Figure 1.--We note one confirmation in Hannover during 2003. The boys and girls wear black suits. One boy wears a black short pants suit with kneesocks. As such suits were not commonly worn in Germany at the time, we suspect ghat this is the style the boy's father wore and he continued the family tradition.

We have some information on German confirmations during the 2000s. We note one confirmation in Hannover during 2003. The boys and girls wear black suits. One boy wears a black short pants suit with kneesocks. As such suits were not commonly worn in Germany at the time, we suspect that this is the style the boy's father wore and he continued the family tradition. A German parent writes, "I`m 50 years old, come from Germany and I`m an interested user of your HBC website. First let me praise your good work. The site is very interesting. The last time I`m very interested in the confirmation sites, because my son Nils had his confirmation only 3 weeks ago. He`s 14 years old and my only child. I`m very glad that Nils is very interested in church and that he was pleased about his confirmation. I often talked with Nils about his confirmation and I told him about my own confirmation in 1968. Nils` confirmation ceremony was very nice and we made some photos. And now we look at these photos and compare them to the photos of my confirmation in 1968. In 1968 all boys were dressed in dark suits. This was the standard clothing. Today some boys don`t really interested in church and confirmation and do confirmation only because of the money presents. Besides many boys no longer dress up for this ceremony. For Nils it was no problem to dress up. He wears a black suit at his confirmation and realized the importance of this ceremony. You have to know that we are a very religious family and often go to church. In this situations it`s normaly for Nils to dress up, but otherwise he`s a normal teenager and wears the trendy casual clothes. I think like many other parents me and my wife often discus with Nils about wearing baggy trousers. I have to say...I hate these baggy trousers." An American reader writes, "I was in Berlin during 2004, I noticed a group of boys dressed up for confirmation, looking very similar to the boys in this photo. Most had long trousers, but one or two had short pants with black knee socks. They all wore white shirts, jackets, and ties. I'm not sure the boys with short pants were too happy to be in the minority, but they were obviously pleasing their parents. They were about 14. Apart from Church and other formal occasions, German teenagers in Germany wear the same baggy pants that are prevalent elsewhere in Europe and the U.S. Nils's father's comments are quite interesting."

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Created: 4:09 PM 5/3/2005
Last edited: 6:06 PM 5/3/2005