Fröhliche Weihnachten! I'm back to learning something new everyday and today's subject is Christmas traditions in Germany! The most important part of German Christmas is the Advent. Some advents are made of cardstock and others are made of a wreath of fir with twenty-four bags or boxes on it. Each of these items has a small gift inside. There's another fir branch ring that has four candles in it which is called Advent Kranz. At German churches, they light a candle for each day of the Advent.
Another
imporatant part of tradition is the Christmas tree. Sometimes, if
there are children in the house, the parents will decorate the tree
in secret on Christmas Eve. Some parts of Germany read the Bible and
sing Christmas songs like Ihr Kinderlein Kommet, Stille Nacht and O
Tannenbaum. Christmas Eve is the day when Germans exchange Christmas
presents.
Christmas
Day is called Erste Feiertag which means the first celebration and
December 26th
is called Zweite Feiertag which means second celebration. Boxing day
there is called Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag. Germany is known for hand
blown glass ornaments they imported to the US in 1880, in the
Woolworth stores. The Christmas Pickle “tradition” Americans
claim to be a German tradition, is actually a myth.
In
the south east part of Germany, children write to das
Christkind/Christkindl asking for presents, rather than to their
Santa Clause. The letters they send are decorated with sugar being
glued to the envelope to make it look pretty and sparkle. These
letters are left on tha windowsill at the beginning of Advent.
Das
Christkind means the Christ Child but Germans don't really mean this
to be baby Jesus. Das Christkind is usually described as a young
girl, with “Christ like” qualities. In Nur every ynburgear a girl
is chosen to be the Christkind in a parade. She has blond, long,
curly hair, a gold crown, a white and gold dress and sometimes wings.
This tradition is similar to St. Lucia in Sweden.
The
Nurnburg Christkind has many official duties to perform such as
opening the Christmas market on the Friday before Advent starts,
visiting hospitals, old people's homes and children's nurseries. She
also appears on television giving interviews and visiting other
cities.
Der
Weihnachtsmann or Santa Claus brings presents on Christmas Eve, with
some people writing to him as well as the Christkind. There are some
people who believe Weihnachtsmann brings gifts and some say
Christkind does this. Along with hoping for presents from these two
beings, children hope that Der Nikolaus will bring little gifts like
candy and chocolates on December 6th
which is St. Nicholaus Day. He arrives between the 5th
and 6th
at night and puts presents into the shoes of the children.
Some
parts of Germany have the myth of Knect Ruprect or Krampus as well,
who accompanies Nikolas. Krampus is said to be a big horned monster
who carries chains and is clothed in only rags. He is there to punish
the bad children and scare little children into behaving. Other parts
of Germany share the Black Peter legend of Holland but there's is
called Shcwarzer Peter. In the north west part of Germany, Santa is
joined by a man in furs called Belsnickel.
There
is a Catholic tradition of Sternsinger or star singers who go from
home to home, singing carols and collect charity mony. The singers
are children, with three dressing up like the Wise Men and one
carries a star on a stick as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem.
These singers visit houses between December 27th
and January 6th.
They leave a signature in chalk over the door of every house they
visit. You are not to remove the sign , it must fade on it's own.
Usually it's faded away but Epiphany on January 6th.
The
Christmas meal in Germany usually is made of carp or goose. There is
a very popular yeast bread eaten at this time called Stollen. Sounds
delicious, doesn't it? I wouldn't mind having Christmas in Germany!
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