Day 234 (I just made that up) Fieldnotes

[NOTE: this is me, Kate, writing in the voice of a sociologist...my way of saying the sun is shining, and the weather is great]

TOPIC: Local Religion

The inhabitants of Berlin appear to have a sun-worship based religion, one in which the appearance and disappearance of the sun effects heavily the patterns of day to day life.

BELIEF SYSTEM
The Sun is seen by Berlin natives as the permissive entity, in essence giving Berliners safe passage to outdoor life and social interaction. Conversely, the disappearance of the sun signals that it is time to drive interpersonal friendships and public interactions inside, away from clouds and what is seen as "bad weather." The worship of the sun takes place in communal gatherings in local parks (eg. Viktoriapark),

and is celebrated by partaking in the sacrament of ice cream and the sacrifice of summer beer and picnics into the mouths of the believers.

The Sacrament
The sacrament of ice cream (Eis) is one that takes place continuously in Germany, though during the winter months it is taken with decidedly less regularity and almost never on the streets or in the public eye. This taboo is lifted with the warmth of the solar "being," and the public celebration of their "mass" begins.


The more dedicated practitioners of this religion may opt for more intricate ways of celebrating the mass, such as this, known as "spaghetti Eis"



Sacrificial Beer
Many types of beer have been deemed "worthy" of sacrifice, and there appears to be little consensus on which, which has lead to schismatic groups advocating such different liquids as:

Fruity Beers


Beers mixed with juices or sodas


Beers with measures of flavored Syrup


or, for those unable to afford such colorful luxuries




The Consumption of Sacrificial Food
The sacrifice of "picnic foods" into the mouths of practitioners is even more varied, but it breaks down into general "synods" if you will:

The Semi-Almost-gelical Picnic of the Sandwich


The Greater Bavarian Snobby-fruit Enthusiasts



The Southern Ethnic-food eaters (largely hummus-based)




The less centralized, Universal Picnic of Yesterday's Leftovers

Feats of Strength

In addition to this consumption, the locals practice sun-worship by showing to the sun what talents they have accumulated in the past months of darkness. These include but are not limited to:
Juggling
Flirting
Unicycle Riding
Frisbee throwing
Three-chord guitar playing
Soccer


...And ye, it was good so (play off of und dass ist gut so)