History
We can trace some of our most beloved holiday lore
and traditions to Germany. In no other country is Christmas more elaborately and
universally celebrated. The Christmas season officially begins with the beginning of
Advent, four Sundays before Christmas Day. The tradition of the Advent wreath, a circle of
greenery in which four candles are set, originated with the German Lutherans. One candle
is lit the first Sunday of Advent, two are lit the second Sunday, and so on until the
fourth Sunday. A large white candle in the center is lit on Christmas Day. The Advent
calendar, an elaborate calendar with windows used to count down the days until Christmas,
also originated in Germany.
The Christmas Tree owes its widespread popularity to Germany. In the Middle Ages The
Germans would put on a mystery play each December 24th, the feast day of Adam and Eve. The
plays invariably featured a decorated evergreen which represented the Tree of Life from
which Adam and Eve ate and as a result were banished from the Garden of Eden. Over the
centuries the plays and associated festivities strayed from their religious origins and
the Church ceased to sponsor them. But the people continued to set up and decorate a tree
in their home every year at Christmas. In 1880 glassmakers in Thuringia discovered how to
make blown glass balls and bells, which became the decorations used to trim Christmas
trees all over the world.
In many German cities special festive markets with decorated booths and stalls are set up
for weeks before Christmas. The most famous of these is the Christmas Market in Nuremberg
which has a history of more than 400 years and is attended by people from many countries.
From the main market square visitors can enjoy a splendid view of the famous Schner
Brunnen ("beautiful fountain") and the 600-year-old Franenkirche ("Our
Lady's Church"). Only items related to Christmas are permitted to be offered for
sale. The festival lasts three weeks, from early December until Christmas.
St. Nicholas has traditionally brought gifts to German children on the eve of his feast
day, December 6. He traveled with a dark-faced companion, often a frightening figure,
known variously as Krampus, Pelzebock, Pelznickel, Hans Muff, Bartel, or Gumphinkel. Most
commonly the companion was called Knecht Ruprecht, and carried and bundle of switches.
After the reformation authorities frowned upon the idea of having a character representing
the bishop/saint distributing gifts. As a result St. Nick's modern incarnation Santa Claus
was born, complete with long white beard, red suit, and sleigh. St. Nick is known by
various names in different regions of Germany including Klaasbuur, Burklaas, Rauklas,
Bullerklaas, and Sunnercla. In eastern Germany, where the Santa figure remains more
connected with his pagan past, he is called Ash Man, Shaggy Goat, or Rider. Today, he is
increasingly known as Father Christmas throughout Germany and appears not on St. Nicholas
Day Eve, but on Christmas Eve.
In Germany, as in many European countries, the highpoint of the Christmas season is
Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. A midnight service is celebrated by both Catholics and
Protestants.
It has been long thought that Martin Luther began the tradition of bringing a fir tree
into the home. One legend says, late one evening Martin Luther was walking home through
the woods and noticed how beautifully the stars shined through the trees. He wanted to
share the beauty with his wife so, he cut down a fir tree and took it home. Once inside he
placed small lighted candles on the branches and said that it would be a symbol of the
beautiful Christmas sky. Hence, the Christmas tree.
Another legend says that in the early 16th Century, people in Germany combined two customs
that had been practiced in different countries around the globe. The Paradise tree (a fir
tree decorated with apples) represented the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The
Christmas Light, a small pyramid-like frame, usually decorated with glass balls and tinsel
and with a candle on top, was a symbol of the birth of Christ as the Light of the World.
Changing the tree's apples to tinsel balls and cookies; and combining this new tree with
the Light placed on top, the Germans created the tree that many of us know now.
Through the centuries, Germany has had at least 3 "Santa Clauses." The first was
patterned after the god Thor, who became Father Thor or Father Christmas in early Germany.
He was an old man with a long white beard, dressed in red who roared through the skies in
a golden chariot pulled by two white goats, Cracker and Gnasher. He lived far north among
snow and ice to fight the gods of snow and ice to help the people conquer winter. He
brought gifts to the kids as part of his good deeds.
When Christianity arose in Germany, St. Nicholas, a 4th Century bishop of Asia Minor,
became popular. He was known for his miracles and generosity and became a saint to
children. He became the 2nd Santa Claus figure and the feast of St. Nicholas was
celebrated on December 6. St. Nicholas rode a white horse and of course carried gifts to
all the good little children.
Next, Kriss Kringle entered the folklore scene. She was a young girl wearing a golden
crown, carrying a small Christmas tree, "tree of light." She was thought of as a
messenger from the Christ Child and personified the idea of gift giving. This addition
happened around the same time that much of Germany separated from the Roman Catholic
Church
In rural parts of southern Germany, the three Thursday evenings before Christmas are as
Knocking Nights. Children dress in masks and travel from house to house chanting rhymes
beginning with the word knock. Along the way, the children crack whips, ring cowbells, and
clatter dish covers to drive away evil spirits.
