To Americans, German customs may seem weird. So, I want to take the opportunity to explain at least one little thing to you *lol* and that's me, congratulating my daughter to her "Namenstag" yesterday. Which means in our specific case her name patron's anniversary.
In Catholic religion all the Saints are celebrated on one specific day of the year. And yesterday, September 29th was St. Michael's Day.
As you all might know (or might not know) Michael is the Holy Archangel, and he once was the one who stood up against Lucifer!
Furthermore he's the patron and guardian for many, like there are: knights, soldiers, sales people, pharmacists, bakers, tailors, painters, bank clerks, dying people, poor souls and many others.
He's also the Saint for graveyards, and the guardian against ligthning, and thunderstorms, and for a good death.
I recall when I wanted to name my baby Sabrina I was told by the priest that it wasn't a Christian name... So we decided to give her this middle initial *lol* and made her first name a double one.
My daughter, who's 14 years of age in the meantime, is called Sabrina-Michele, and she sure has a guardian angel watching over her, and he's called St. Michael and he's the Archangel himself!
My hometown on the other hand celebrates its "Tower Michael" in its own specific way.
Beginning on the 29th (for a couple of days usually) we have a tourist attraction downtown. Next to our cityhall sits the Perlach Tower, and on every ringing of the bell of this tower (by the full hour) a door opens wide, and St. Michael rolls forward and stabs the dragon (Lucifer).
The children love to watch that! This door in the tower is decorated with many flowers, and it's supposed to represent our city coat of arms.
I will add some pictures below, and I sure hope you liked my little (long) story? Enjoy the photos now:
