Christkind Decorates the Christmas Tree

The Christkind Brings the Ice Apples to decorate the Christmas Tree

Wreath made with ice apples (Eisapëfl)

I've written on a Christmas topic ever since I began my blog posts. There are things that I am rather unsure about, especially the arrival of the Christmas tree in my ancestors' homes. It is almost like searching a genealogy. Just where was the original Christmas tree conceived and, over the centuries, when did that tree's descendants move to other countries, then cross the oceans and emigrate from Germany to the rest if the world?  Progress equals brick wall - I still have no idea if my great-great grandparents had a Christmas tree in the years before they emigrated. I like to think they did.

Some sources say that the Christmas tree developed from a pagan tradition which was adopted by Christians as a holy symbol. The custom does seem to have started in northern Germany and then spread south, having been a matter of contention between Lutherans and Catholics for a time.  That's not very specific, is it.

This year the book, "Inventing the Christmas Tree" came to my attention.  It didn't solve the puzzle for me, but I have chosen a few interesting facts about the Christmas tree and its decoration, although I'm no closer to knowing the exact date of the Christmas tree custom in Kreis Saarburg.

The Tree

Many of thee common folk, I read, had no separate parlor room for a Christmas tree and in 17th and 18th century many hung the tree from the rafters although it was hard to light the candles if the tree was hung upside down. This custom seems to have originated in Slavic countries, such as Poland.

For those Christmas trees that that were placed on the floor, a tree stand of some kind was needed. Some of the methods used for this were: a wooden cross painted green or covered with moss or stones where a hole had been drilled into the center of the cross pieces, a stool with a hole in it, a tub of water or a bucket with wet sand, In times of adversity.  Some wedged the trunk into the hub of a cartwheel or cut a rutabaga in half and drilled a hole to accommodate the tree. In the 1860s, cast iron stands became more common, shaped to resemble gnarled roots.

Decorating the Tree 

According to a story from the Lorraine region of France, a variety of apple is cultivated in France in the Alsace and Lorraine regions as well as in the Rhineland area of my ancestors. It is known as the Christ's apple (Christapfel) or ice apple (Eisapfel), and this fruit traditionally was used to decorate the Christmas tree since it was red and lasted well through the winter.

In 1858 a drought in the Alsace region caused the ice apple harvest to be lost. The famous glass blowers of the 18th and 19th century from Meisenthal in Lorraine took the opportunity to make red glass spheres of the same size that could be used on a tree instead of the apples.

It is also possible that the origin of such ornaments can be found in the Thuringian forest. There the craft of blown glass can be traced to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when immigrants from Bohemia built their first huts."

The Red Eisapfel

Origin: very old, widespread apple type from Germany
Other names: Heart apple, Christ apple, ice apple, red warrior
Uses: Eating, cooking, dried.
Fruit: Midsize to large, color gold-green, turning a dark red if left on the tree long enough. 

The taste is sweet as the apple ripens from October to January 

Whether you have a fresh tree covered in red glass balls or some other beloved decoration in your home this year, it is my wish that your Christmas is as filled with pleasure as those of old when the Christkind brought the Christmas tree and decorated it with red apples.

Sources:
Inventing the Christmas Tree by Bernd Brunner, 2011
Christmas in Alsace by Jean-Claude Colin and photos by Christophe Hamm
 www.oekopark-hertelsleite.de/wiese.htmPictures
Christmas in Alsace by Jean-Claude Colin and photos by Christophe Hamm
http://blackrainbownihon.blogspot.com

Christmas Traditions Cross the Ocean

My favorite Christmas Tradition

Over the past seven years of this blog, I have researched and shared many Christmas customs of the people who lived in Germany in the 19th century, especially those in the Rhineland. This year I wanted to write about the customs I can identify as German that carried over to my own family's Christmas.  Most of them originated in Catholic Germany, either the Rhineland (Dad), Bavaria (Mom) or the western edge of Bohemia (Mom and Dad).  I'm sure there are other traditions that are equally German and which I know nothing about, but these are the Christmas memories that were dear to us and which became part of our holiday customs, passed down when the ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin.  These German Christmas rituals were still a part of our observances approximately 100 years later.  At that time, when my sister and I were children, or as the Rhineland ancestors would have called us, "little mice", we had no idea that we were participating in preserved German Christmas traditions.

