Wednesday, December 9, 2015

A Small Glimpse of German Christmas Cheer!







This is the time for Christkindlmarkts.  Yep, in Germany the Christmas markets are in full swing across  the land.  Sure, you’ve heard of the big ones in Berlin and München, and so forth, but you don’t have to wander far to find smaller versions.  In my opinion, sometimes smaller is better.  No huge crowds.  No long lines for eating and drinking…essen und trinken.

The market in the photos took place a couple of weeks ago in a nearby city.  What do you think of when you think of Christmas markets?  Things to buy and eat?  Christmas ornaments?  Well, there’s all that, of course, but even more, a German Christkindlmarkt is a place for friends to gather for steaming cups of tea with rum, or mugs of Glühwein, that spiced and sugared red wine concoction.  Local bands play Christmas music.  The aroma of roasting meats fills the frosty air.



Choirs of school children, bundled up and showing off their weeks of practice, belt out choruses of traditional hymns and Santa Claus classics.  By the way, here are a couple of ‘Did you know?’ items.



Over here, Santa Claus is St. Nicolas and he delivers small gifts to children on St Nicolas Day, 6 December.  Family members exchange gifts on Christmas Eve.

Do the early Christmas markets make a little more sense now?  Another thing to factor in is that Advent (the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day) is a big part of the holiday season, so celebrations begin about 1 December and go through to the 25th.  Advent means ‘coming’ in Latin, the season leading up to the coming of Jesus.



In Germany, at least for the present, Christmas is a religious time.  But, that doesn’t mean there are no Christmas trees!  There are plenty and the custom dates back to the middle ages.  Parents traditionally decorate the trees in secret.


There’s the German Christmas season in a nutshell.  Go out with friends and family and find a Christkindlmarkt, large or small.  It’s a social season!  Sip that tea and rum, or glug that Glühwein!  And, as they say in Germany…  Frohe Weihnachten!!!  Happy Christmas!!!


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