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Guten Rutsch!
Sierra Vista Herald ^ | Kat Hanson

Posted on 01/01/2018 4:04:22 AM PST by SandRat

If you’ve ever been in Germany between Christmas and New Year’s, you have without a doubt heard somebody wishing you a “Guten Rutsch!” It literally means a “good slide” and people use it to wish you a Happy New Year. There’s various ideas how the “good slide” expression came about with some people theorizing it originates in the Yiddish word “rosch” and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Others argue that it stems from the original meaning for Rutsch, a journey. Personally, I always figured with the winter weather and amount of black ice we get in Germany it makes sense to wish people a “good slide” as everybody is slipping and sliding about the place anyway. The first time you meet people after New Year’s they may also ask if you actually “slid into the new year well.” That just confirms my weather theory and I’m sticking with it.

On New Year’s Eve itself, of course everybody has their own ideas on how to spend the evening, but there are a few staples you will find in many households. Aside from festive, hours-long meals like raclette or fondue, many people insist on having “Neujahrsbowle” which is just another word for New Year’s punch that contains at least one form of alcohol and juices as well as fruits. There have been legendary hangovers caused by “Bowle” made with frozen strawberries, vodka and “Sekt”, sparkling wine. So after the lengthy dinner you pass the time until midnight by sipping on your cup of Bowle and playing music and games, the most popular is probably “Bleigiessen,” which literally means lead pouring or, in more technical terms, molybdomancy. A small piece of lead is heated on a spoon over a small flame and once liquified it’s quickly dumped into a bowl of water. The solidified piece is then being interpreted by everybody around the table to read the future and guess what new year holds.

Another tradition in many homes is to watch “Dinner for One,” a British theatre comedy sketch that a German TV stationed recorded in the 1960s in its original English language and that has since become a staple on national television every New Year’s Eve. Between all the channels that broadcast it you could easily watch it fifteen to twenty times that evening. The plot of the roughly 20 minute long black and white piece is about Miss Sophie, a wealthy British lady, who celebrates her 90th birthday. All her friends have passed away over the years but the dinner table is set up for all of them. Her butler, James, has to virtually sit in for the absent guests one by one and toast with Miss Sophie through every course of her birthday dinner. Naturally, he gets more and more drunk with every round and has trouble pouring more drinks, walking etc. The tagline that makes the entire thing funny is that during every course and toast James asks Miss Sophie: “The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?” To which she responds: “The same procedure as every year, James!” At the end Miss Sophie declares that she is ready to retire to bed. Hand in hand James and Miss Sophie approach the staircase and once again James aks: “By the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?” Miss Sophie answers with delight: “The same procedure as every year, James!” James slyly responds with “Well, I'll do my very best!” Most Germans I’ve met find the sketch immensely funny but native English speakers somehow aren’t quite as amused by it. Unfortunately my husband, too, found it pretty lame during our first New Year’s Eve when I insisted he watch it. Imagine my disappointment!

Once midnight finally arrives, everybody, of course, counts down the last 10 seconds until the clock strikes 12. Everybody clinks glasses with a glass of Sekt. People hug, kiss and wish each other “Pros(i)t Neujahr.” Prosit is a form of the Latin verb “prodesse” meaning “to benefit,” so the toast wishes for a successful new year. The original word “Prosit” has changed to “Prost” in some areas of Germany and the exclamation has turned into an expression that is not exclusively used on New Years Eve alone but may be heard any time people propose a toast.

Last, but not least, Germans are the masters of fireworks. I swear the entire country blows up millions of Euros every single year to an extent I have yet to experience anywhere I have lived in the US. To be honest, I never liked New Year’s Eve outside because of the noise level that comes with fireworks. But my fellow Germans don’t mind and can’t seem to get enough of their fireworks. People are shooting up anything they can light up well into the morning hours of Jan. 1, much to the dismay of anybody that doesn’t want to stay awake until the sun comes up. Originally it was believed that bright lights and loud noises would chase away evil spirits but I’m not sure how well that’s going in all actuality.

Regardless of what your plans are for tonight, be it a quiet night on the couch or dancing into the wee hours of the morning and partying like it’s 1999, I hope you “slide well” into the new year. Prosit Neujahr!


TOPICS: Humor; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: eve; german; new; years

1 posted on 01/01/2018 4:04:22 AM PST by SandRat
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To: SandRat

Guten Frei!


2 posted on 01/01/2018 5:05:55 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Benedict McCain is the worst traitor ever to wear the uniform of the US military.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I hope you “slide well” into the new year.


3 posted on 01/01/2018 5:19:10 AM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country)
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To: SandRat

Bkmk


4 posted on 01/01/2018 5:31:02 AM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine.)
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To: SandRat

Could some kindly young techie here on FR locate a link to that 1960s Brit TV video, and post it here, so that many more of us may join in on the custom, regardless how lame it may seem to some? I, for one, would be grateful. I luv Brit humor.


5 posted on 01/01/2018 5:34:35 AM PST by Tucker39 (Read: Psalm 145. The whole psalm.....aloud; as praise to our God.)
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To: SandRat

Sounds more like a Bavarian or southern German thing to me.

Never heard the phrase once during the time I spent in northern Germany (thanks to Uncle).


6 posted on 01/01/2018 5:35:09 AM PST by Sam_Damon
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To: Sam_Damon

Me neither. I was introduced to “Black Ice” as a sailor driving to Todendorf, [West] Germany in an Army rent-a-car (Chrysler product—that then wanted to steer into the wind!)


7 posted on 01/01/2018 5:42:07 AM PST by Does so (McAuliffe's Charlottesville...and...The Walter Duranty Press"...)
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To: SandRat

I would have guessed it meant the casual glide from the Christmas holiday into New Year’s, just a week later.


8 posted on 01/01/2018 6:11:36 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Tucker39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1v4BYV-YvA


9 posted on 01/01/2018 6:25:50 AM PST by clockwise
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To: Tucker39

“Could some kindly young techie here on FR locate a link to that 1960s Brit TV video, and post it here, so that many more of us may join in on the custom, regardless how lame it may seem to some?”

Not young anymore, but I think this is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc

Can’t play it because youtube causes my computer to seize up.


10 posted on 01/01/2018 6:36:58 AM PST by Western Phil
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To: Sam_Damon

I didn’t know there where any Hill Billy Hicks in Germany.


11 posted on 01/01/2018 6:56:36 AM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country)
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To: Sam_Damon

Never heard it, either. Did hear “Gruss Gott! a lot from Bavarians.


12 posted on 01/01/2018 7:02:11 AM PST by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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To: clockwise

Danka.


13 posted on 01/01/2018 7:16:37 AM PST by Tucker39 (Read: Psalm 145. The whole psalm.....aloud; as praise to our God.)
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