Schultüte Tradition
The Schultüte Tradition
Happy Back-to-School
MVA Students!
A Schultüte ("school
cone"), or Zuckertüte ("sugar cone") in some parts of
Germany, is a large cone-shaped
container made of paper, cardboard, or plastic.
When children
in Germany set off for their first day of school for their first grade, their
parents would give them this large cone, beautifully decorated and filled with
toys, chocolate, candies, school supplies, and various other special treats.
The cone is given to children to sweeten this anxiously awaited first day of
school.
The tradition of the Schultüte has its origins in approximately the year 1810 in Germany. The first Schultüten reportedly came from the city of Jena in 1817, closely followed Dresden and Leipzig. It started in the larger cities but spread quickly to small towns and villages, and soon became viral all over Germany.
In the early days, before it spread to other parts of Germany, the usual routine was not to hand over the cones to the children personally, but hung at school on a metal Schultüten-Baum (“school-cone tree”). Each child then had to pick his or her cone, without breaking it. The story was that there was a Schultüten-Baum growing at the school, and if that tree's fruits (the Schultüten) were ripe and large enough to pick, it was time to go to school for the first time.
In the latter
half of the 20th century, fewer sweets seem to appear in the Schultüte, with more practical gifts
such as crayons and pencils, small toys, CDs,
books and even articles of clothing replacing the traditional chocolates and
candies. These are traditionally given by grandparents who also take the child
out to dinner the evening before school begins.
The Schultüten can either be handmade or
bought from shops ready-made, or even made by the children themselves in the
kindergarten.
If you want to know how to make a
Schultüte, you can check out the
YouTube video below! It’s just over 1 minute long and is very easy to
understand! Try it out and have fun!
Comments
Post a Comment