April is mostly associated with Easter celebrations and holidays.
Many houses and gardens are decorated with Easter bunnies, eggs, and spring flowers. Another tradition is to decorate dry twigs (Osterstrauch) or trees with colourful eggs. One of the biggest Ostereierbäume can be seen in Saalfeld with almost 600 handpainted eggs.
A great activity for kids (also the grown-up ones) is to paint your own easter eggs. They are hung on trees, used for table decorations, or can be given as gifts.
Most towns have Easter markets and decorate the town fountains with Easter eggs. These decorated fountains are called Osterbrunnen.
It is also pollen season. You can find a Pollenkalender on the Allergie website.
| Season | Spring |
| Time | Central European Time (CET), the same time as South Africa until the last Sunday of October, when Wintertime starts (30 October 2022). |
| Weather |
The temperatures average between 3 °C and 12 °C. |
Here is a list of food traditionally eaten in Germany over the Easter period
Gründonnerstag:
Gründonnerstag sounds like green Thursday although it is derived from the old German word greinen, which means crying. Thus many people celebrate by eating green dishes, such as the following:
– Seven herb soup / Sieben Kräutersuppe
– Chervil soup / Kerbelsuppe
– Eggs in green sauce / Eier in grüner Sauce
Karfreitag:
Church bells are silent on Good Friday. Families may go to church and in some towns, such as Bensheim you will see processions.
Dancing is not allowed on Good Friday, neither are weddings. The shops are closed.
It is a tradition to eat fish at dinner with your family.
– Fish cakes with green sauce / Fishfrikadellen mit grüner Sauce
Ostersamstag:
In Northern Germany, people light Easter fires (das Osterfeuer) as a symbol of light in the darkness.
These fires are sometimes lit on Good Friday or Easter Sunday.
Ostersonntag:
Families come together to celebrate. They may go to church together and then have a big brunch or a festive dinner.
The main dish is often lamb.
Children hunt for Easter eggs.
– Colorful boiled eggs / Bunte Frühstückseier – served with Black Forest ham and Emmentaler cheese
– Easter bunny brioches / Osterhasebrioches
– Roast leg of lamb with juniper berry sauce / Lammkeule mit Wacholderbeerensauce
– Biennenstich cake. Click on this link for other Easter cake recipes
– Easter lamb cake
– Hefezopf
– German Sweat Bread nests
Ostermontag:
Easter Monday is a day of remembrance and reflection.
Other Foods:
Before Easter, you will find Easter bread (das Osterbrot) in most bakeries.
Brightly colored boiled eggs and of course beautiful chocolate easter eggs in the bakeries
The asparagus season (die Spargelsaison) starts in the middle of April.
Traditionally the white variety is eaten with hollandaise sauce, potatoes, and ham.
To find out how to buy and store asparagus, as well as some recipes, read our page about the German white gold.
Most towns will have spring festivals. The two most famous ones are the Frühlingsfest in Munich and also the one in Stuttgart. It is a great time to marvel at the cherry blossoms and magnolias. A great place to watch the magnolias bloom is at the Wilhelma zoo in Stuttgart, with over 70 trees.
| Holiday | Date | Information | States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Holidays | |||
| Good Friday / Karfreitag | 2022-04-07 | Karfreitag | All |
| Easter Sunday / Ostersonntag | 2022-04-09 | Ostersonntag | |
| Easter Monday / Ostermontag | 2022-04-10 | Ostermontag | |
| Observations | |||
| Palm Sunday / Palmsonntag | 2022-04-02 | The Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem | |
| Maudy Thursday / Gründonnerstag | 2022-04-06 | Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the Feet and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, as described in the canonical gospels | All |
| Karsamstag | 2022-04-08 | Six days before Ash Wednesday More info | All |
| Walpurgisnacht | 2022-04-30 | All | |
| School Holidays and Terms | |||
| Easter Holidays | Various | School Holidays | All except Hamburg |
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The Asparagus season in Germany starts towards the end of April and ends on the 24th of June (St. John the Baptist Day)
Brightly colored boiled eggs and of course beautiful chocolate easter eggs in the bakeries
Starkbier is as the name suggests a strong beer. Starkbierzeit is called the 5th season. It is during Lent (From Ash Wednesday (22.02.2023) to Easter). Read more here
| Happy Easter | ich wünche dir frohe Ostern |
| Easter bunny | der Osterhase |
| Easter egg | das Osterei |
| Easter lamb | das Osterlamm |
| Chocolate bunny | der Schokohase |
| Daffodils | die Osterglocke |
The entire cycling scene in Germany took some getting used to when I arrived here. In South Africa its sort of all kitted out serious health fanatics on bikes, and
Bis Johanni – nicht vergessen – sieben Wochen Spargel essen! The Asparagus season in Germany starts towards the end of April and ends on the 24th of June (St. John
Here is a collection of Traditional South African Easter Recipes. To submit your own recipes to be published on this website, please use this form Roast Lamb A selection Recipes Pickled Fish Traditional Pickled
German Climate Germany’s climate is temperate and marine, with cold, cloudy winters and warm summers and in the south occasional warm föhn wind. The greater part of Germany lies in
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