The First Sunday of Advent

The First Sunday of Advent was a very important part of the Christmas celebration in Germany's Catholic and Lutheran Churches in the nineteenth century. The German language word often used to describe Advent is vorfreude, literally "before joy," and that was what I remember about the Advent time when I was a child. The German Advent began on the first of the four Sundays before Christmas. During our childhood, about 100 years after our ancestors' immigration, Advent still maintained its importance. It was a time of anticipation, of getting ready for joy, for a celebration. There were no Christmas buffets, get-togethers, or holiday parties during this time.  Even weddings could not be held without express permission of the bishop of the Catholic diocese.  Nothing should take away the feeling of vorfreude.

The Advent wreath, I have learned, was much more common in the Evangelische (Lutheran) Church and the lighting of one, two, three, and finally the 4th candle was a religious observance for the children and the adults alike. The wreath had a place of honor in the home. That tradition did not follow my ancestors to the new land since they were Catholic but the Advent wreath is still very much a part of the Advent season in German homes. Only in the last several years have many American Catholics adopted the tradition of the wreath in the home; but it was not a part of our childhood Advent customs.

Hard Pfeffernuße also known as peppernuts

Christmas baking was a part of Advent in the 19th century. When it began, there would be much excitement as the aroma of cookies in the oven filled the air. The cookies were known as Plätzchen in Germany; a century later Christmas cookies were still being baked during our Advent time. They were sampled, sometimes more than necessary, but then they were put away in tins until Christmas arrived - just as in the German villages of one hundred years before.  In Germany of old, a large plate of the goodies baked during Advent was placed on a table in the Stube.  It was known as the Bunte Teller, the colorful plate of Christmas treats that was very much a part of Christmas Eve.  In our Christmas in Wisconsin, I don't remember a special plate of cookies near the tree, but the cookies did come out of the tins after Santa Claus had trimmed the Christmas tree.

To me, there is one recipe that the most nostalgic cookie - our mother's, grandmother's and Aunt Lillian's Christmas Pfeffernuße, all of which must have originated from the same recipe. They called these little, very hard cookies peppernuts, but they were not at all like the Pfefferrnuße that I have since purchased in German-based stores like Aldi or World Market.  There is very little history for the origin of either the soft or the hard variety of Pfeffernuße.   A Wikipedia article traces the hard variety to Germany, Denmark, and Holland.  I have also seen a web article that says the hard peppernuts were made by German Mennonites.  Discussing the question with friends, one remembered having the hard variety in the home of a neighbor of Bohemian descent.  Nowhere can I find a clue to the origin of the soft variety, made without nuts or pepper.  Recipes just say they are of German origin (something like saying hush puppies are native to North America). Our Dad especially enjoyed the hard peppernuts, and I've never come across them on anyone else's cookie platter. I had planned to share our mother's recipe but since there is no clue about oven heat, yield of batch, or how much flour to add to make the dough "real stiff," (and I've never tried to make them) you may be better off searching for the recipe, which has many variation.  Search for "Pfeffernusse, hard" on Google or Bing or trying the recipe given in the first comment on this blog post.  That one has measurements!

St. Nicholas Eve always falls during the Advent time and was celebrated in Germany, Holland, Belgium, and in the parts of France that are close to Germany's western border. I've written about the German customs in Nikolausabend/St. Nicholas Eve.  This custom partially remained a part of our family's Christmas tradition a century later. Both my sister and I believed in St. Nicholas when we were little, and were excited as darkness came on December 5.  Our Dad played the part of St. Nicholas. He didn't dress as the Saint and there was no Knecht Ruprecht. All Dad had to do was come to the front door, knock authoritatively, and shake the real sleigh bells that came from an old sleigh. We didn't want to go to the door; we waited until enough time had passed for St. Nicholas to be on his way elsewhere. Then we carefully opened the door and there was a paper bag with candy (chocolate and hard candies) and nuts.  I'm grateful that we were spared the experience of our Aunt Helen, who fainted when St. Nicholas came into the parlor at her grandparent's house.  I imagine St. Nicholas  (a friend of grandpa's) had never expected such a reaction.

