Since this term has no real translation, I'll just explain it to you. Bleigießen is a German New Year's Eve tradition (it may be done in other countries, but not to my knowledge). A candle or tea light is lit, and a piece of lead or tin is placed on a spoon and melted over the flame. Once the metal is fully liquefied, it is quickly poured into a bowl of cool water. Then, the cooled metal is removed, and the participants try to identify some sort of shape. The shape tells the person's fortune for the coming year.
Bleigießen kits can be inexpensively purchased, complete with spoon, tin pieces and a list of possible shapes and their meanings. Typically, the tin pieces come in the form of some good luck symbol (a pig, a bag of money, a mushroom, etc.).
Toward the end of my latest year in Germany, I purchased one such kit to share with my family back in the States. Since we knew we wouldn't all be together on New Year's Eve, we decided to it on Christmas day (close enough, right?). This is what my mushroom turned into:
I kind of think it looks like a jellyfish. Or maybe a squirrel?
Frohes Neues und einen guten Rutsch wünsch ich euch!
Bis bald!
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