Polterabend

The night before a German wedding is polterabend and involves eating, drinking… and the loud smashing of china!

As well as being jolly good fun for the kids (all the more so for being a health and safety nightmare), the idea is that this will scare away any bad spirits before the big day. It's also seen as a good test for the husband and wife-to-be, who must work together to clean up the debris.

I'd assumed that the name came from the spooks to be chased off (as in poltergeists) - but actually poleter means noise: poltergeist is a noisy ghost, and polterabend, with all its smashing, is certainly a noisy night.

It looks like little Jasper got into the spirit of the evening!