Trimming the Christmas tree would never have occurred before December 24 in our ancestors' time - if they had a Christmas tree.  If your ancestors were middle class or royalty in Germany, undoubtedly there would have been a legally acquired Christmas tree waiting to be trimmed on the evening of December 24. However, even experts who have written about Christmas traditions seem unsure about who among the lower classes - farmers, craftsmen, day workers in smaller villages - had a legal Christmas tree. (Some people did cut them illegally in forest lands that were administered by a representative of the Prussian Government in the Rhineland).  One hundred years later, the Christmas tree (legally acquired) was an integral part of our Christmas in Wisconsin, even though our ancestors may not have been able to obtain one. Like its predecessors, it was never decorated until the evening of December 24.  If our ancestors did have a Christmas tree, the children were told it was decorated by the Christkind who may or may not have left gifts, depending on the part of Germany in which they lived.  Our Christmas tree was decorated by Santa Claus, and he left unwrapped Christmas gifts, not having time to do all that wrapping for all the children all over the world.

The Christkind vs. St. Nicholas. The Christkind who brought sweets or gifts, most historians believe, was an attempt by Martin Luther to put more emphasis on the birth of Christ rather than on St. Nicholas.  It was successful in the part of Germany that was Lutheran.  Gradually Catholic parts of Germany also adopted this idea of the Christkind without giving up the idea of St. Nicholas as a gift giver. Catholic Bavaria still uses an angel with golden wings to represent the Christ Child. However, the Rhineland, which I am primarily writing about, has kept the identity of their 19th century Christmas gift-bringer a secret from me. I must settle for a sentence often found in books on Christmas in Germany: "While some parts of Germany kept their belief in the Christkind, others maintained the St. Nicholas tradition until the middle of the 20th century." My sister and I received our Christmas gifts from Santa Claus and knew nothing of the Christkind.  Was this a Germanic tradition combined with an American poem called "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Moore.   Although the Christkind angel did not bring our gifts, we had an angel with golden wings at the very top of our Christmas tree. Today's Germany does have a Weihnachtsman (Christmas man). How the Christkind fits into their Christmas I don't quite understand, and also it is beyond the scope of this post.

Between December 26 and January 6 was the time when the Christmas cookies and candies were eaten. Christmas visits to relative and friends were made, and the Christmas baking was passed around.  About 100 years ago, it was a time when the villagers in German villages, most of whom were related at some level, exercised the Christmas tradition of Christbaumloben (Christmas tree praise) where people visited each other and complimented the decorated trees.  A shot of Schnapps was served by the owner of the tree.  In our childhood, we joined our parents in admiring the Christmas trees of our relatives and friends.  A mixed or soft drink replaced the Schnapps and later an informal meal of cheese, sausages, breads, pickles and a dessert was served, often the fourth meal of the day.

The celebration of Christmas lasted until The Feast of the Magi, sometimes called Three Kings Day.  The German customs that went with it did not last until our time.  Were they ever practiced in earlier times in the communities and the outlying farms in Wisconsin?  I don't know.  The tradition of marking the door lintels with chalk and blessing the house with holy water was unknown to our family 100 years later.  Our tradition was much simpler.  The youngest child went to the Christmas nativity scene, which was under the tree or on a table, and moved each of the Magi and the one camel to a position right in front of the manger.

Many of the Germanic traditions of my youth are disappearing.  Advent is now hardly observed except in churches; Christmas celebrations go on all during the month of December.  I miss the building excitement of a quiet Advent, and I also feel rather sad when I see a discarded Christmas tree, sometimes wrapped in plastic, out on the curb on Dec. 26.  Mine stays around much longer!

Advent Vorfreude and Merry Christmas wishes to all.

