March 2022

Weather

Season	Spring
Time	Central European Time (CET), one hour behind South Africa until the last Sunday of March, when Summertime starts (27 March 2022).
Weather	The temperatures average between 0.2 °C and 7.4 °C. It could be warmer or colder, depending on the location. The average daily sunshine is 3.8 hours.

Holidays

Holiday	Date	Information	States
Public Holidays
International Woman’s Day	2022-03-08	Only in Berlin	Berlin
Observations
Meteorological start of Spring	2022-03-01		All
Fastnacht	2022-03-01	Six days before Ash Wednesday More info	All
Aschermittworch / Ash Wednesday	2022-03-02		All
Josefstag / Saint Joseph’s Day	2022-03-19		BY
Astrological start of Spring	2022-03-20		All
Start of Summer time	2022-03-27	Clocks are turned forward by one hour	All
Festivals and events
St Patrick’s day	2022-03-17	The St Patrick’s day parade in Munich is one of the biggest in Germany. There is also one in Berlin.
School Holidays and Terms
Easter Holidays	Various	School Holidays	Hamburg

Finally Spring, but don’t get too excited yet, it will still take a couple of weeks to warm up.
Although the trees are still without leaves until April, nature spoils us with flowers like Crocus, Narcissus and Tulips. These can be seen in most gardens and meadows.
There is also the anticipation of the upcoming Easter celebrations in April, and most houses and gardens will be decorated accordingly.
Many towns will have Easter Markets and decorate the town fountains with Easter eggs. These decorated fountains are called Osterbrunnen.
People also decorate trees and dried sticks with Easter eggs, these are called Ostereierbäume

The other great thing about March is the increase in daylight. Every day the sun comes up a minute or two earlier and sets later. Some places may still have snow, especially in the mountains.

Food and drinks to try

March is time for Starkbier and, of course, the related festivals.
Bärlauch (Wild Garlic) is in season. Wild garlic can be bought at markets or you can harvest it in the forests. I would not recommend harvesting Bärlauch, as the leaves can look similar to those of the Lily of the valley – which is poisonous.