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Religionen in Deutschland – Religions in Germany

Posted by jan 8 Comments
Jan 9 2012

At the end of the year 2011, I posted an article called „Some simple fatcs about Germany“. While doing the research for this article, I discovered some other interesting facts about Germany that I didn´t know before though I´m living here since I was born.

One of them was about religions. For not being very religiös (religious) myself, I normally don´t care much about religious topics. But when I read about the spreading of the different religions, this sounded quite interesting to me.

So, to come to a point, we have countless religions respectively subassembly groups or Abspaltungen (split-offs) of them. The biggest main religion is das Christentum (Christianity). Out of this main religion there are also the most split-offs. Take a look:

- Römisch-katholische Kirche (Roman Catholic Church)
- Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (Protestant Church of Germany)
- Orthodoxes Christentum (Orthodox Christianity)
- Neuapostolische Kirche (New Apostolic Church)
- Zeugen Jehovas (Jehovah´s Witnesses)
- Baptisten (Baptists)
- Mennoniten (Mennonites)
- Selbständige Evangelische-Lutherische Kirche
- Pfingstler
- Siebenten-Tags-Adventisten
- Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
- Altkatholische Kirche
- Christliche Wissenschaft
- Anglikaner (Anglicans)

Beside Christianity we also have Islam, das Judentum (Jewry), Hinduismus (Hinduism) and Buddhismus (Buddhism) in Germany.

Here are some numbers of the strongest religions in Germany:

Konfessionslos 28.214.000 34,60%
Römisch-katholische Kirche 24.909.332 30,50%
Evangelische Landeskirchen 24.194.986 29,50%
Islam 4.000.000 4,88%
Griechische-Orthodoxe Kirche 450.000 0,55%
Neuapostolische Kirche 359.833 0,44%
Rumänisch-Orthodoxe Kirche 300.000 0,36%
Serbisch-Orthodoxe Kirche 250.000 0,31%
Buddhisten 245.000 0,30%
Juden 200.000 0,24%
Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche 180.000 0,22%

Martin Luther

Die Missionierung (proselytization) took place from the 6th to the 10th century. Whereas Protestant reformation began in the 16th century with Martin Luther (1483-1546). The interesting thing is, before World War 1, approximately 60% of the Bevölkerung (population) in Germany was affected by the Protestant Church. Nowadays, the two main religions have almost the same number of members. The Roman Catholic Church even has a slight Vorsprung (advance).

The orthodox churches came with the immigrants. Most of them were coming from eastern countries like Greek, Serbia, Russia, Bulgaria…

Jehovah`s Witnesses were founded in the USA and exists in Germany since 1903.

Islam has its own Untergruppen (subassembly groups) as well (Sunnites, Shiites, Alevites and even further ones). Most of the people in Germany with an islamic background have turkish roots.

Most of the Jews living in Germany have their origin in Eastern Europe. Nowadays we have approximetaly 200.000 of them in Germany. There are Jewish communities in Germany since the 1st centruy, so this is the oldest Glaubensgemeinschaft (denomination) that we have here.

Well, as far as I can overlook this, almost every religion is somehow represented in Germany. But also a third af the population is konfessionslos (undenominational), that means without a certain religion. In my optinion this makes people diverse and interesting. As long as everybody stays tolerant and respects other persuasions, it is a great way to do so.

Some vocabulary to this post:

religiös – religious
die Abspaltung – split-off
das Christentum – Christianity
die Römisch-katholische Kirche – Roman Catholic Church
die Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland – Protestant Church of Germany
das Orthodoxes Christentum – Orthodox Christianity
die Neuapostolische Kirche – New Apostolic Church
die Zeugen Jehovas – Jehovah´s Witnesses
die Baptisten – Baptists
die Mennoniten – Mennonites
die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
die Anglikaner – Anglicans
das Judentum – Jewry
der Hinduismus – Hinduism
der Buddhismus – Buddhism
die Missionierung -  proselytization
die Bevölkerung – population
der Vorsprung – advance
die Untergruppe – subassembly group
die Glaubensgemeinschaft -  denomination
konfessionslos -  undenominational

Fröhliche Weihnachten! – Merry Christmas!

Posted by jan No Comments
Dec 24 2011

Ich wünsche Euch allen fröhliche Weihnachten und eine ruhige und besinnliche Zeit für Euch, Eure Familien und Freunde auf der ganzen Welt!!!

(Well, if you didn´t understand that: I wish you a Merry Christmas and a calm and contemplative time for you and your families and friends all over the world!!!)

 

Made in Germany!

Posted by sandra 5 Comments
Dec 21 2011

How many of you can guess what products are manufactured in Germany?

Of course if you’re a car lover, we all know Germany is famous for its high performance cars. But did you know it also has an extensive clothing line with brands such as Adidas, Hugo Boss, Puma and Escada, Levi Strauss and not to forget medical brands such as Bayer, Nivea crème and toothpaste!!!

