What are these sticker sign things?! I’ve seen them all over Germany over the front doors to homes, shops, doctors offices etc…

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  3. Every year (when there isn’t a pandemic) on or near January 6th, children dressed as the Three Wise Men go door to door collecting donations for a designated charity that benefits children (a different charity every year). They generally recite some poem to whoever answers the door, and confer a blessing on the house.

    This blessing takes the form you see there: the numbers represent the year (here it’s 2013, so either this photo was taken in 2013 or the “Star Singers” — as they are known — haven’t visited since then), and the letters are said to represent either the traditional names of the Wise Men (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazzar) or the Latin phrase “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” = “May Christ bless this house”.

    Traditionally the blessing was written in chalk, but this isn’t possible on modern door frames. They used to have black stickers they could stick to the frame and write on, but now they use pre-printed stickers.

    This is a very old tradition in Catholic areas, but it is now starting to gain ground in Protestant areas as well.

    Incidentally, in traditional folklore the Three Wise Men represent the three continents of the ancient world: Europe, Asia and Africa. For this reason, one of the children traditionally wears blackface: Germany hasn’t had the same history with slavery and empire-building that some other countries have had, so the news that blackface has nasty racist connotations hasn’t yet trickled through German society. That can be a jarring experience for visitors, but I predict that this particular practice will soon become less commonplace.

  4. As usual u/rewboss has explained it already.

    Adding an interesting bit.

    Deutsche Post recently had a [postage stamp](https://shop.deutschepost.de/175-jahre-kindermissionswerk-briefmarke-zu-0-80-eur-10er-bogen) featuring this.

    This is the explanation of the motif given there ( translated using DeepL )

    From Christmas to the beginning of January, children and young people dressed like the Magi go from house to house to collect donations for development aid that will benefit needy peers around the world. They sing songs or say prayers and decorate the doors of homes and apartments with the carolers’ blessing. This custom is already several hundred years old. Since 1969, the “Aktion Dreikönigssingen” has been organized by the children’s missionary organization “Die Sternsinger”, the children’s aid organization of the Catholic Church in Germany, and the Association of German Catholic Youth. The special postage stamp is being issued to mark the 175th anniversary of the Kindermissionswerk in Germany.

    Its work is regularly honored by German heads of state and government by inviting carol singers to Bellevue Palace and the Federal Chancellery every year. In December 2015, carol singing was included in the Federal Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO Commission.

  9. German here, it’s been 15 years since I saw an actual child put on blackface for this event. I saw one who had a painted mask once but otherwise they are usually just three white kids. Once an actual black child was with the group that visited my street.

  11. I’d wish we had some more traditions that aren’t religious. But I understand it regarding history

  13. Catholic gang graffiti. The Catholic Church shamelessly sends kids to people’s doors to beg for money and collect donations. After they collected the money, they write this as a “blessing” over the doorframe. Religious fruitcake stuff.

  14. I’m moving house soon and the new place has one of these stuck above the door. Am I likely to offend anyone/the neighbours if I rip it off?

  21. Whoever associates that with racism or anything is really an idiot.

    It’s a wish for good luck, essentially stemming from Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
    And if a kid wears a black face along with that it’s just because one of them most likely was black and it’s supposed to be a costume, that’s all 🙂

  22. They are out there on January 6th. It is a religious thing. It’s basically the year and then CMB for „Christus Mansionem Benedicat“.

  24. They’re blessings for the New Years, Roman Catholic Churches give them out to their patrons for them to put on their door and bless

  29. It’s done in the USA, too. I’m Catholic, but it doesn’t matter who does it as long as the chalk is blessed.

  33. As a German, this has to be one of the most quintessentially German house fronts I’ve seen in a while. The wood in aluminum frame door, that door handle, the Briefkasten, the horrible colored stucco finish. I’m an 80s child and every entrance in my memory seemingly looks like this lol

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