Christmas in Germany: Part 1

We LOVE Christmas time in Germany! It is our FAVORITE place to be at Christmas! We let our families know before moving here that they were not to expect us home for the holidays...we were not going to pass up this opportunity to spend Christmas in Germany!

By mid- to late-November Germans start preparing for Christmas. The first real sign that the holiday is finally upon us is the opening of the Weihnactsmarkt...the Christmas Market.

Every German city and town has a Christmas Market. Somewhere in the center of town, often around an old church, little wooden booths are set up and vendors sell all kinds of good things: Christmas decorations, candles, and handmade crafts. You'll also find yummy food...like chocolate or wurst with bread or warm drinks like Glühwein (a warm red wine with spices, or the non-alcoholic version for children of warm red grape juice punch with spices). Often, markets also have music performers or merry-go-rounds for kids. The market is typically open daily through December and it is especially lovely in the evenings, with Christmas lights all around the market.



My other favorite thing about Christmas here, are the traditional decorations:

Räuchermännchen ...the name means "little smoking men" and they are little men made from wood. You place a little cone-shaped peice of incense to burn inside him, and curls of smoke drift out of his mouth. Charming! Click here for an example.

Schwibbogen...these are decorative wooden arches that hold candles. They are usually placed on window sills. Click here for an example.

Nussknacker...or Nutcrackers, are of course well-known to you all. But click here if you need an example.

Pyramiden...these are my favorite! Named for their pyramid-like shape, these wooden decorative carousels hold candles at their base. The heat from the candles turn the propellers at the top, which turn the decorative figures on the pyramid. It's just not Christmas without a pyramid! Here's an example.

Although these decorations are well-established German traditions...you will find them in EVERY German home...they all originate from one small, specific region of Germany: the Erzgebirge (or Ore Mountains) found on the Czech border.

And then there's my other favorite thing about Christmas in Germany...St. Nikolaus Tag (St. Nicholas Day)! This is like a little pre-Christmas Christmas. On the evening of December 5th, all the children shine their shoes then leave them outside their bedroom doors. During the night, St. Nikolaus comes and gives candy and nuts and little toys to all the good boys and girls enjoyed by them the next morning, December 6th, St. Nicholas Day! This is what he looks like.

Some other important days before Christmas in German are the Advents...each of the four Sundays before Christmas are the advents. Each advent a candle is lit in anticipation of the coming of the Christ child: on the first advent, one candle is lit, on the second two candles are lit, the the third...you get the idea. Often Germans will celebrate each advent by eating Lebkuchen and drinking tea or coffee. You can read more about this tradition here.

But one of my favorite things about Christmas in Germany is that it lasts for THREE DAYS! The most important day of Christmas for the Germans is Christmas Eve (December 24th) or Heilige Abend (Holy Evening). On this evening, the family gathers for a simple humble meal (often sausages and potato salad) which symbolizes the humility of Christ's birth. Then the gifts are opened. Santa Claus...or the Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man) isn't usually as generous as he tends to be in the US. Gifts are meaningful but not necessarily plentiful. I've also learned that in this region of Germany, which is strongly Catholic, many Germans receive their gifts from the Christkind...or Christ Child. The Weihnactsmann tradition really comes from the United States image of Santa Claus. But the Christkind represents Christ as a child. The Christ child is represented by a young woman with golden curls and an angelic robe. Here's an example. After Heilige Abend, Christmas continues on the first day of Christmas (December 25th) and the second day of Christmas (December 26th) with lots of big meals and family gatherings.

Karl and I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas! We miss all of our friends and family at this special time of year, and we wish we could be with all of you...but rest assured we are loving our traditional German Christmas!

(By the way...if you have any questions about these or other German Christmas traditions, or if you have any Christmas traditions you'd like to share...please feel free to leave a comment!)

(And if you're interested in adding some wonderful wooden German Christmas ornaments to your holiday, here's a good place to start. Or for more information on German Christmas traditions and ornaments click here.)

