Il territorio della Germany è molto variegato: nella parte settentrionale predominano i massicci paleozoici che si alternano a bassopiani presenti anche nella parte centrale, mentre nella parte sud i rilievi sono più recenti e di origine alpina. Capitale della Germany è Berlin, che fino al 1989 era tristemente divisa dal muro (di Berlino), in est ed ovest. Diverse le città che stanno attraversando un bel momento turistico: da Munich a Dresden, da Stuttgart a Frankfurt.
La Germany is crossed by two large rivers Il Rhine e il Danube che scorrono in direzioni opposte. Il Danube che nasce dalla Black Forest rappresenta una grande risorsa del Paese che lo mette in comunicazione con i Eastern countries (Repubblica Slovacca, Ungheria, Serbia e Romania). Numerosi sono anche i laghi, il maggiore è il lago di Constance, che si estende anche in Austria e Svizzera. La Germany ha un clima di transizione: oceanico nella parte nord-occidentale con piogge abbondanti e continentale nella parte est e sud-est contraddistinto da estati calde e inverni freddi.
Il sud del paese è ricoperto da foreste, dove il rispetto del Wald (il bosco) fa parte delle tradizioni culturali germaniche. Ridotta è la varietà della fauna, pochi mammiferi come il cervo, il cinghiale, la lepre, la donnola, il tasso, il lupo e la volpe e più sviluppata è l’avifauna con alcune specie migratorie quali la cicogna bianca.
Nelle acque costiere del Mare del Nord e del mar Baltico i pesci più diffusi sono l’aringa e il merluzzo.
Easter in Germany
One of the peculiarities of this holiday is the Easter bunny (in German Osterhase): it is a chocolate rabbit that is given to all children. In this period, in fact, the windows of the various pastry shops display Easter bunnies of all shapes and sizes.
The tradition says that it is the rabbit itself that brings the little ones, on Easter Sunday, chocolate eggs in large quantities. However, being a mischievous and playful creature, the bunny plays tricks on them by scattering the eggs all over the house and possibly also in the garden, hiding them in the most disparate and unlikely places. The children, therefore, have the task of arming themselves with great patience and intuition to engage in this treasure hunt, in the frantic search for the colorful and highly coveted chocolate eggs.
Just like the hare, the rabbit was considered by the pre-Christian populations of northern Europe a symbol of utmost fertility, so it has always been celebrated and revered as an element of good omen, a prelude to spring, rebirth, the triumph of nature in bloom.
German homes themselves are abundantly and masterfully decorated with drawings of eggs and bunnies, precisely to harmonize with the atmosphere of this event.
It is a time when young and old come together, when parents become children again and have fun painting eggshells with their kids, an activity very much valued and loved by German children.
Another essential element is the Easter fires, strictly lit using natural methods, usually with flint or by rubbing two pieces of wood or a large lens. Sometimes the very lights of the churches are extinguished, only to be rekindled from this sacred fire, so full of meaning.
Germany Profile
- Country: Federal Republic of Germany
- Area: 357,022.90 km²
- Capital: Berlin
- Population: 82 million inhabitants
- Language: German
- Religion: the most widespread are Lutheran Protestantism and Catholicism
- Form of Government: federal republic
- Major cities: Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg, Hanover, Dresden, Bremen
Useful Information about Germany
- Currency: Euro
- International dial code: +49
- International vehicle registration: D
- Driving lane: right
- Entry documents: ID Card or Passport
- Vaccination required: NO
- Electric current: 220 V
- Unit of measurement: metric system
- Time zones: same time as in Italy
- Fixed-date holidays: January 1: New Year’s Day; March-April: Good Friday; March-April: Easter; March-April: Easter Monday; May 1: Labor Day; May: Ascension; June: Pentecost Monday; October 3: National Day, German Unity Day; December 25: Christmas; December 26: St. Stephen’s Day; December 31: New Year’s Eve
- Climate: climate generally moderately continental, with cold winters and fairly warm summers, and chronically unstable due to continuous clashes between different air masses, causing sudden shifts from hot to cold, and from dry to humid
- Average temperatures: -1° to 1.5° in winter and between 17° and 20° in summer
- Transport: many national airlines Lufthansa, Germanwings, Air Berlin, Hapag Lloyd, LTU, Condor; all airlines have direct flights to Germany. Trains Deutsche Bahn, also with Trenitalia and French Railways
- Airports: many German cities have an airport: Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg, Hanover, Bremen, Dresden, etc.