You’ll be surprised how many of your favorite brands are German-made. Heinz ketchup. Mercedes Benz. Siemens and Hellmann’s mayonnaise. The Haribo and electronic small format cameras as well as jet planes, helicopters to chip cards and the famous Meissen Porcelain.

 

“Made in Germany” is recognized around the world as a label for products of high quality, standards and value. Germany’s global repute moreover extends to great inventions, ranging from aspirin to the theory of relativity – all created by famous Germans. This is turn creates their products and service to be one of a kind and frequently sought after.  In fact, it’s one thing we pride ourselves on and also expect when you do business with us. Therefore to a great extend also important to act by certain norms when you’re dealing with such. From being on time and dressed according to the event and behaving to certain standards, like your own behavior. We also tend to pay attention to detail which rather makes the product unique and one of a kind.  A reason why many international countries and firms seek out Germans and their technology of service.

 

So can you name a few things on what else is made in Germany? And if so, what makes this rather special to you compared to anything else on the market?

Der Weihnachtsstollen – German Christmas cake

Posted by Sandra Rösner 2 Comments
Dec 18 2011

This post is part of my Advent calendar on Facebook where I upload a photo every day that shows a particular German Christmas candy or decoration. I realized that I have much more to say about the “Stollen” than just a few words, thus, I decided to dedicate myself to this topic.

The “Stollen” is a German Christmas cake. Hence, it is also called “Weihnachtsstollen” (Christmas stolen/cake) or simply “Christstollen”. Some describe the “Stollen” as a kind of sweet German bread. But I don’t agree with this definition because for me a bread is something that I can slice and on which I can spread butter, soft cheese or put a slice of cheese or cold meat on it and the like. I would neither do this with a slice of “Stollen” because it is first of all, a very sweet pastry and secondly it is of a fairly crumbly consistency, hence, it is virtually impossible to spread anything on it. Moreover, I find the definition of ‘sweet German bread’ misleading since you could mistake a “Stollen” for Rosinenbrot (raisin bread), which are indeed two different baked goods.

All “Stollen” are not created equal, that is, there are different sorts of “Stollen”. The one you see in the picture above is a so-called Marzipanstollen (marzipan stollen cake), which means that it additionally contains a marzipan filling. You can see this filling in the two slices. That are the two spots that look so unbaked and/or raw. Germans use the term Marzipanstollen when they would like to make clear that they do not refer to a Christstollen that does not contain this marzipan filling.

Another sort of “Stollen” is the Mohnstollen (poppy seed stollen). In comparison to the pure “Stollen” and the “Marzipanstollen” it does not contain any raisins but only loads of poppy seeds.

Last but not least, I think it is a matter of taste whether you would like “Stollen”. For example, when I was a child I could not understand why all adults around me got so crazy when they were looking forward to have a slice of “Stollen” because I found it rather disgusting, probably primarily because of the raisins. But meanwhile I really like this cake and I already have had some sliced this year.

 

Have you ever tried “Stollen” and did you like it or would you go for it?

Rote Grütze – Red Berry Compote

Posted by sandra 1 Comment
Dec 18 2011

The holidays are closing in. We prepare and cook, clean and bake. The typical German tradition is with families, children and older generations enjoying the young one’s laughter and smiles and of course we exhaust ourselves if not over-eat on the baking as well as the Goose. Many of you are already familiar with our German Advent Calendar with all the sweets inside. But I’d like to introduce you to something very different that really has little to do with the Holidays. You can eat it as a dessert and mostly it’s served during summer seasons when picking the ripe berries that really make the whole content so delicious.

Rote Grütze is simply put is translated as “red grits” although it could also be translated as red groats, porridge or even gruel. However, a more appetizing way to describe this dish, which is particularly popular in northern Germany and Denmark, is simply as Red Berry Dessert, a selection of red berries such as red currants, raspberries and strawberries, sweetened with a little sugar and lightly thickened with a little cornstarch.

 

So, you might wonder why “Rote Grütze” is called “red grits” when there are no grits, grains or oats to be found. Interestingly, the original recipe did actually use crushed oats or other grains, which were mixed in with wild red berries. In today’s Germany, Rote Grütze is prepared without grains using a variety of different recipes; you’ll also find recipes that add grape juice, cranberry juice and even red wine or brandy. Other variations of Rote Grütze are Rhabarbergrütze that is made with Rhubarb and Grüne Grütze, which is made with gooseberries.

 

In olden days, Rote Grütze constituted a light summer supper that was served with cold milk or cream. Today, it is usually served as a dessert with vanilla sauce, although it’s not unheard of to eat it as lunchtime summer “soup”.

 

The Rote Grütze can easily be mistaken for the eastern European Kissel, better known throughout Poland and parts of Russia or the Baltic states, which carries a similar recipe.

 

Though the German Grütze is basically that of a pudding: The fruits are cooked briefly with sugar. The mass should cool down for a moment so that the starch—dissolved in fruit juice or water—can be stirred into it without clumping. A second cooking process of one to two minutes is needed to start the gelatinization; remaining streaks of white starch have to clear up in this process.

 

 

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