Breaking for Spring, 2024

Easter, Holi, and the Aurora Borealis

We’re officially on Osterferien (Easter vacation, essentially Spring Break) for the next two weeks in Germany.

We’ll have family visiting, so we’re taking the time to do some of the fun tourist stuff we never got to do when we first moved here. And we’ll take some short trips as a family, as well.

Check the Instagram page for updates if you want to see how it goes.

Here are some highlights of what we’re looking forward to in Berlin:

According to this website, the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) might be visible in Berlin for the next few nights. It’s rare that they are visible this far south of the Arctic Circle, but it does happen.

A longstanding Easter tradition in Germany are Osterfeuer (Easter fire), which are large bonfires set after dark the night before Easter Sunday.

Originally a pre-Christian pagan fertility rite to welcome spring and foment a good harvest (in some areas ashes from the fires are spread on farmers’ fields to fertilize the soil), the tradition was adopted by the ch…