A Polterabend

No, not a Poltergeist...a Polterabend.  The two words might be related but I don't know the background.  A Polterabend is a regional German tradition celebrating a marriage.  Sort of like a bachelor party and a shower combined.  Guests bring gifts and old dishes.  The tradition is to break the dishes (pottery or ceramics) to bring luck.  Broken glass brings bad luck.  After seeing how much luck was wished for the couple, I can understand why  Germany has so many porcelain factories.  We have visited the Rosenthal outlet in Selb this time and last time in Germany we visited the Meissin factory. The gentleman in the light coat was the grandfather of the bride.  He must have been cleaning house for months to find so many old dishes.  Maybe he collected from the neighbors also.

   Relatives and friends are invited but anyone who hears by word of mouth is also welcome.  Many of the groom's school friends came and brought 'challenges'.  The first was very cute.  A little planter with flowers and the bride and groom were told to dig for gold.  The pile of coins are 50 cent pieces so this would be perhaps about $30 dollars or so.  You can see that some children were glad to participate.
   The second challenge was more creative.  They had hidden a 'treasure' inside a chunk of cement and the groom had to chisel it out.  After he had worked for about 1/2 hour with a hammer and chisel they provided a jack hammer (which I am sure enamored the church with the neighbors).

The rest of the evening was more like what we do in America.  They had a live band, made up of ward members with the bride's father as backup vocalist.  There was dancing and eating and visiting. 

        Our best visit of the evening was with Gary Hoezel and his family.  He was baptized shortly before we got to Chemnitz and was so enthusiastic.  He worked with the missionaries and prepared to go on his mission while we were there.  He and his wife, who is the bride's sister, now have two children.  The church is growing in Germany and in our old ward in Chemnitz, but not so much through convert baptisms.  The Institute Center we opened in Chemnitz is now closed but the ward has about 10 young couples and Sister Hammer told me they have 12 children in the nursery class.  Brother Hammer was the bishop in Chemnitz when we first got there.

Elder Montgomery, Gary Hoezel and Selina, Francheska and Finn, and Sister Montgomery

As we were leaving we noted that someone?? had included beer bottle caps with the pottery shards.  Bet that goes over big. I wonder what kind of luck that brings?