Christmas in Germany
Christmas Around the World with CurrClick has partnered with myself and nine other homeschool bloggers this week. Each one of us will be giving goodies away during our bloggy event so be sure to check the schedule and stop by each site to learn about Christmas in other countries, enter the giveaways and maybe even make some new friends!
Being part German, I thought it would be fun to share a bit about Christmas in Germany. My fathers family is from Berlin, Germany and immigrated to America in 1882. They settled in a German Settlement near Enderlin, North Dakota and have resided there ever since.
In Germany, the Christmas season begins with Advent. A wreath of evergreens with four red candles is hung in the home. One candle is lit on each Sunday before Christmas.
The Advent wreath was invented by Johann Hinrich Wichern, a German pastor, who founded an orphanage in Hamburg in 1833. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, the children would ask him daily if Christmas had arrived. To make the wait easier, Wichern came up with his Christmas countdown: He created his first Advent wreath out of an old cartwheel and small candles.
Decorating the tree is an important part of the Christmas celebration. Besides using ornaments, lights, and tinsel, the German people also hang cookies (shaped like people, animals, hearts, or stars ) on the branches.
St. Nicholas visits the children on Dec.6th and leaves candy and other sweets. Children leave notes with St. Nicholas, telling him what they want. Children believe gifts are brought by the Christ Child (called Christkindl). The gifts are opened at midnight on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve families go to church, then feast on a large dinner of roast goose or duck (stuffed with apples), Christmas bread (Stollen) and marzipan. After dinner, the children are allowed to eat the candies and the cookies that are hung on the tree. Some families also have a gingerbread house covered with candies, cookies and tiny decorations.
In some parts of Germany, families still follow an old tradition. The children leave their shoes outside the front door. These shoes are filled with carrots and hay to feed St. Nicholas’ horse as he rides by. If the children were good all year, St. Nicholas leaves apples, nuts, and candy for them.
On Christmas Day the white candle of the Advent wreath is lit. This day is quietly focused on family. They attend church together, and then they eat a delicious Christmas dinner together.
Christmas Markets are very popular in Germany, with Choirs, performers, wood carvers, traditional foods, drinks and games. The picture to the right was taken of me Christmas week at the largest Christmas Market in Germany in 1993. (Excuse the big hair!)
Below you can view a short clip about the splendor and tradition of German Christmas Markets and even spot the place where I took the picture above…
Music for Christmas
Christmas is a time for singing and music making. There is a constant mention at Christmas of the mysterious sounds of bells and other musical instruments, present in all households. This starts with the first Sunday in Advent and reaches its peek on Christmas Eve, the Holy Evening, when the silent night should be filled with sounds that seem to come from celestial spheres. The most famous of all German language Christmas songs , “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! was first heard during Christmas 1818 at the small church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf (Austria), which is near Salzburg and the German-Austrian border.
German Stollen, a loaf-shaped fruitcake made of yeast, water and flour, is traditionally eaten around Christmas time in Germany. The treat, which was first baked in Dresden in the 14th century, is filled with nuts, raisins, candied citrus, and spices, and its form is said to represent Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.
Recipe – Christmas Stollen
Ingredients
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 large egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/3 cup currants
1/3 cup sultana raisins
1/3 cup red candied cherries, quartered
2/3 cup diced candied citron
6 ounces marzipan
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, white sugar, salt, butter, and 2 cups bread flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, raisins, dried cherries, and citrus peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.
- Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the center of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it; pinch the seams together to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow loaf to cool on a wire rack. Dust the cooled loaf with confectioners’ sugar, and sprinkle with the cinnamon.
In 1597 in Lauscha, Germany, two families, including the Müller family, began to create mouth blown glassware for household use. Two and one-half centuries later, in the 1860s, the Müller-Blech family customized their craft to create mouth blown, hand painted Christmas ornaments.
Today, many ornaments come from Inge Glas, the 14th generation of the Müller-Blech family now in Neustadt by Coburg, and from Hausdörfer Glas Manufaktur, the 5th generation of the Hausdörfer family in Haselbach, the small village “over the mountain” from Lauscha.
Traditional German Christmas craft. This craft will add simple, elegant detail to your room when hung from the ceiling or in the window by a thread. Made from a translucent paper called glassine, these sixteen pointed stars playfully capture the light. Glassine is pH balanced paper used for archiving photographs and such. It can be found at most art and craft supply stores. This project is simple to do and also good for older children.
Step one- Cut 16 rectangles of paper 4 inches by 2 inches. To make larger or smaller stars, double or half the size of the rectangles. You can experiment with different colors also. If you are doing this project with children, do this step ahead of time.
Step two- Fold the papers in half. Fold each end to a point like a paper airplane, so you have a diamond.