Sources:
Ollinger, Josef, Geschichten und Sagen von Saar and Mosel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeffernüsse
http://www.mygermancity.com/german-christmas-traditions

A Lothringen Christmas

Nativity Scene at the 2009 Christmas market in Metz, Lorraine, France
Photo by Josiane of  Lorraine

In today's world of rapid transportation, we would  consider eastern French Lorraine - which was known to my ancestors as Lothringen - a "stone throw" away from my Kreis Saarburg ancestors' villages.  It is not surprising, given the proximity to the French border, that some of the Christmas customs in Lothringen were much the same as those in Kreis Saarburg.

In a book by Josef Ollinger called "Geschichten und Sagen von Saar und Mosel, the author includes French Lorraine as a part of the above-named German regions, with Christmas customs that would have been very familiar to my Kreis Saarburg ancestors.  Since many of the traditions, whether from Lothringen or Kreis Saarburg, were unfamiliar to me, I thought it would be fun to share them for this post.

Christmas Preparations

The Midnight mass was the most important part of the Christmas time, and a true family celebration.  In the days before Christmas, in order to get ready for the Midnight mass, everyone in the family gathered together to practice the church hymns so that the singing would be especially beautiful on the holy night.

Christ Child baking Christmas cookies 

During Advent, the children kept an eye on the evening sky.  If there was a red sky when the sun set, they knew that the Christkind was busy baking Christmas cookies.

Willow and hazelnut switches were cut by the householder, if possible it was a midnight cutting which gave the branches the best defensive power.   They were bound together and meant to defend against trouble-making spirits who wanted to do evil on the night of the Christ Child's birth.

Christmas Eve

For Lothringen households, the hearth in the kitchen was the heart of the Christmas Eve celebration.  It was the time for the Christbrand, the Christmas fire.  The members of the family dressed in their Sunday/holiday best and spent Christmas eve in the kitchen, sitting close to the hearth.  Two men of the family brought the Obstbaumstamm, the fruit tree log, inside.  It had been cut in summer so that it would be thoroughly dry.  The log was laid on the hearth, and the mother and daughters of the family carefully wound ivy tendrils around the log.  After the log was decorated, the father said a blessing over the log. One end of the log was pushed firmly into the glowing embers, so that the log would burn down from that end to the other.

Modern children's book of Christmas carols

After these ritual ceremonies had been performed, everyone gathered around the hearth to eat Christmas Kuchen and drink hot mulled wine, the Glühwein.  Until it was time to leave the house for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, the family sang familiar Christmas carols, "Ihr Kinderlein, kommet," "Es ist ein Rose entsprungen," "Morgen, Kinder, wird's was geben,""Von Himmel hoch, da komm ich her," "Christkindelein, Christkindelein."

They also shared familiar Christmas stories.  In some areas of Lothringen, three stools were placed near the hearth so that, if the Holy Family should arrive, they would have a place to sit and warm themselves.  It was strongly forbidden to sit on the non-burning end of the log, which would surely lead to calamity in the future ( a matter of common sense as well as a superstition in my opinion).

The appearance in the hallway of the house of the Christ child with his silver wings was the high point of the Christmas Eve celebration for the young ones.  Dressed in white, the Christ Child walked into the Stube (good room) and asked each child to sing a Christmas song or say a prayer, admonished them to be good children, gave them some sweets - and disappeared.

In families where the Christkind did not appear in person, the children put their largest shoes around the edge of the hearth on Christmas Eve.  In the morning the shoes were filled with apples and nuts.

Midnight 

Before going to the Midnight Mass, the householder went out to wake his bees in their basket hives.  He said, in blessing, "the Savior has been born."  It was believed that the bees hummed/sang all during the time of the Midnight mass.  The householder also went to the stable to spread a thick layer of straw beneath the animals to protect them from predator's teeth and claws during the upcoming year.  Another legend said that at midnight, in honor of Christ's birth, the animals were given the gift of speech.

It was also believed that if someone wanted to learn who in the village would die within the next year, he or she must be in the cemetery when the clock struck midnight on Christmas Eve.  Then the faces of those who would not live to see the next Christmas would appear.  If there was a face that could not be recognized, it meant that the person who stood in the cemetery would die that year.

