Kapitel 1 Kultur - Adam Zientarski

I am both Polish and German and reading the text made me realize how prominent German culture is in the mid-west region and similarities and differences between Polish and German traditions in America. I found it interesting that German's that migrated to the United States did not really have an exclusive faith that they followed. The Polish people that migrated to Michigan were almost exclusively Roman Catholic. I didn't really think that there were many people of German decent and thought it was kind of weird that my ex-girlfriend would go to "German Club" near Detroit with her family once a month to eat, drink and network with other people of German decent.

Rachel's post below made me recall my many trips to Frankenmuth. Its an example of the rich German culture that we have here in Michigan. On one such trip when I was a Freshman in high school I purchased a pickle ornament for our family Christmas tree. It is apparently a tradition in Germany that on Christmas morning the person who finds the pickle gets a special prize. There has been some debate to whether that this myth is actually true or if it was an American-German spinoff.

Regardless, my family enjoyed it and it was fun. I did this for my family for the two years that I took German in high school... maybe I will rekindle the tradition this year!

(The image is a pickle. Hell yeah!)