My friend happened to be carrying a wreath made of socks that he wanted to show me, and he knew I'd be interested in stuff like that because culture is important to me. So, at first, I thought he'd gone nuts and knotted all of his socks together for fun, but that wasn't the case. He went on to tell that the socks were made for a buddy's birthday celebration, and I wondered whether his friend was an Octopus with 25 legs, but that wasn't the case either.
Apparently in Northern Germany (Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia) appears to have a tradition .
A wreath made of 25 socks, each representing a year, is displayed in front of the door of an unmarried guy when he turns 25. This person is then referred to as an "old sock." It is a common expression that is used to make a joke or show affection when referring to an elderly or worn-out person. Similar to the English term "old timer" or "old soul," it is frequently used to refer to people who are knowledgeable, smart, or have had a lot of life experience or just single and alone in this case which can be pretty smart sometimes.
"They lay the big line of socks on the floor, which is only supposed to be 25 socks, but they put a lot more than just 25 socks just for fun," my friend said. They then prepared 25 questions for him to answer, and he has to walk down the line of socks and stop on one of them. His buddies must then ask him a question, and if he cannot answer it, he must drink. Of course, there was a lovely Berliner Luft, an 18% alcohol by volume spirit with a fresh fine-mint flavor.
Some of the questions were personal, while others were about sports, such as how many trainers Bayern München has had in the last ten years, and others, such as can you dance like Michael Jackson, which he completely moonwalked but of course he couldn't answer all of the questions but he finished the line and the Berliner Luft and he was still standing which is Awesome.
If you're wondering who the birthday boy is, it's the one wearing a whitish tshirt and standing alone at the end of the sock line, yes that is the "Alte Socke😉"