The Midnight Mass was the holiest and most important experience of the Christmas religious experience.  In addition, because it was believed to bring good luck, some families attended all three Christmas masses to give them special blessings in the coming year.

Christmas Day

The house held a jug with the Barbara Zweige which had been cut about Dec. 4. Usually these were cherry branches that had budded, the flowers meant to open by Christmas Eve. The cherry branches (Kirschzweig) or other fruit tree cuttings were placed in water and kept in a warm room after they were cut. If all went well, on Christmas day the sprig displayed blossoms. If  the branch bloomed precisely on December 25th, it was regarded as a particularly good sign for the future.

December flowering cherry tree branches,
Wikipedia Commons 

After the Midnight Mass, there was a special "night meal" at which meat was a special part of the repast, a treat that was not very often a part of a meal, no matter what time of day or year.

Other Superstitions

After the Christmas Eve log had been completely burned, the fire was left to die out, since the ash and charcoal had gained a wonderful power of blesssing. The wife carefully saved what was left of the Christmas Eve fire.The charcoal would be placed under the bed of the man of the house and on the timberwork of the storeroom stall and of the stable.  This protected all from lightening, fire, and sickness.

The Christmas log's ashes were spread on the fields to make them fertile for the next year's crops, to destroy weeds and vermin, and to protect the land from hexes and any evil enchantments which resided in the earth.

The dreams of the 12 days of Christmas, der Losnächte which lasted from the 24th of December until January 6, were thought to foretell a person's future in the coming year, each night representing one month.

Preparing this month's blog post has put me in the Christmas mood much earlier than usual.  Yesterday, St. Barbara's feast day, I cut three small apple tree branches with buds and brought them inside - in the hope that on Christmas day, they will show at least one flower and good luck will follow me in the new year.

Sources:

Josef Ollinger, Geschichten und Sagen Von Saar Und Mosel, 2005

Anne Diekmann and Willi Gohl, Das Große Liederbuch, 1975

Christmas Legend of the Tailor's Needle

On my visit to Kreis Saarburg this autumn, I couldn't resist exploring the book and pamphlet collection of my vacation apartment.  As I expected, there were stacks of brochures about the attractions of the area and discarded paperback books left behind by former tenants.  But there was an unexpected treasure trove.

Frau Hedwig Hoffmann, owner with her husband of the vacation apartment, was born in Saarburg and during a part of her working life, was a bookseller in a book and stationery shop on the most scenic street in the city.  A few of her own books, loaned to my apartment's bookshelves, showed it.  I found some wonderfully eclectic titles including a collection of “new old fairy tales.”  The author modeled her tales on fables and stories from various places around Germany and created a more timely and charming book for children - and I couldn't resist the title or the idea that I would be able to read it without constant searches of my German dictionary.

Vacation apartment table

One tale, of a Trier tailor and his needle, delighted me and also seemed so appropriate for a blog post at Christmas time.  When I finished reading it, I sat at the dining room table in "my" apartment, set up my Netbook computer, and typed a summary of the timeless story with its simple wisdom; then saved it to be reread, reworked and posted in December.  

THE STORY OF THE CHRISTMAS NEEDLE

There was a master tailor in Trier, Schneidermeister Krautscheid,  who lived at the end of the 18^th century.  He had inherited a sewing needle from his father who in turn had inherited it from his father – a family tradition that perhaps went back to 1356 in Trier when the first record about a Tailors' Guild of 46 men is documented.

Tailor in the 1800s

Schnidermeister Krautscheid lived at a time when conditions for most tailors were not good.  They often suffered times of poverty.  Even though they had journeymen and apprentices, they had a hard time making ends meet.  In summer, with longer days, they often worked 13 hours at their jobs, but this was not possible when winter came and the days were very short.  Darkness came early and candles were expensive.  In Trier there were 61 Master Tailors in the Guilds. To have enough work for all of those men and their helpers was rare.  Many were in debt and unhappy with their conditions and the hand that the society of the time dealt them.

