Epiphany in Pottenstein, Germany - January 6th
Epiphany is celebrated in Germany on January 6th to symbolize the three wise men's visit to baby Jesus. Also marking the end of the Christmas season, Bavaria and a few other regions celebrate it as a public holiday. So what did we do? Light piles of wood on fire.
It was peculiar but magical at the same time.
Before the festivities we found a beautiful cave called "teufelshöhle" that was MASSIVE and quite beautiful, but we had a rude tour guide who didn't like me falling behind to take photos (how am I supposed to take photos with all these people in my way?!) so he made us miss the largest room in the caves... we left horribly disappointed but I did get a few cool photos out of it.
Children dressed up as old men and go from house to house collecting candy, we drank beer and froze our butts off standing on the top of a mountain. The tradition seems to have started because it was the end of the Christmas season, the christmas trees would be chopped up and a community would burn all of the wood. Pottenstein puts on a huge show out of it now-a-days and lights piles of wood all over the two mountains surrounding the valley city.
