Christmas in Germany

14 December, 2008
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Germany was great! Whenever I travel...I have my expectations and I am always curious to see what God has in store for me to see and / or learn.

In the case of my visit to Germany what God wanted to show me was the Christmas foundation from Germany. This time of year, the Christmas spirit descends on Germany’s cities and towns in the form of wooden stalls laden with pretzels, toys and baked goods of all shapes and sizes. This is a great tradition as are the Christmas tree, Christmas
decorations, Christmas treats, etc. which all originated in Germany. Who needs shopping malls when you have Christmas Markets in all Germany cities of any size. On the way over the pond I read about 5 things "Not To Miss" in Frankfurt. One was the Christmas Market.

The German celebration of the Christmas season is the foundation for many of our own traditions, but the Germans have a more extended season offering more occasions for
celebration.

My first experience of these traditions was visiting the Glass Museum in the small medieval town of Wertheim. The museum detailed the history of the Christmas tree and the origin of the glass decorations made in East Germany. There is a famous glass shop in Wertheim operated by a family with 11 generations of glass blowers. Among the earliest tree decorations were glass fish, which represented Jesus. I was there visiting with the wonderful Lindemann family. The next day we went to Wurzburg; to the castle and then into town and my first Christmas market. This Christmas market is on
the small side and very heart warming with the decorations, foods and spirit. I was introduced to "gluehwein"...with hordes of people standing around enjoying this tradition.

The next day I went to Heidelberg and was quickly whisked away to Neuffen; a small town near Stuttgart. One thing to mention is that many towns in Germany have their own castle on a hillside overlooking the city. Most with Medieval and perhaps some Renaissance history. From Neuffen we took the train to Stuttgart , with Friederun's sister and brother-in-law in order to meet their two children. We met at the Christmas Market and walked around. Among other things and people Stuttgart is the home of the famed German poet Frederich(sic) Schiller.

After Neuffen it was back to Heidelberg to visit another of Friederun's sisters and another brother-in-law who is a professor at Heidelberg Univ. the oldest university in
Germany and second oldest; only to Prague, in Europe. We visited the Castle and the university on this trip. I have been to Heidelberg a few other times.

The next day it was back to Frankfurt. We went to the Christmas Market, Cathedral, Modern Art Museum, main shopping street and bought some Christmas gifts to stay in
the spirit. In Frankfurt in Main’s historical center, the Dom Roemer transforms from its post-World War II reconstruction of history into a wonderland of carousel music, bundled groups of people laughing around cauldrons of hot spiced wine called gluehwein and thick clusters of gingerbread hearts laden with hardened frosting.


I was at the Lindemann's house the night that Sankt Nikolaus(St. Nicholas) came through town. When I awoke, the shoes which I had left outside my bedroom door was stuffed with Christmas-time goodies, cookies, chocolates, etc.

The experience deepened my understanding or Christmas, the season and the German traditions.