It was also at this time that the French Revolution and the storming of the Bastille were taking place.  In Trier, some of that indignation was felt; and the tailor, though a small man, felt the need to challenge the authorities.  He went out banging his drum as workers and Masters from all the guilds began a revolution of their own.  The authorities made promises; and the men of Trier, not really revolutionaries at heart, went back to their work, including Herr Krautscheid, our master tailor. 

Christmas was coming, and he had only a few days left to finish some jerkins, a contract he was glad to have.  By Christmas Eve, his workers said he had the eyes of an owl to go on working when it was dark and the Christmas celebration was about to begin.  They left their Master, as was allowed by the Guild. 

 One of the young apprentices, as he was leaving, felt sorry for his master.  The tailor's wife had died and his children had gone off on their own.  He gently told the old man it would be such a good thing if he would take in a cat or a dog for company, especially during this holiday.  "I'm not alone" growled the old man, "I have my needle" – and indeed it was like a third hand to him.  As he sewed with it, he and the needle shared memories of past work, as one does with a friend.  


The old tailor had a jerkin for the Burgermeister to make, a job that had to be finished in time for the mayor to wear it to the Silvester (New Year's Eve) Dance.  One should not disappoint a man of importance if he knows what is good for him.

Mother and Child

Each night, the tailor stuck his precious needle in a piece of silk cloth and laid it on his pillow.  But when he awoke on Christmas morning, the needle was not there.  The tailor searched the bedclothes piece by piece, carefully examined every bit of the floor, but the needle was nowhere to be found.  Without it, he was desperate.  He believed it would be impossible to finish the jerkin on time without his needle and then he would no long receive the contracts which kept him in his business. 

He hurried to the Christmas Matins service where he stared for a long time at the Christmas nativity scene.  The mother of Jesus held her baby in her arms.  Both she and the child were protected by a large blanket secured in place by a sewing needle.  The longer the tailor looked at the scene, the more sure he was that this was his own precious needle which somehow had come to Mary and now was the only thing that was holding the blanket around the pair and thereby keeping the mother and babe warm. 

At first he wanted to have his friend, the needle, back with him.  But the more he looked, the more he realized that the needle had a more important purpose; it protected a mother and child from suffering in the cold.  His heart grew happy, and he softly whispered to Mary and her baby, the Savior of the world, that he gave his needle willingly and freely with a loving heart.  He knelt from early to late before the nativity scene all that Christmas day.

The next morning, he went to his workshop to try to finish the Mayor's jerkin before the deadline, but it lay there finished with beautifully sewn stitches.  His needle was in the collar of the jerkin, glowing at him. 

For it is true what is said, "he who gives freely, gets even more in return."

Sources:

Neue Märchen aus Stadt und Land by Annette Craemer 
The Christmas needle legend is adapted from the chapter called "Das Trierer Schneiderhandwerk" in Trierisches Handwerk von der Vorzeit bis heute by Richard Laufner

Christmas in the Kitchen

Savoring the aroma of Christmas baking and the Christmas dinner roasting - it is a part of Christmas for most of us. So it was for our ancestors in the Rheinland.

Plätzchen and other Weihnachtsgebäck

The "Adventskalender Lufthansa", published in 1986, was a Christmas gift from my aunt who loved the idea of German ancestor searching as much as I do. There is one glorious picture of Christmas cookies or candy for each day of December. On the reverse side of the picture, there are two recipes, one in German and one in English, for making traditional Christmas delicacies from many parts of Germany.

The introduction reads: "Everywhere in Germany, home baking is as much a part of the Christmas festival as are the brightly decorated Christmas tree and Father Christmas with his gifts for the children. Christmas baking reaches its high point when the children receive their gifts on the evening of 24 December. When the Christmas tree is brilliantly illuminated, the presents on the traditional table of gifts will include a colorful 'bunter Teller', a plate overflowing with all the fragrant cookies and cakes that have been baked in the weeks preceding the festive season." As you can see in the picture above, there is a large "24" on the last page of the calendar and a "colorful plate" of mouth-watering Christmas delights.

