Polter Abend

This week Dave took some time off and we visited the onion festival in Esslingen, a biergarten and the castle in Ludwigsburg, and the local pool. We had dinner at Steffi’s house and the adults stayed up talking and drinking wine around the fire pit until 2:00 in the morning. We had fun.

Perhaps most memorable event of the week was attending our first polter abend. Polter is German for “noisy,” as in poltergheist (“noisy ghost”). Abend is just “evening.” So a polter abend is a noisy evening that celebrates a couple’s upcoming marriage. Our neighbors, Petra and Markus, are getting married this week. So our neighbors Monica and Thomas invited them over for dinner, to secure a spot on their calendar. Then, when the couple drove home from work that night, they were greeted with a huge surprise party in the middle of the street. We had grills and beer kegs lined up on the sidewalk, food tables in the garages, dining tables down the center of the street, kids playing, and lots of fun. I had even made bride and groom hula hoops for the occasion. His was gold, white and black. Hers was gold and white with lace. The couple hooped in the streets and laughed a lot. We all enjoyed good food, conversation, and beer. There was a wasp that liked the beer too. I didn’t see it in my stein and it stung me on the tongue when I took a drink. I had to drink more beer to numb the pain.

But wait, I didn’t tell you why they call it a polter abend. The reason it is so noisy is that, according to German tradition, all of the guests bring old ceramic dishes to smash in the street. Smashing ceramics brings good luck, but glass is forbidden since glass represents happiness and you don’t want to break that. For extra good luck, the couple sweeps up the mess. Then throughout the evening people sneak over and dump out the trash can so they have to do it all over again and gain more good luck. Then someone new shows up with more dishes to break and the couple has to clean again. This went on for hours. It was a riot. We had such a blast.

The kids loved sneaking over to dump out the cans and being destructive without getting into trouble. It was a three band-aid night, but they didn’t care. Luke’s American friend Mimi was there. He announced to me, “Mom, I asked Mimi if she wanted to get married with me and she said yes. Then we can have a party like this too.” I’d better start putting aside some old china.

Be sure to check out our photo album on this page for photos of the polter abend!