Step three- Working in a circle, glue the diamond shapes together by lining up the edge of one diamond to the center of the next.
Now for the prizes!!! Currclick has put together some neat prizes to be given away at every stop on the Christmas Around the World with CurrClick Tour!
I suppose you are wondering how to enter to win one of 5 of these wonderful prizes!
To enter this giveaway please leave a comment on this post sharing one of the following:
- A Christmas tradition your ancestors shared.
- A current Christmas tradition shared with your family.
- A favorite family Christmas recipe.
5 Winners will be chosen via Random.org and listed here on Monday December 13th. If you do not have a blog, please leave an email so we can reach you with your prizes.
Prizes include:
Christmas Copywork by Lilliput Station
Let your child learn the true story of Christmas as they practice their writing skills. This file contains fourteen different copywork pages with verses from the KJV Bible and one with a verse from a hymn. Each page is illustrated with black and white drawings and comes with both primary and straight lines.
My German Colors and Shapes (Game and Activity Pack) by Eastern Wind Academy
Learning to speak a second language is so important in today’s global culture. Games can make the process easier and more fun for everyone. When kids are having fun, they don’t even realize they’re learning! This activity pack is jammed packed with 15 games and activities to help your child learn 11 colors and 17 shapes in German! This pack also teaches children to read German color and shape words so it is great for older children as well as preschoolers!
An American Looks At Germany by Creative Learning Connection
This was the first book Catherine Jamie ever wrote…20 years ago when she lived in Wuerzburg, Germany – an annotated timeline of the history of this intriguing city….And a great way to become familiar with German history.
German Color Flashcards by Eastern Wind Academy
Supplement your child’s German curriculum with these fun flashcard games. This set of cards contains 11 colors and 3 different levels of difficulty. Cards can be used as two-sided flashcards or cut apart and used to play games. These cards are small and very portable. Print them out and take them with for fun in the car or anywhere you need something to occupy growing minds.
Our Global Village – Germany by Milliken
Bring the world a little closer with these multicultural books. An excellent way for students to appreciate and learn cultural diversity in an exciting hands-on format. Each book explores the history, language, holidays, festivals, customs, legends, foods, creative arts, lifestyles, and games of the title country. A creative alternative to student research reports and a time-saver for teachers since the activities and resource material are contained in one book.
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Tiany is the founder of Social Savvy Moms, The Homeschool Lounge and The Homeschool Toolbar. Follow Tiany on Twitter - @SocialSavvyMom and connect via the social icons below.
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Homeschool mom to 4 boys. Married 16 years to a 
I'll give you two recipes that have been handed down in our family. One from my Dad's side of the family called 'Banana Pudding'. Which is cooked vanilla pudding layered with vanilla wafers and sliced bananas. And the second one from my Mom called 'Coconut Candies'.
Wonderful post Tiany!
Thanks!
And…your big hair is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!
That was a good read! Thanks for sharing all that info!
Our friends just got stationed in Germany and are learning firsthand about the German Christmas Traditions.
PS. I linked to you on my blog- for your give away and German Info.
Our traditions are evolving as our kids grow, but one we've stuck with is making gingerbread houses each year. I also make lots and lots of cookies, for ourselves and to give as gifts. I don't know if there is anything we do that is unique to our family though.
I'd love some of those booklets about Germany. I'm teaching German to one of my sons this year, and he'd enjoy them.
We always play White Elephant with DVDs at my grandmothers house on Christma Eve. We look forward to it!
We are from German descent and plan on doing a huge unit study on Germany this year. This was a wonderful addition to our Christmas Around the World studies now. Thank you!!
In my family I grew up with is making homemade ornaments for the tree and candy and cookies as well. Everyone would get together for an entire weekend and we would make candy and more candy until we were all sick of looking at it! But it was the most fun. =) I have carried on that tradition and every year the kids and I make Christmas candy and ornaments to be hung throughout the house. The candy we usually give away as gifts. =)
Janece Suarez
janece1@suarez-turner.com
I spent three years in Germany as a small child. While there, we began leaving our shoes out for St. Nicholas. When I became a mother, I decided to share the tradition with my two boys. They leave their notes for Santa in their shoes, and he leaves them candy or a small gift.
Another thing that we do is to do something "Christmasy" every day in December leading up to Christmas. We make ornaments, bake Christmas cookies, attend parades, read Christmas books, listen to old Christmas radio programs, or watch Christmas movies. We try to enjoy the joy of Christmas all month long.
I loved learning about the Christmas Markets. Growing up in a very large family, my Dad used to take us all to the local Woolworth's store to shop for gifts. With 8 kids, we always drew names to exchange. Now all the nieces and nephews draw names and exchange gifts, the same way.
