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Germany's Culture
Religion
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with an estimated 61% of the country's population (66.8% at the 2011 census). The two largest churches are the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). In 2014 the Catholic Church accounted for 29.5% and the Evangelical Church for 27.9% of the population. Other Christian churches and groups summed up to 3.3% with estimations for the Orthodox Church between 1.3% and 1.9%. The second largest religion is Islam, with between 2.1 and 4 million adherents (2.6% to 5%). Smaller religious groups (less than 1%) include Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. 34% of the country's population are not affiliated with any church or religion.
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**Confessions in Germany as revealed by the 2011 census; purple: EKD Protestant, yellow: Catholic, blue: Nonreligious**
Cuisine
Here is a list of a few of the top foods in Germany:
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Rote grütze is a red fruit pudding that is a popular dessert in north Germany. It’s made from black and red currants, raspberries and sometimes strawberries or cherries, which are cooked in their juice and thickened with a little cornstarch or cornflour. It’s served with cream (sahne), milk or vanilla sauce or ice-cream.
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A steaming bowl of eintopf will warm anyone on a cold day. The name of this traditional German stew literally means ‘one pot’ and refers to the way of cooking rather than a specific recipe. However, most recipes contain the same basic ingredients: a broth, vegetables, potatoes or pulses and then some meat (commonly pork, beef or chicken) or sometimes fish. There are many eintopf regional specialities, such as lumpen und fleeh (which means ‘rags and fleas’) in the Kassel area, similar to Irish stew, or with lentils (linseneintopf) typical in Thüringen.
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Germans love their meat dishes, and sauerbraten (meaning ‘sour’ or ‘pickled’ roast) is a pot roast that’s regarded as one of the country’s national dishes. It can be made from many different meats, which are marinated in wine, vinegar, spices, herbs and seasoning for up to 10 days. This recipe is ideal for tenderising cheap meat cuts. Schweinenbraten is a delicious roast pork dish usually served with braised cabbage or sauerkraut and dumplings (knoedel), and washed down with a pilsner beer
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Brezel are soft, white pretzels made from flour water and yeast and sprinkled with salt (and sometimes different seeds). It's great to eat as a side dish or snack, especially with a strong German beer. They’re in every bakery and on street stands, sold plain, sliced and buttered (butterbrezel) or with slices of cold meats or cheese.
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You’ll find lots of cakes and tarts to tempt you in Germany, commonly made with fresh fruits. Few can resist a huge slice of the most famous of German cakes: the delicious Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest cherry cake. The cake is named after Schwarzwalder Kirschwasser, which is a liqueur distilled from tart cherries. Alternating layers of rich chocolate cake, cherries and whipped cream are topped off with more cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings.
Music
Music has a long and diverse history in Germany including classical composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, singers such as Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef and artists in various modern music genres including pop, electronic music and techno.
History of German Music: The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th-century compositions of mystic abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote a variety of hymnsand other kinds of Christian music. After Latin-language religious music had dominated for centuries, in the 12th century to the 14th centuries, minnesingers (love poets), singing in German, spread across Germany. Minnesingers were aristocrats traveling from court to court who had become musicians, and their work left behind a vast body of literature, Minnelieder. The following two centuries saw the minnesingers replaced by middle-class meistersingers, who were often master craftsmen in their main profession, whose music (meistergesang) was much more formalized and rule-based than that of the minnesingers. Minnesingers and meistersingers could be considered parallels of French troubadours and trouvère. Among the minnesingers, Hermann, a monk from Salzburg, deserves special note. He incorporated folk styles from the Alpine regions in his compositions. He made some primitive forays into polyphony as well. Walther von der Vogelweide and Reinmar von Hagenau are probably the most famous minnesingers from this period
History of German Music: The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th-century compositions of mystic abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote a variety of hymnsand other kinds of Christian music. After Latin-language religious music had dominated for centuries, in the 12th century to the 14th centuries, minnesingers (love poets), singing in German, spread across Germany. Minnesingers were aristocrats traveling from court to court who had become musicians, and their work left behind a vast body of literature, Minnelieder. The following two centuries saw the minnesingers replaced by middle-class meistersingers, who were often master craftsmen in their main profession, whose music (meistergesang) was much more formalized and rule-based than that of the minnesingers. Minnesingers and meistersingers could be considered parallels of French troubadours and trouvère. Among the minnesingers, Hermann, a monk from Salzburg, deserves special note. He incorporated folk styles from the Alpine regions in his compositions. He made some primitive forays into polyphony as well. Walther von der Vogelweide and Reinmar von Hagenau are probably the most famous minnesingers from this period
Art
Origin/History of German Art: The varied and often contradictory artistic forms of the nineteenth century and the absence of a general continuous artistic development can be understood only by taking into consideration the political and economic events of that period, which completely changed the social and intellectual structure of Europe, as well as the history of art. The French Revolution ended the traditional supremacy of kings and princes, but this gain of freedom meant a loss of inner security. With the end of Absolutism new leaders were needed to give intellectual guidance and take political responsibility. Although the slogan "liberty, equality, fraternity" was understood everywhere in Europe, the general political unrest showed that it was easier to formulate an idea than to carry it out. The revolutionaries had thought that the bourgeoisie would replace the aristocracy as the ruling class, but the transition from subject to self-governing citizen was not an easy one and frequently resulted in a new form of absolute power, exemplified by the rise of the citizen Napoleon to Emperor of France.
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Sports
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1: Fussball: No doubt that Fussball is the most famous sport in Germany by far. The German league called Bundesliga is one of the most famous and successful leagues in Europe. Every weekend tens of thousands of fans support their favorite football team and cheer for them.
But also the German national team attracts a lot of fans, not only because of the recent win of the World Cup in Brazil. So if you want to experience the Germans, who are known to be a bit stiff and cold, completely emotional then there is no better way than seeing a game in the stadium
But also the German national team attracts a lot of fans, not only because of the recent win of the World Cup in Brazil. So if you want to experience the Germans, who are known to be a bit stiff and cold, completely emotional then there is no better way than seeing a game in the stadium