German families enter as wholeheartedly into holidays and festivals as they do into their everyday tasks. Parents and grandparents happily pass along the traditions and rituals of the special days that dot the German calendar.
Every year on the first Sunday of Advent—the time including the four Sundays just before Christmas—many Christian families set out an Adventskranz, an Advent wreath. An Advent wreath is a circle of evergreen branches.
It is decorated with four red candles—one for each Sunday in Advent. The wreath may be hung from the ceiling with red ribbons or placed in the center of the dinner table. Every Sunday until Christmas, families gather to sing Christmas carols as a new candle is lit.
German children sometimes count down the days before Christmas with an Advent calendar. An Advent calendar is a colorful calendar with little doors to open, one for every day in December until Christmas. Behind each door is a little surprise that makes the waiting easier.
The first week of December is often an especially busy time. During this time, the cook of the family does all the Christmas baking. Cookies, including the little peppernuts, are prepared. Rich Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and Christstollen (a special Christmas bread) are also baked and stored for holiday feasting. And, on December 4, Saint Barbara’s Day, apple or cherry twigs are set out in a vase of warm water so they will bloom in time for Christmas.
Best of all is the eve of December 6. This is the night Saint Nikolaus comes
Saint Nikolaus has a white beard, and he dresses in long robes. German children believe he has a big book that tells him who has been good and who has not.
Saint Nikolaus leaves gifts of gingerbread, apples, and nuts to children who have been well behaved. Those who have been naughty must promise to do better in the coming year.
A visit to the Christmas market is another happy December event. At the colorful market, families may buy marzipan candies, cookies (which Germans call biscuits), holiday decorations, toys, and even trees. Sometimes children visiting the market will be treated to a prune man, a figure with a body of prunes and features made with raisins and nuts.
Another favorite activity at the Christmas market is choosing the big heart- or star-shaped cookie, decorated and hung on a ribbon, that the child will wear home and then hang on the Christmas tree.
After a long month of preparation, Christmas finally comes. Christmas Eve is a magical night. Many families go to midnight church services. As people walk through the streets to church, the chilly night air is filled with the sound of church bells ringing.
Sometimes the first snow of the season falls on Christmas Eve. When families return home from church, they are surprised to find that the Christkindl has been there while they were gone. Christkindl, who is part angel and all mystery, has left presents for everyone.
And the Tannenbaum, the lovely decorated Christmas tree, which parents, grandparents, or both have trimmed behind locked—and taped closed—doors, is revealed. To extend the suspense of the waiting gifts, parents expect children to sing a carol or two—“Silent Night” or “Oh, Christmas Tree”—before opening the packages.
On Christmas Day, families gather for their traditional Christmas dinner. Roast goose with vegetables and potato dumplings is a favorite menu. If there is a hunter in the family, the main course might be roast venison. And Christmas is not over on December 25. On December 26, friends and relatives come to talk and eat and admire the tree.