Thanks for all this! One of our children was born in Germany and we like to do a traditional German Christmas. She was overjoyed to see this link this morning. lol
The Christmas markets in Germany look wonderful and fun! Being half German, I never knew what people in Germany did for Christmas. Thanks!
I am half German myself. I had no idea the fruitcake is attributed to Germany! I can't stand the things, but it seems we always had them when I was little! Loved learning about this part of Germany Tiany. Thanks for sharing!
Great post! Loving this whole Christmas around the world thing. My girls and I will have to try that hanging star craft … looks beautiful.
I love Germany been several times. When I got married we went to Germany for our honeymoon and brought back a box of 12 ornaments that we were told were for your first christmas as a married couple included things like basket of food, clock, fish, bird and others. It is one of our favorite tree ornaments to this day and I have been married nearly 13 years!!!
I am posting all about English Christmas tradition all month long. Christmas crackers have been a long time family tradition in my house now and as a child.
Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr to you my friend! *grin*
Thank you so much for your post. I just love learning about all these countries. Our favorite family traditions are picking some friends and family and secretly leaving a treat for them on each of the 12 days of Christmas. Our kids also love putting up our tree every year on our son's birthday, who passed away. They love knowing that's our way to remember him. Traditions are wonderful.
carinne
alaskanmom@gmail.com
My inlaws are on a cruise up the Rhine River to see the German Christmas Markets right now. It was so neat to show the kids what Grandma and Grandpa are doing. Thanks for posting this.
Thank you for sharing the German Christmas traditions. We are studying Chrismas around the world and this is great. Love the video especially. Our heritage is Norwegian with all our grandparents immigrating here in the 1800's and early 1900's. One tradition for them and now for us is to eat lutefisk which is dried cod, soaked in lye and then boiled and served hot with melted butter. It is quite a treat to find a Lutheran church which still does a lutefisk feed. My email is sunstreamiowa@hotmail.com
Thank you for the Christmas info. I thought the part about the glass blown decorations was interesting.
Thanks for this addition to our around the world Christmas study. Marlene
This cookie recipe has been a Christmas favorite in our family for many, many years. It's great for gift boxes too.
NUTMEG LOGS
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon rum flavoring
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream softened butter with the flavorings. Beat in the sugar, then mix in the egg. In a separate bowl, stir the flour, nutmeg, and salt. Mix with the butter/sugar mixture. Shape the resulting dough into snakes about 1/2 inch in diameter, and cut the pieces to 3 inches in length. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Frost with rum frosting. Make grooves in the frosting with a fork, and sprinkle ground nutmeg on the logs while the frosting is still moist.
Rum Frosting
1/3 cup soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon rum flavoring
2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Cream together butter, vanilla, and rum. Stir in sugar and milk and beat until creamy.
I come from a German Mennonite family background. So much of our family get-togethers centred around food! Some of my favorites included: peppernuts (pfeffernusse) and fruit soup (plumemousse). Please forgive any inaccuracies in spelling!
We celebrate by making a Jesse tree
I had no idea that Stollen is supposed to represent Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. I'll have to share that tidbit with my family while we share our next Stollen treat.
In our family we have a tradition of DH makes fudge every year for the family Christmas celebration. Everyone looks forward to this delicious treat. It's a simple recipe:
Melt together over low heat 3 C of chocolate chips, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and a pinch of salt. When melted and well mixed pour into a wax paper lined pan to cool and set. Then set and serve.
Thanks for this interesting post. We all really enjoyed it.
One of our current favorite family Christmas traditions is to host a neighborhood Christmas caroling party. We meet together and then go sing to new families in our neighborhood. We invite them to join us. When we're done caroling we meet for hot cocoa, warm apple cider and Christmas treats.
Thanks again.
Emily –Our email is gammonfam [at] sbcglobal.net
Loved reading your blog on Germany – thanks for participating in the tour:) I think I'm going to have to try that stollen! One of our Christmas family traditions is hot cocoa and pumpkin bread on Christmas morning. It's something my parents started and we've continued:)
~Wendi (pidge1996@yahoo.com
I don't want to enter the contest, I just wanted to thank you for including the recipes. It saves me from having to do an internet search. Great post.
My ancestors immigrated from the Netherlands and we also celebrated St. Nicholas day by leaving out wooden shoes filled with hay and carrots. They would be filled with Pepernoten (special cookies) and a chocolate letter (our first initial.)
A Christmas tradition of my grandmother and grandfather was to attend Church back then Everything closed down for Christmas Day and Everyone went to church no matter what day Christmas landed on. Also My Parents went each year to Atlanta to see the lighting of the Tree, oh it still is one of our favorite things. It used to be held at Riches in Atlanta but all has changed and now it’s at Macys!
