On Good Friday, the beginning of the four-day Easter weekend, it will be illegal to dance in public in 13 out of the 16 states in Germany, with the remaining three enforcing a partial ban during the day.
Some states take the religious festival more seriously than others, with the strictest states being Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in the south.
In Baden-Württemberg there is a three-day long ban from Maundy Thursday until Easter Saturday.
In Bavaria over a four day period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday dancing is only permitted in a two hour window. Any kind of music is strictly forbidden in public places.
Even in Berlin, Germany’s party capital, dancing is illegal from 4am to 9pm on Good Friday. These might not seem like typical party hours, but clubbing in Berlin can often work on a different timetable.
But it would seem that party-goers in Berlin have nothing to worry about.
Joachim Wenz, head of the public order office for Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, a popular district for Berlin nightlife, told radio station rbb: “Over the last six years since I’ve been here we haven’t been active in enforcing the law.”
Religious reasoning
The thinking behind the 60-year-old law is a sign of respect for Christians, for whom Good Friday and Easter Saturday are days of mourning for Jesus’ death, and are considered “holidays of silence”.
“On Good Friday and Easter Sunday it’s about taking a pause to show consideration for those grieving,” Heike Krohn, spokeswoman for the Berlin-Brandenburg Evangelical Church, told rbb.
Although roughly two thirds of the German population is Christian, religion in Germany varies a great deal by region.
The south and the west are traditionally very Christian, but the east of the country is one of the least religious areas in the world.
While the national percentage of non-religious people is thought to be around 30 percent, there is a non-religious majority in the east, with around 50 percent considering themselves atheists.
This perhaps explains the more relaxed laws on dancing bans in eastern states like Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, as well as the capital.
Time for reform?
The ban has been met with opposition from groups like the Pirate Party, who have organized public dance events in protest in previous years.
Bavaria has already relaxed its laws slightly and the local government in Stuttgart wants to follow suit.
In the coming weeks discussions are on the agenda on changing the ban, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Baden-Württemberg restaurant association Dehoga has criticized the ban, saying that “a sensible liberalization wouldn’t be an attack on the law protecting public holidays”.
Whether the ban is actually enforced in Baden-Württemberg remains unclear, but a number of different clubs had events listed across the Easter weekend, including Lehmann Club, Romy S. and Kowalski.
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