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HAVE GERMAN WILL TRAVEL
FEIERTAG I FEST
" Bei uns ist immer was los!"
Der 31. OKTOBER -TAG VOR ALLERHEILIGEN I HALLOWEEN
,Streich oder SiiSigkeit!" I , Trick or Treat!"
Related Web link: geisterparty.colll-Hallow~n
&Geisterpslty, for party ideas !Gl
I{ALLOWEE~ A'BADAMERICAN·HABIT'
VIENNA, Austria - It's almost H a~loween
- and .all those ghosts: goblins, t ricks and
treats are giving Hans Kohler the creeps.
So t he mayor of Rankweil, a town near ·
the border with Swit zerland, has launche(j a
one·man campa!gn disparaging Halloween
as ·a "bad Amerkan habif!' and urging fami lies to skip it this year.
"It's an American custom t hat's got nothing to do with our cultu.re," Kohler wrote in
letters sent out to households. By midweek,
the mayors of eight neighboring villages
had thrown their support behind the boycott. So had local police, annoyed with the
annual Oct. 31 uptick in vandalism and mischief. Critics see it as the epitome of crass,
U.S.-style commeryialism.
German Halloween Costumes -
deutsche Halloweenkostiime
Scary costumes prevail on Halloween and though trick or
treating is not as common as in the United States, children in
Germany love to dress up as their f rightening best and then go
to a Halloween party. Here's what some of the most popular
costumes are called in German:
• der Geist- ghost
• das Gespenst- phantom, ghost
• die Hexe- witch
~~ve would rather say
\ ~ hello (Martin) Luther
. ~: than Halloween." With
this dictum, a protestant bishop
confirmed what many Germans
thought after a Halloween night
with hordes of greedy kids, broken
windows and shaving foam on
their door handles. No wonder
that the eve of All Hallows is fast
becoming the least-liked American
import among German aduJrs. Bur
the ~:oungsters love it. ~~~ ~~~
• die Mumie- mummy
• der Pirat- pirate
• der Sensenmann- the Grim Reaper
• das Skelett- skeleton
o
der Teufel- devil
• der Vampir-vampire
.. der Wetwolf- werewolf
o
der Zombi- zombie
s c hreien
=to scream
to carve (a pumpkin) = einschneiden