Today is November 11, 2011, which can be written 11.11.11 in some cultures. That in and of itself seems worthy of note. Someone in my class — she’s from South America, FWIW — commented that on days like this, where the day, month and year are all the same, it’s considered a lucky day on which to get married.

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Here’s a quick quiz: without searching Google or looking back to my 22bz.wordpress.com blog, do you know what event is celebrated in Germany today?

I’ll give you a hint: it’s not what I normally think of when I hear “at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month“.

If you did read about it on my blog last year but don’t remember what I wrote about, you’re not alone: I didn’t remember it either. And therefore I didn’t think of it today in class when my teacher asked if we knew what today was. She wrote this on the board to jog our memories:

am 11.11 um 11 Uhr 11
 “on the 11 of November, at 11 minutes after the hour of 11 am”

Today is the first day of the so-called “5th season” in German, which is the start of the Karneval celebration. The Karneval period in Germany officially lasts from now until the celebrations on “Fat Tuesday” (Mardi Gras). Last year, some of Chris’ German colleagues told me about this celebration on November 11th in Germany. At the time, the information they gave me indicated that this is really only a celebration in the city of Cologne, not in all of Germany. Today  in class we learned that it’s also celebrated in the city of Bonn, but that Cologne and Bonn are the two main places. It’s not celebrated in most other places in Germany, including here  in Tübingen.

Anyway, I thought it was funny that I only sort-of remembered that I actually wrote about this festival last year. I did recall it, vaguely, as the teacher started to describe it, but it wasn’t until I got home and looked back the old blog that I confirmed I really did write about it.

Well, I’m a year older. what can I say.  Mein Gedächtnis ist nicht so gut, I guess.

Thank goodness we learned that phrase — “My memory is not so good” — earlier this week in German class. At least I still remember how to say that. 😉