Christmas Around the World: History, Lessons and Activities from Germany

 Special needs kids love fantasy and mythological characters. For the holidays, there's no better place to dig up adventure and fantasy, than in Germany. Gods, goddesses, heroes and saints, they all people Germany's colorful holiday history. Here are lesson plans for winter holidays, German-style. Travel with me to the Black Forest, for a look at holiday celebrations in Deutschland. Germany was, for a good part of it's history, a mix of warring nomadic Saxon, Hunnic and Teutonic tribes, who worshiped the pantheon of gods from Valhalla. They celebrated a winter solstice or Saturnalia. From their gods we get the names of our week days: From mighty Thor with his thunderbolt we get Thursday. From his vengeful wife Freya we get Friday. From Woden (or Odin), brother of Thor, we get Wednesday. The druids, an ancient race of animists or worshipers of nature, left their mark as well. Their most important deity was embodied in the oak as it grew so large and seemed so powerful. For the rest of the story, plus German holiday crafts and activities, Global Holiday Hop: Germany