Whether in 1986 or 1868, Advent is/was the time for Christmas preparation. On an evening when the skies shimmered red in the Hunsrück, the children were told that "they are baking cookies (Plätzchen) in heaven." This baking was not to be done alone. God's children, especially the young ones, must help. Usually it was the grandmother who got the children busy, rolling out dough and shaping the Plätzchen for the oven. The children were happy as they worked because they knew that when the cookies came out of the oven, there would be a chance to sample. But the cookies were soon put in tins because they were to be eaten on Christmas eve and Christmas day.

There were many kinds of cookies baked in the Hunsrück. Most used simple ingredients that a farm family could produce through their own labor. Weihnachtsgebäck was a Christmas sugar cookie, very similar to the kind still made today. The dough was rolled thin and a glass, usually a wine glass, was used to cut out the cookie. It was pierced with a fork or needle to make a decorative pattern, then egg yolk was spread on it so that the cookie would bake golden brown. In a tightly closed can, these cookies would keep for a long time. Another was called a Honigküchlein, a little honey cookie that used sugar, flour, honey, eggs, and egg yolk. The flavor could be varied by using cinnamon or clove or ginger. By the end of November, the baking of Lebkuchen had begun. Nussküchlein or little nut cookies used butter, sugar, egg, hazelnuts, cinnamon, and flour. After the dough was mixed, it was cooled so that it could be shaped like very little Brotchen (rolls), spread with egg yolk and baked on a well-oiled pan.

In early times, the Christmas tree was decorated with the baked sugar cookies and with apples, nuts or straw handmade ornaments. In the Hunsrück, as well as many other parts of Germany, it was thought that on the holy eve of Christmas the animals in their stalls could talk with each other. It was a custom for farmers in the Hunsrück to put hay, rye, wheat, oats, barley, bread and water in front of the house door. They believed that if the water and fodder was given to the animals on Christmas morning, and if the bread was eaten dry by the farm family, sickness would be kept away for the rest of the year.





Christmas Day Goose

The traditional Christmas dinner for the Hunsrück farm family was a stuffed goose raised on the farm. The stuffing for the goose was made with butter, eggs, onion, wormwood, nutmeg, as well as the heart, liver, and stomach of the goose, apples and potatoes or shelled boiled chestnuts. After all the ingredients were chopped and mixed, the goose had to be washed. The feathers and fine little hairs were singed off. It was salted well inside and out and the filling was put in a hole in the stomach. When this hole was sewed shut with strong string, the goose was placed in a big iron pan. First it was laid on its breast for an hour of roasting and then the fat was drained and the goose was turned and roasted for another half hour. It was basted with water or beer a few minutes before the goose was removed from the oven to give it a good crust. A sauce or gravy, thickened with flour, was made from the drippings (the beer gave added extra color).

The kitchen was the heart of the 19th century home at most times, but especially during Advent and on Christmas Day.

Ratsch, Christian, Weihnachtsbaum und Blutenwunder, 2003
Adventkalender Lufthansa, 1986
Schabel-Becker, Christiane, Das Schinderhannes Kochbuch, self published,1985

The Magi and More

The 13th century Dreikonigshaus (Three Kings' House) in Trier, named for the effigies of the Magi on the façade*

I grew up in a small (350 population) German-American community where the Christmas traditions were very similar to those which still exist in many parts of Germany today. No one put up a Christmas tree until Christmas Eve day. Santa Claus made his visit to our farm in the early evening of December 24. That's when Christmas began and it lasted at least until Three Kings Day, when we moved the kings from their distant location in the manger scene to the very stable where the baby Jesus lay. I still find it difficult to accept the current practice of putting up a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and taking it down on December 26.

With the feast of the Epiphany/Three Kings Day approaching, it seemed a good time to write about the German celebration of the coming of the Magi and also some of the other lesser know customs which led up to the celebration of Christmas in our German ancestors' pasts.

The Feast of the Magi
The Greek word "Epiphanias" means "uprise, appearance", i.e. appearance of the Lord. Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 and is better know as the feast of the Three Kings, the "Wise Men," or the Magi. According to an old legend based on a Bible story, the three kings or Magi saw, on the night when Christ was born, a bright star and followed it to Bethlehem. There they found the Christ child and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

As the centuries went on, customs grew up around the feast of Epiphany. In many places in Germany, including the Rheinland, the doorways were sprinkled with holy water and the initials of the Three Kings -- C+M+B (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) -- plus the year were inscribed in chalk over doorways on the eve of January 5 or 6 to protect house and home. According to scholarly thought, the three letters really come from the Latin phrase for "Christ bless this house" -- "Christus mansionem benedicat."

