Figure 1.--Here we see a German boy from Grünstadt at his first day of school with his little brother and Zuckertute. The portrait here was taken in 2003. Notice that the cone is all wrapped up, perhaps to help resist the temptation to get into the goodies before the school day is over. The boy seems to be taking it all in his stride. Grandmutter in the background seems to be having a more difficult time. Source: Jennifer Grosser.

Our German readers tell us that the gift cone / Zuckertute tradition contunues in Germany at least in the early 21st century. Its to early to tell what will transpire for the rest of the century. We note images from modern Germany showing that the gift cone custome continues to be a popular tradition. We continue to see charming imges of German children with their cones. We do not know if it is as popular as it once was, or if the trdition has changed in any way. The available images, however, confirm that the tradition continues. A German reader writes, "Traditions are still here with the Zuckertute tradition. The difference of course is that the children now wear clothes like those in America, Canada, and Australia." A German reader tells us about the Zuckertutetradition in modern schools, now more commonly called Schultüte. "The last year in kindergarten, which means that the children are 5 or 6 years old, they create a "Schultüte" with Paper, Cartonage, by drawing, painting, etc. If they don't create (basteln) one their parents will buy one. Thus most of the time the Schulranzen (satchel) will have the same design and match. Nearly always the modern Schultüte are the same size, something like 80cm. If the child has little brothers or sisters they sometimes get a very small Schultüte with sweets as well. And sometimes if one starts studying at university it is fun to give him a tiny little Schultüte as well, just to remind him of a school start. Inside there are lots of sweets and pencils, little toys, racers ... things the children normally don't get because they are too sugary or too expencive without any real value. (Similar to those little toys from McDonalds which are in a kids Menu.) Of course parents adjust the contents to the child's interests. My nephew will begin school this year and in his Schultüte will be screws, a screw driver, and sweets, because he loves to work with real tools. Parents try to fill the Schultüte without making it to heavy. It is given to the children on thdir first school day in same priority as their clothes they wear. At school the children are not allowed to open them. AFTER the first school day they can open it and eat lots of those sweets. This happens while walking outside the school because the children are too inpatient to waiting until they get home. I can remember when I had my first school. The teacher told us to draw our Schultüte and it was homework to finish this picture for the next day." [Grosser] A German reader tells us in 2009, "This week I saw lots of cute school starters with their cones. Seems to be a trend now to use selfmade cones. You can buy many kits for that now."

Sources

Grosser, Jennifer. E-mail message, July 13, 2007.

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Created: 5:28 PM 7/12/2007
Last updated: 6:19 PM 9/19/2009