Today, the Germans still celebrate St. Nicholas Day and make it a point to attend church
on Christmas Eve where the church is lit by candles held by the worshipers. The Tannenbaum
(Christmas tree) is traditionally decorated in secret with lights, tinsel, and ornaments
by the mother and is lit and revealed on Christmas Eve with cookies, nuts, and gifts under
its branches. But the specialty is the Lebkuchen, a spicy, tasty cake made in shapes and
hung on the tree.
Christmas itself starts at Christmas Eve (24.). On this day shops are open until noon (to
buy the last presents). Each family does it a little bit differently. Some first go to
church and then give eachother their Christmas presents, have a great dinner together (on
Christmas Eve it is often carp), sing Christmas songs and so on. Other families wait for
the first Christmas Day (25.) to change presents. The second Christmas Day (26.) is also a
holiday in Germany. A typical meal for this day is goose (as for Saint Martin). So you
have three days of beeing together with your family and eating, drinking, talking.
Christmas markets in
Germany
In Germany, most Christmas markets will have started two weeks
earlier, and they will generally last until a day or two before
the actual holiday. In these weeks of Advent, Germans make it a
habit to visit the markets, often meeting friends to share a glass
of mulled wine or two after work or on the weekend. They also keep
an eye out for that extra special Christmas decoration or the
little, carefully crafted gift that would warm some loved one's
heart.
Recent years have seen
increasing numbers of towns and cities attracting local artists to
their markets, with some creating separate, small markets for them
to display artifacts and often demonstrate the production of their
crafts. The city of Würzburg, an hour's drive southeast of
Frankfurt, sets up an artisans' market in the courtyard of its
town hall. Cologne, on the Rhine, has one on Alter Markt, the
square below its Old City Hall and St. Martin's Old Town district.
Munich's Christmas market on Marienplatz, in front of the city's
venerable Town Hall, specializes in Upper Bavarian crafts and
hand-carved nativity scenes, including figurines made in
Oberammergau. Travellers to Bad Tölz, the Upper Bavarian home of
the Tölzer Boys Choir, can watch not only wood carvers and
chocolate makers, but on special days listen to the boys' cherubic
voices for free.
Hamburg's Hanseatic
Christmas market recalls the medieval heydays of the
trans-European mercantile league. A half-hour south, the town of Lüneburg
hails back to the 16th century on some days, with basket weavers
and lacemakers, butchers and farmers offering their wares by
candlelight. On Germany's Baltic coast, the city of Lübeck
provides space for its local artisans within the wall of its
historic hospice of the Holy Spirit and in front of St Mary's
Church, built in the typical brick-Gothic style of the Hanseatic
towns.
Germany's Christmas markets
are open seven days a week, generally starting between 10 a.m. and
noon, closing after nightfall, often no earlier than 9 or 10pm.
A GERMAN LEGACY - THE CHRISTMAS TREE
A Tale of Ancient Customs and Modern Times
It's high season on Canadian tree farms, and it won't be long
before truckloads of evergreens will be rolling into towns and
cities to brighten up millions of Canadian homes. Tree farming has
developed into a multimillion-dollar business in Canada ever since
putting up a Christmas tree became as much a tradition here as in
Germany. It all started in 1781 in Sorel, Quebec, with a certain
German Major-General, Baron Adolph von Riedesel, who had come with
his regiment from Braunschweig to fight for George III in the
American Revolution. According to their letters to Germany, the
baron and and his wife, Frederike Charlotte, celebrated the first
Christmas in their new home, now the historic 'Maison des
Gouverneurs', with a German-style Christmas tree - a moment
honoured 200 years later with Canada Post's 1981 launch of a
series of Christmas tree stamps in the former von Riedesel
residence.
According to The Beaver, published by Canada' s National
History Society, Halifax businessman and entrepreneur William
Pryor set the trend for English Canada 65 years later, when he put
up a decorated tree for the holidays to please his German wife,
Barbara. It must have been a beautiful tree. Halifax society loved
it and quickly adopted the idea as a new Yuletide fashion.
Most likely Mrs. Pryor had grown up in a middle-class German
family in the early 1800s, when the beginnings of modern-day
technology had made it possible for Christmas trees to appear in
more and more individual households. In the 18th century, they had
only been in noble homes such as the von Riedesels', and prior to
that only in the public realm, in the halls of 16th-century
professional guilds and similar associations in Germany.
The origins of the Christmas tree, however, date from far
earlier than the oldest of the powerful trade guilds. The Romans,
whose empire extended into large parts of today's Germany,
celebrated "Saturnalia" for seven days every winter,
starting December 17, to honour Saturn, a god of agriculture.