A Return to the Vaterland

Karl's parents, Ann and Joe, came to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday! This was a return to Germany for Joe who had both served a church mission in Munich and also served in the military in German. However, this was Ann's first ever visit to Germany. Her father and her mother's mother were both born here so it was a special trip for her. We had a lovely time with them!

France



They arrived on Sunday, November 19th, and on Monday, while Karl was at work, I took them to France. We visited the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France. The city is located in the Alsace region of France. This region was once German, then it became French, then German again, then French...you get the idea. Although it is now solidly part of France, there are many German-named towns, German architecture and they speak a dilect that sounds like a cross between French and German.

Besides being the seat of the European Parliment, Strasbourg also has an absolutely huge and beautifully stunning gothic cathedral. The cathedral was built mostly in the 1200s and is espcially known for its astronomical clock. The first clock in the cathedral was installed in the 13oos, replaced in 1574 and in about 1840 that clock was expanded to the clock that stands now. At 12:30 pm daily the clock strikes. After looking through the rest of the cathedral, we attending the fascinating ringing of the clock: a child turns an hourglass, apostles file past a figure of Christ, and a cock crows three times.

After eating lunch in Strasbourg we drove about 40 minutes south to the tiny village of Riquewihr. This little town was founded in the 6th century...and it hasn't changed much since! We could have thrown up from all the quaintness if it weren't just too beautiful!! Not only did we fall in love with the narrow streets, the colored timberhouses, and the cobblestones but they had just decorated the town for Christmas...it was all a fairy tale come to life!

Frankfurt, Wasserkuppe, and Bad Kissingen



The next couple of days we took a trip into Joe's past. On Tuesday we all drove up to Frankfurt am Main at the church's temple where Joe met an old friend of his from when he was a young missionary, Erna. She was a darling woman! We spent the evening with her then spent the night in a small pension. On Wednesday we drove up to Wasserkuppe where Joe had served in the military. The old base was at the peak of a hill, but unfortunately it was a very foggy day and there was no view...although the drive up and down was gorgeous. We drove on to Bad Kissingen where Joe spent much of his mission. We arrived after nightfall but it was still a very charming town. As its name suggests (Bad = Bath) it is a spa town. We walked around the park near the spa and around the beautify, charming city center before heading back to Buehl.

Burgs and a Biergarten

We had a German-style Thanksgiving starting with visiting a couple of ruined castles along the edge of the Black Forest. We spotted one off of the autobahn at the top of a hill in the middle of a grape wineyard. Then we visited Oberkirch and Schauenburg. We decided to eat our Thanksgiving dinner at our neighborhood biergarten (biergarten = beer garden, an open air drinking house with a yummy menu) up the street from us in Oberweier. It was a very traditional German meal in a traditional German atmosphere...all very un-American!

Baden-Baden

On Friday, we visited Baden-Baden. It was the first day of the city's Christmas Market, so we spend some time enjoying the market with yummy food, crafts, candles, and Christmas decorations. We walked through the old Trinkhalle (Drinking Hall) where people can enjoy the natural spring water, and through a beautiful city park then finally walked through the shopping area as night fell.

Windeck and Karlsruhe

On Friday we made a morning visit to Burg Windeck. Ann and Joe had a view of the burg out their bedroom window all week, so we finally visited it. But not before playing on the playground next to the ruin! We then drove up to Karlsruhe and walked around the Botanical gardens next to the palace. We walked around the palace and the city center, then ate dinner back at the resturant looking over the Botanical gardens. It was beautiful!

On Sunday, we thought we were saying goodbye to them, but Sunday afternoon, Ann and Joe were back again after a mix-up with their stand-by airline tickets when they found out they wouldn't be able to leave until Tuesday. One Monday we all ended our week as it began by visiting Strasbourg and their newly opened Christmas market. It was beautiful! There were gorgeous lights everywhere and booths all around the cathedral and Ann and I ice skated!

Click here for many more photos!