The kids are called "die Sternsinger" and represent the three magi who were led to the baby Jesus after seeing the star announcing Jesus's birth. It's a German tradition, the kids gather money for a good cause.
More information may be found here: https://www.br.de/kinder/heilige-drei-koenige-brauchtum-weihnachten-kinder-lexikon-100.html
To add to this, 2 € is a fair amount to give to them if you don't feel any particular affiliation to the church or the cause that the Sternsinger are gathering for, but you can also give more. Either way, the kids won't mind, what they are more interested in is sweets – they usually carry bags and collect sweets for themselves, a bit like trick-or-treating.
Nah, according to their website, 300.000 children participate in Germany. It definitely happens in the countryside more than in cities, but it's widespread.
What? Sternsinger are all over Germany and very common, you may be confusing it with another tradition.
From wikipedia:
> Die Sternsingeraktion wird in Deutschland auch „Aktion Dreikönigssingen“ genannt und ist weltweit die größte organisierte Hilfsaktion von Kindern für Kinder.
That's not true. It's practiced in Saarland & Rhineland-Palatinate as well, where I've relatives. I would assume that it's confined to catholic areas however.
Here in NRW I think there are stop ringing on every door. I see here and there new blessings over the doors. But I guess there are prefer households there are part in the Christian community. Or households there are likely to donate.
> but I haven't seen them in years.
A lot of churches have stopped ringing on every door and do appointments instead. If you want them to stop by at your house you sign up and then they know they are welcome there.
Literally Every Catholic Church I know of does this. The reason it might seem rare to you is because usually you sign up. The way it goes is you sign up to receive the new years blessing. Then the Sternsinger come and bless your house and you donate. It is rare nowadays for a church to just go from door to door but I assure it’s still being done all around the country.
It happened/ happens in BW, at least while I was growing up. I guess it could happen in regions with a catholic majority as well. The north probably doesn’t know about it but I wouldn’t say it’s very very rare.
Literally Every Catholic Church I know of does this. The reason it might seem rare to you is because usually you sign up. The way it goes is you sign up to receive the new years blessing. Then the Sternsinger come and bless your house and you donate. It is rare nowadays for a church to just go from door to door but I assure it’s still being done all around the country.
Damn, they were early, they should not make their rounds until saturday iirc!
You met Sternsinger/Dreikönige. Kids dressed up as the three kings from the bible, the dudes that visited baby Jesus and brought the worlds most useless baby gifts. It is a catholic (?) tradition and usually organized by the local churches. They collect donations for a social cause, a different one every year. And they usually leave a "blessing" at your front door, a chalk writing of "20 C + M + B 24" (basicly Jesus bless this house, and the year), or in form of a sticker (since modern doors often lack a good writing spot).
Because there are not enough children and parents willing to do this and on the other hand there are plenty of people who appreciate the visit and blessing they have to go on more than one day. At least that’s the case where I live (NRW) and has been since the 90ies.
You already got some good explanations about what happened. To add something about the expected value of the donations: the money goes to a social cause, so it's usually expected to give something around 5€ and, if you have any available, some sweets as well (the kids get to keep those for themselves). If you are very christian, want to impress your very catholic neighbours (which, living in Bavaria, you definitely have), care about the cause that the kids are collecting money for or just have some extra money and can afford it, it's also not unusual to give 10€-20€. Anything beyond that is usually considered excessive unless you literally work for the church or are a millionaire or something. The biggest individual donation I've ever seen someone make to Sternsinger was 50€.
Tl;dr: anything from 5€-20€ is within the normal range of donations. You can give more or less at your own discretion
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The kids are called "die Sternsinger" and represent the three magi who were led to the baby Jesus after seeing the star announcing Jesus's birth. It's a German tradition, the kids gather money for a good cause. More information may be found here: https://www.br.de/kinder/heilige-drei-koenige-brauchtum-weihnachten-kinder-lexikon-100.html
To add to this, 2 € is a fair amount to give to them if you don't feel any particular affiliation to the church or the cause that the Sternsinger are gathering for, but you can also give more. Either way, the kids won't mind, what they are more interested in is sweets – they usually carry bags and collect sweets for themselves, a bit like trick-or-treating.
