortune-telling through reading the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water. Also the custom of drinking warm glühwine is the best way to warm up on an icy winter’s day or night.
Berlin: New Years Eve 2009-20010, people gathered in front of the REichstag to shoot fireworks
New Year's eve in Berlin
Berlin probably hosts the biggest New Year’s blast in the country, celebrations which attract millions of visitors annually, both national and international. People tend to gather in the biggest squares like in Alexander Platz, in front of the Reichstag or around the Brandenburg Gate, which is the focal point of the capital’s New Year's Eve celebrations. These famous spots can be so crowded that police need to intervene through blocking passages and regulating pedestrian traffic. In 2009 for instance, those who decided to head for the Brandenburger Tor after 10.30 pm were disappointed to find the surrounding streets packed and police barriers everywhere. For those who like to celebrate the midnight chime in the open, it is therefore advisable move early in the evening.
If milling with the crowds doesn't appeal, then get invited to a private party. Private parties on Silvester are popular, with people only filtering out onto the streets to mark midnight and then heading back indoors or out for a night of clubbing. Due to the metro running late into the night, last minute decisions on whether to stay in or go out can be done without too much stress.
Food
During Silvester many Germans cook up raclette, which is a traditional dish based on the cheese of this name accompanied by potatoes and cucumber-- or vegetables and meat to taste. A modern electric raclette grill with small pans on it is the most common way to serve it.
Berlin: New Years Eve 2009-20010, people drinking glühwine
Fireworks
Around the world, rounds of fireworks sparkle and crackle into the sky at the witching hour, yet here in Germany, and especially in Berlin, it seems to be an obsession which reminds me of the excesses in Napoli. From windows, terraces, balconies and roofs, with typical German resolve and accuracy, families feel compelled to shoot off their round of crackers and bangers. This home "concert" doesn't stop till the major "orchestra" playing in the streets around and in the squares begins to fade out.
Michele Carloni is an artist based in Berlin.
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New Year's Eve (Silvester) in Germany means parties, raclette, glühwine and fireworks. Michele Carloni recalls New Year's Eve in Berlin and what you can expect on New Year's Eve in Germany.
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