The First Day of School

 { The SchultüteTradition}

I usually do not write long posts but as  today is the first day of school in Hessen (different regions in Germany have different vacation times and hence different starting dates) I would like to tell you about a wonderful German ( and I believe Austrian) tradition which all Schulanfanger (School goers – applies only to first grade students) are looking forward to – the Schultüte (Schoolbag), easily the symbol of the 1^st day of school, possibly the most important day in the life of any six year old.

This morning on the way to our Kindergarten I saw many little people, with proud faces and school bags as big as themselves…a lovely reminder of my first day at school many, many, many years ago ( although not in Germany) and also a less lovely reminder of how quickly time flies and how quickly our kids grow.

Well let me tell you about the school bag – (no it is not the actual school bag), this one is a very big cone made out of cardboard and embellished in some kind of way. They are sold almost everywhere in the last few months before the new school year. According to Wikipedia the tradition goes back to 1810 and the only thing that seems to have changed since than is that less and less sweets can be found in the bag. Well, that is only partially true as the bag is still seen as a treat although many parents try to reflect in its contents the step towards independence with the start of the new school year.

Kids say that it is not fun if the Schultüte contains only the items necessary for school and therefore inside one can find anything from a car shaped alarm clock, watch, water bottle, a compass for the great adventure that school is, to the first nail polish, glitter glue, key chain pendant and little stuffed animals. And always there is a fair amount of lollies, chocolate and other kinds of sweeties.

Enough reading, now I would like to share with you some photos of some absolutely unique and cool hand created Schultüten I found on the web. The themes of the bags could vary greatly from football and unicorns, to fast cars and cowboys, to nature and planets, to princesses and pirates, believe me I even saw one which came with a matching dress:

Lovely themes Planets and Space and Bees and Nature – photo courtesy of Anke Lilli

One for the polka dot lover – have I ever mentioned I love polka dots? Photo courtesy of byFranca

Of course one with horses, how could I forget the horses – lovely! The little girls' face says it all! Photo courtesy of Bab's Bumblebee

 

A very cool one for the dinosaur lover or the budding explorer - I love the name detail, it makes it so much more personal! Photo courtesy of 3@12

And my favourite one - a real rocket Schultüte – and one very pleased and proud boy! Photo courtesy of Bab's Bumblebee

If you had the patience and the time to read through than I hope you enjoyed this little story about how German kids start their school life.

Hope you are having a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx