Hello German Mensans,

My son and I just attended the Berliner Sommerfest and I want to
thank all those who helped organize it. It was a great experience.
I especially want to thank Peter Algor (hope I spelled his name right)
who helped us navigate the labyrinth of the Berlin U- and S-bahn, and
even gave us a ride in his personal car to one of the events. I don't
know of any other forum on which to post this, so I hope the message
gets through.

I also have a question. While in Frankfurt I serendipitously came
across the Sachsenhäuser Brunnenfest, sponsored by "Brunnen- und
Kerbegesellschaft Sachsenhausen 1953 e.V." What is a
"Kerbegesellschaft"? I can't find any translation for it. Also the
Festschrift mentions "Kerbebaum". A tree? My favorite online
dictionary, dict.leo.org gives me no clue.

John from Oregon

John wrote:

To be honest, I am german and supposedly good enough with the german
language and also had no clue at all what a 'Kerbegesellschaft' may be.
google and wikipedia told me more. 'Kerbe' is a regional word from Hesse
and means 'Kirchweih' or 'Kirmes'. In englisch this would be 'parish
fair' or 'country fair' according to leo.org. A 'Kerbegesellschaft'
therefore would be a society that organizes this event.