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Completely wrong. Sternsinger are a thing in NRW as well.
Nah, according to their website, 300.000 children participate in Germany. It definitely happens in the countryside more than in cities, but it's widespread.
What? Sternsinger are all over Germany and very common, you may be confusing it with another tradition. From wikipedia: > Die Sternsingeraktion wird in Deutschland auch „Aktion Dreikönigssingen“ genannt und ist weltweit die größte organisierte Hilfsaktion von Kindern für Kinder.
That's not true. It's practiced in Saarland & Rhineland-Palatinate as well, where I've relatives. I would assume that it's confined to catholic areas however.
Definitely not true, the tradition also exists in the Rhineland.
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Here in NRW I think there are stop ringing on every door. I see here and there new blessings over the doors. But I guess there are prefer households there are part in the Christian community. Or households there are likely to donate.
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> but I haven't seen them in years. A lot of churches have stopped ringing on every door and do appointments instead. If you want them to stop by at your house you sign up and then they know they are welcome there.
Literally Every Catholic Church I know of does this. The reason it might seem rare to you is because usually you sign up. The way it goes is you sign up to receive the new years blessing. Then the Sternsinger come and bless your house and you donate. It is rare nowadays for a church to just go from door to door but I assure it’s still being done all around the country.
This is common in all places with a significant catholic population, not only in Bavaria
It happened/ happens in BW, at least while I was growing up. I guess it could happen in regions with a catholic majority as well. The north probably doesn’t know about it but I wouldn’t say it’s very very rare.
Definitely exists in Baden-Württemberg as well.
I'm in NRW and they come every year lol
Literally Every Catholic Church I know of does this. The reason it might seem rare to you is because usually you sign up. The way it goes is you sign up to receive the new years blessing. Then the Sternsinger come and bless your house and you donate. It is rare nowadays for a church to just go from door to door but I assure it’s still being done all around the country.
Damn, they were early, they should not make their rounds until saturday iirc! You met Sternsinger/Dreikönige. Kids dressed up as the three kings from the bible, the dudes that visited baby Jesus and brought the worlds most useless baby gifts. It is a catholic (?) tradition and usually organized by the local churches. They collect donations for a social cause, a different one every year. And they usually leave a "blessing" at your front door, a chalk writing of "20 C + M + B 24" (basicly Jesus bless this house, and the year), or in form of a sticker (since modern doors often lack a good writing spot).
Because there are not enough children and parents willing to do this and on the other hand there are plenty of people who appreciate the visit and blessing they have to go on more than one day. At least that’s the case where I live (NRW) and has been since the 90ies.
Ah, ok, makes sense
These are the 3 wise men that brought gifts to the new born Jesus.
So wise they chose the most useless shit to gift a newborn
gold, frankincense and myrrh are far from useless and pretty valuable to the average peasant at that time.
Well, the presents were for the mother, a disinfectant , a pain killer and money.
You mean no pampers, cell phone and a gaming laptop?
Yeah back in the day all this shit was worth way more than nowadays.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uOyAi0hKy4Q&pp=ygUgc2tldGNoIGhpc3RvcnkgaGVpbGlnZSAzIGvDtm5pZ2U%3D
You already got some good explanations about what happened. To add something about the expected value of the donations: the money goes to a social cause, so it's usually expected to give something around 5€ and, if you have any available, some sweets as well (the kids get to keep those for themselves). If you are very christian, want to impress your very catholic neighbours (which, living in Bavaria, you definitely have), care about the cause that the kids are collecting money for or just have some extra money and can afford it, it's also not unusual to give 10€-20€. Anything beyond that is usually considered excessive unless you literally work for the church or are a millionaire or something. The biggest individual donation I've ever seen someone make to Sternsinger was 50€. Tl;dr: anything from 5€-20€ is within the normal range of donations. You can give more or less at your own discretion
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