A current Christmas tradition shared with your family. We now go Caroling on Christmas Eve that is our favorite thing to do each year.
A favorite family Christmas recipe.
ambrosia ; My great grandmothers recipes.
6 lbs of oranges Peeled and separated only use the inside remove seeds
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 bottle of cherries cut in half
1 bag frozen coconut
Nuts if you like
Mix all together put in cooler ready to eat.
I am also of Mennonite background (although not German. However,our Christmas was similar. It centred around our faith, church, and family. Gifts were given, but they were never of primary importance. Christmas was a time of singing and music. Whenever, people got together (and Mennonites got together a lot) someone sat down at the piano and all the adults sang. Everyone had carol sheet music. I miss the singing.
Myra
gwmeyer@shaw.ca
My comment:
It has been interesting to learn about the different traditions.
My ancestors were German. My grandmother made “peppernuts”; she had a German name for them but I do not know how to spell it. I do not make them but several of my sisters do.
Von
PS. It would be nice if you did like the other Christmas Around the World bloggers and give each book to a different commenter.
violets4von (at) hotmail (dot) com
Thanks for the information on German Christmas traditions. My mother always left a stocking with an orange, an apple, some nuts, a candy cane and some "ribbon candy" on the post at the foot of our beds on Christmas Eve. She grew up in Hawaii and the teachers at the boarding school she went to did this for the students. Only those specific items, no chocolate or toys. So I did the same for my children (along with the other traditional Christmas things) though I never knew exactly what nationality the teachers of the school were or what tradition I was following. I did it in honor of my mother.
I love hearing about all the different Christmas traditions around the world.
My MIL made stollen once-it was really good. I have been to Germany once and was specifically told that when I come back it must be at Christmas because it's so magical
Thanks for this post! I am on my "Christmas around the World" tour and it is so interesting to learn so many new things and see the differences in Christmas celebrating traditions!
Thanks for the receipt and for the hanging stars tutorial as well!
alexandramils(at)yahoo(dot)ca
we have started a tradition of hiding baby Jesus from our manger every day during the Christmas season so that the kids will remember that the focus of Christmas should be seeking Christ and remembering His birth.
As for our traditions, my family loves to celebrate Christmas each day of Advent. We do Bible lessons about Christmas and do different craft projects each day. Then we have a special Christmas-ee snack while listening to Christmas story or watching a special movie.
tkschmidt630@gmail.com
My family is Hispanic and our tradition is to eat tamales and posole with red chile on Christmas Eve. wardrus@msn.com
I wrap 24 Cheristmas books and we open and read a Christmas stories every day until Christmas. dawn@warrenbusinessassociates.com
Thanks for this great study and information! We loved it!
Every Christmas Eve we have hot chocolate and read Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Thank you for sharing about the Christmas traditions of Germany. My heritage is German, our family settled in Pennsylvania. We have many similar traditions because of my heritage, though not all of them. I did not realize how elaborate the Christmas markets were and hope one day to be able to visit one! Our family loves Christmas Eve candle light services singing all of the traditional hymns. We also like to visit area nursing homes and sing carols. Our family has also started the tradition of wrapping day. We gather with the gifts for family and friends and wrap them together talking about the person and saying prayers for the person thanking God for them and asking for His favor and blessings over the year.
Great post, Tiffany. Thank you for the stollen recipe, too. Will have to bake some with my boys this week as we start doing Christmas Around the World here. Maybe we will have to add making stollen to our family traditions.
As part of our family tradition, in that we make ornaments out of Gingerbread cookie dough. We also make gingerbread houses and donate them to a local charity, along with clothes, toys, and toiletries.
I blogged about the Cuccclick blog hop and listed a link to all blogs in the hop:
http://sunriselearninglab.blogspot.com/2010/12/delicious-discounts-fabulous-freebies.html
Colleen
Why do I find posts like this after I've finished that particular study?
We open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve because that was my husband's family tradition, and my family tradition was to decorate Santa cookies.
When I was a child, we frequently baked special cookies for our tree. How neat to learn where the tradition originates. My father's family is German, though we have never known beyond his parents, so maybe my ancestors did this too. We are really enjoying learning about all of these traditions from around the world.
Loved this post! Thanks for sharing! Stopping by from the Hip Homeschool Hop!
What a great, informative post! We use an Advent wreath and I was aware of some, but not all, of the background info you shared. Thanks so much! Stopping by from the Hop.
Hello, precious one~
What a great post! I really enjoyed reading it. My family just made stolen for my nephew to bring to school for a day of sharing they had. We thought he would bring back the whole loaf, but surprisingly, his class ate most of it. It is a taste getting used to!
I hope you and your family had a blessed holiday!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Blessings and love~
Laura