Unity Tag (Unification Day)

Next Tuesday is a German national holiday....often referred to as Unity Tag.  The celebration?  It's unification day between East and West Germany.

What do most Germans do?  There are generally two crowds.  One crowd is mostly journalists, politicians, and intellectuals who hype up the unification deal.  Speeches are given, and beer served.  The other crowd is mostly regular people who grill, mow their lawn, and do some repair work around the house.  In simple terms, it's celebrated that much.

If you stood up in a German pub and asked about the whole thing....you get three observations by regular Germans.

1.  This whole unification thing turned into a huge requirement for tax revenue rather quickly, and has never ended. 

2.  Most people under the age of thirty....don't remember much of anything prior to 1990 and the division.

3.  The only people celebrating tend to be political or intellectual types.  In the Mainz case....they will celebrate just about anything....with a beer, or two, or three.  If you were celebrating the arrival of the Romans in Mainz two-thousand years ago....that'd be fine with the locals as long as beer flowed.

So, next Tuesday.....when you meet up with your German associate....wish them a happy unity-day and offer up a beer.