There was general feasting and unrestrained merrymaking, and
villas and casas were decked out with evergreens - mistle, ivy and
laurel - along with flowers and fruit. Emperor Marcus Aurelius
declared December 25 "dies invicti solis", the day of
the invincible god of the sun, a winter solstice tradition
observed until 336 A.D., say most books, when Roman culture
declined with the rise of Christianity in Germany and other parts
of Europe. Only 14 years later, Pope Julius declared the same day
the official anniversary date of the birth of Christ.
Meanwhile, neighboring German tribes had observed their own
rites to stave off the evil and disease associated with winter's
darkness and cold. They, too, pinned evergreen boughs and twigs
over the doors of houses and stables to keep hostile spirits at
bay. Inside their pagan homes, they hung greenery from ceilings
and in corners, where bad things were believed to lurk. Homes not
protected by the prickly needles of spruce and pine were
considered doomed for disaster.
Decorating the house over the winter solstice remained a
tradition long after Christianity took hold north of the Alps,
existing alongside Pope Julius's celebration day for the birth of
Jesus. Often, fruits and nuts adorned the branches to symbolize
the rebirth of nature in spring and the harvest of the coming
season.
But communal festivities in German lands tended to use felled
and decorated whole trees -- as they still do in May Day
celebrations, for example, or when the structural part of a
building is finished, before roofing and interior finishing begin.
So it was only natural that decorative boughs turned into trees
when, in the 16th century, guild members and their families got
together in their great halls to celebrate both Christmas and the
winter solstice. Gingerbreads, nuts, fruits and paper ornaments
hung from these trees' branches, and around New Year's, all was
shaken off, a harvest for the children to gather.
Trees in those days had no lights - not yet - as most
celebrations took place during the day. Wax candles were a luxury
before the development of stearine and paraffin in the earlier
1800s, and therefore mainly used in courts and churches.
Decorated whole trees didn't make their way into private homes
at Christmas until after the Thirty Years War that ravaged Europe
from 1618 to 1648, when the old social structures, and their
festive customs, were largely destroyed. And then it was only the
wealthy noble class that could afford the luxury of their own
trees, presumably cut from their own woodlots. Published letters
tell us that they had candles on their trees now, and that they
looked lovely. As a 13-year-old in 1832, Queen Victoria wrote in
her diary that standing on two round tables, there were Christmas
trees decorated with candles and candies -- a fancy that her
husband, Prince Albert of German Saxe-Coburg, would later support
and enrich. By 1848, the Illustrated London News dedicated an
entire page showing the decorated royal tree.
Industrialization and the rise of Germany's middle class
finally brought the trees into family homes. Trains carried loads
of them into the cities, their arrival publicly announced in the
papers as early as 1851 in Berlin. And the burghers had the money
to buy them. At first, the trees were quite often hung upside-down
from the ceiling, like the earlier boughs, but the decorations
slipped off the branches too easily. As stucco moved into
bourgeois homes and concealed the ceiling beams from which they
were hung, the trees landed on their feet for good - at first
standing on table tops surrounded by gifts before coming down to
today's floor level and full floor-to-ceiling height.
Tree decorations tell their own stories of time passing. While
themes haven't changed dramatically over the centuries, their
execution materials and techniques have. Gilded apples first
became gilded clay balls, then heavy, hand-blown glass, later
thin-walled industrially-made glass balls dipped in metallic, colored
coatings. The same process replaced nuts and still
produces delicate miniature musical instruments, silver bells and
lightweight glass birds. Metal foil for ornaments replaced highly
flammable shiny paper. Sugar candy decorations joined gingerbread
cookies on the tree once the cane from New World plantations and
industrial refining of local sugar beets made sugar an affordable
commodity.
High-speed lathes made the production of wooden ornaments more
feasible. To this day these remain German favorites, especially
when turned, hand-carved and painted by artisans from the Ore
Mountains, in eastern Germany. Today's lightweight Mylar tinsel
replaces that made until just a few decades ago from metal foil.
And electricity has brought artificial lights to illuminate our
trees for hours, though most trees in Germany still sport real
candles, creating that extra-special festive atmosphere.
Santa Claus
& St. Nicholas
St. Nicolas has traditionally
brought gifts to German children on the eve of his feast day,
December 6th. He travels with a dark-faced companion, often a
frightening figure, known variously as Krampus, Pelzebock,
Pelznickel, Hans Muff, Bartel or Gumphinkel. Most commonly the
companion wascalled Knecht Ruprecht and carried a bundle of
switches. After the reformation authorities frowned upon the
idea of having a character representing the bishop/saint
distributing gifts. As a result St. Nicholas modern incarnation
Santa Claus was born, complete with a long white beard, red
suit, crosier and sleigh. St. Nick is known by various names in
different regions of Germany including Klaasbuur, Burklaas,
Rauklas and Bullerklaas. Today he is increasingly known as
Father Christmas and appears not on St. Nicholas Day Eve but on
Christmas Eve.
