Sugarcones and flying mushrooms

Yesterday I spent all day doing things I normally did on several weekends when I still lived here. But because I only had a few hours back here in Bernsbach, and because it was my first time back in a while, I figured I would do them all at once! So I ate all my favorite foods my mom had made for me (what a chore! ;) - Plaumenkuchen, Kassler & Sauerkraut, Rouladen & Rotkraut, self-made jam! - I was so spoilt!!!)

Then I drove around a bit, chatted with my grandparents (with them telling me stories from when my mom was little - I wished I had had a tape recorder), met with my aunt and cousin and looked at children with their "Zuckertüten" who were celebrating their "Schulanfang" in the school near our house. It is tradition for first graders in Germany to have a family celebration before they start school on Monday and they get a big paper cone filled with candy and toys.

As you can see, this tradition has existed for centuries. We also have had single sex marriages for a long time now... ;)




Finally - another tradition, at least here in the Erzgebirge, where lots of people are unemployed and have time to do that - I went looking for "Schwamme" (that's in our "erzgebirgisch" dialect, literally "sponges" due to their nature of soaking up water, meaning "mushrooms") with my grandparents!

Supposedly, lots of "Steinpilze" had come out in the last few days, but lots of people knew that, so all the edible (sp?) ones close to the paths (which is where we had to stay because my grandpa is not so good on foot anymore) were gone. I think this mushroom-rush must have been related to the photograph of a "Pilzberater" with about 100 good mushrooms printed in the newspaper the other day... :)

Anyways, I found a few good ones which I got to eat in a cooked state later that night (for all the others, they were "too heavy" before going to bed...), but the interesting thing is this: there were a ton of so-called "Fliegenpilze" standing around in the forrest! (They are the kind that is supposed to bring luck, like little pigs and four-leaf glovers.) In my whole life have I not seen that many!! :) They are poisonous, but soo PRETTY!

I took this picture with my phone, that's why it is a bit blurry. It's a whole Fliegenpilzkolonie!!!



Here is how they look when they're "perfectly" looking:



Now I just wonder: are they called like that because of flys that might sit on them, or because of their hallucinatory effects when you eat them? And: does this mean, I will have lots of luck in the future?