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Christmas Traditions in Germany

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In the 4 weeks before Christmas, Germans celebrate Advent, a romantic, delightful time of the year, linked to Christmas Markets and Advent Wreaths. Germany’s first Christmas market was recorded in 1393 - today there are thousands of them all over the country. 

Both, gingerbread houses and The Nutcracker came from Germany. Before the Nutcracker became a Tchaikovsky ballet, he was the hero of an 1816 story by Berlin’s Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Gingerbread houses first appeared in the Grimm Brothers’ tale of Hänsel and Gretel, then in Humperdinck’s opera from 1893. Gingerbread itself dates back to ancient Egypt, but it was in Nuremberg in 1643 that gingerbread bakers first formed their own trade guild. They developed export markets, and today, one Nuremberg exporter produces 3 million pieces of gingerbread a day in the months before Christmas to be shipped around the world.

Another Christmas tradition is the Advent calendar, first printed in Germany in 1908. Small treats are hidden behind little paper doors for the 24 days until Christmas. Even St. Nicholas was first recognized in Germany. He became the patron of sailors, merchants, bakers, children and students. In Germany, he makes his appearance on December 6 and leaves his gifts in children’s shoes - and looks like the American Santa.

Christmas carols such as “Away in a Manger,” composed of words by Martin Luther, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” by Felix Mendelssohn, and “Still, Still, Still,” are German. “O Christmas Tree” (“O Tannenbaum”) was written down in 1799; “Silent Night” was famously improvised 19 years later, when a church organ broke down and the organist quickly wrote out a song with words by the local curate, Joseph Mohr. 

Christmas is a special time in Germany. 

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Source: east-cupcake.blogspot.com
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