Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
New Year's Eve in Germany
Silvester, named after Pope Sylvester I, whose feast day is December 31, is celebrated with parties at home or with friends rather than with family. Raclette and fondue are popular dinners, and at midnight people toast with Sekt and wish each other a frohes neues Jahr; before midnight the standard wish is Guten Rutsch, a good slide into the new year. Private fireworks are a big part of the night. They may only be sold in the last days of the year, and in big cities the noise and smoke can be intense; some cities, including Berlin, have set up zones where fireworks are banned, and every year there is public debate about safety, pets and pollution. Many people also watch the short British comedy sketch Dinner for One on television, a tradition since the 1970s that few people outside Germany know. A traditional fortune-telling game is to melt a small piece of metal on a spoon over a candle, drop it into cold water and interpret the shape. Because the traditional lead was found to be harmful, the EU restricted it in 2018, and today people use wax or tin instead. Lucky charms such as small pigs, chimney sweeps and four-leaf clovers are given as small New Year's gifts.