Polterabend

Traditionally, a German couple throw a huge party on the eve of their wedding. It's called Polterabend. The word is "poltern" means to to make a racket. The word "abend" means evening. So I guess the literal translation would be "noisy evening". The attendees bring porcelain and smash it on the driveway in front of the house. It is supposed to bring good luck. The bride and groom must clean up the mess by midnight or else it's bad luck.

A colleague of mine was getting married and threw such a party at his house in a small village outside of Dresden. The funny thing is that in a small village, everyone just shows up uninvited, adding to the porcelain mess.

There's still daylight, and the mess is getting pretty big.

The kids making sure that it's harder to clean up.

A not-so-subtle reminder that kids usually follow after a marriage.

A really nice bar setup they had in their backyard. Wow, what a party!

A "goulasch cannon": The nickname for this military soup making vehicle.


Shots of egg liqueur (tastes like egg nog with a lot of rum) and spice schnapps (like Jägermeister).

"Our polterabend we participated".

A work colleage and I.

A congo line. Did this come from Germany? I remember doing this at the Kitchener Oktoberfest.

A giant mess...
The police coming to quiet down the party...