In many places in Germany, on the afternoon of January 5, the local priest still blesses incense and chalk for use by the Sternsänger (star singers), three children selected to dress up as the kings. When the stars come out, the children go from house to house, chalking the initials KMB and the year at the entrance of each home. These initials signify that Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar have passed each house as they follow the guiding star on the way to Bethlehem. The children also parade through each house, wafting incense to scare off evil spirits. That night a special dessert is served, Dreikönigskuchen, or Three Kings' Cake, a very elaborate fruit cake.

The German celebration of Christmas, unlike our own American Christmas celebration, has a definite beginning and ending. January 6, the last day of Christmas, comes with its own traditions, rituals and symbols. Carolers are going from house to house; in many homes the Christmas tree is taken down and in some areas it is burnt in a big bonfire. For the children this is an especially joyous occasion because, associated with taking down the tree goes the "plündern" (raiding) of the tree. The sweets, chocolate ornaments wrapped in foil or cookies, which have replaced the sugar plums, are the raiders' rewards.

Saint Barbara's Day
Barbara, the daughter of the rich merchant Dioscuros, grew up in Nikomedia (today's Izmet, Turkey). In order to retain her innocence, Barbara's father locked her up during his absence, in a tower with only two windows. When Dioscuros returned from his journey, he found a third window in the tower. Barbara had been baptized by a priest disguised as a physician, and she ordered the third window as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

As this was done against her father's will, Barbara was accused, tortured and condemned to death. A branch of a cherry tree had gotten caught in her dress when she was locked in a dungeon. Barbara watered it with the water from her drinking cup, and on the day of her execution in the winter of 306, the branch bloomed. From this comes the "Barbarazweig," the custom of bringing branches into the house on December 4 to bloom on Christmas. In some areas St. Barbara's Day is also the day to bake Kletzenbrot, a loaf cake made with prunes, dried pears, raisins and currants. Kletzenbrot is most commonly made in Austria and Bavaria.

Saint Andreas Day
November 30 is dedicated in the evangelical, catholic and orthodox churches to Saint Andreas (St Andrew), the brother of Saint Peter and one of twelve Apostles. His feast day is November 30, traditionally considered the date of his martyrdom in 60 A.D.

St. Andreas' Day marks the opening of Christmas Markets, and many Midwinter customs and folk superstitions are connected to this day. It is the first of the "knocking nights" known as Klöpfelnächte.

"Anglöckeln, Klöpflgeher, Glöcklisinger, Kurrendesänger, Bosseln" describe the groups of Christmas carolers or star-singers from various German regions who walk from door to door. After knocking (klopfen) or ringing the doorbell (Glocke) they sing for gifts. Some sources say that this symbolizes the angel bringing the message of Christ's birth to Mary; others ascribe it to earlier rituals of driving out evil spirits with loud knocking sounds.

Whatever the symbolism, for a long time it was one of the few ways by which the poor could earn a meal during the winter season. The duration of this tradition varies widely and could last until Epiphany (January 6). Today it is mostly performed by children, who try to collect gifts for themselves or donations for some charity.

St. Andreas is also important as the patron saint of marriage and fertility. St. Andreas day was a traditional time of "oracles" for girls who prayed to the saint for a husband and wished to receive some visible assurance that their prayers had been heard. For example, a girl wishing to marry could throw a shoe at a door around midnight on November 29. If the toe of the shoe pointed in the direction of the exit, then she would marry and leave her parents' house within a year. Or she could peel a whole apple without breaking the peel and throw the peel over the shoulder. If the peel formed a letter of the alphabet, then this suggested the name of her future groom. So, the night of November 29 was the night to look into the future and find out one's fate.

*Note: Photos thanks to Arno and Ewald Meyer