{"id":41,"date":"2021-05-14T15:30:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T15:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.living-in-germany.net\/?p=41"},"modified":"2021-05-17T11:31:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T11:31:33","slug":"holidays-and-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.living-in-germany.net\/holidays-and-traditions","title":{"rendered":"Holidays and Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article\">\n<p>December 24th-December 26th: Christmas Eve (<em>Heiligabend<\/em>) is typically a very quiet time in Germany.&nbsp; If you listen, very carefully,&nbsp; in the stillness you will hear the animals speaking.&nbsp; Other legends hold that the rivers turn into wine, mountains open to reveal precious gems and church bells can be heard ringing&nbsp; from the bottom of the sea. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 15px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Christmas Tree\" src=\"http:\/\/www.living-in-germany.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Weihnachtsbaum316738.jpg\" width=\"194\" align=\"left\" height=\"172\"><\/p>\n<p>For those who aren\u2019t the pure of heart enough to witness these miracles, Christmas Eve is still a very \u201choly evening\u201d in most German households. Germans, like most Europeans, observe a two-day holiday for Christmas (<em>erster und zweiter<\/em> <em>Weihnachtsfeiertag<\/em>) and find it quite deplorable that Americans have to go back to work immediately after the festivities on December 25th.&nbsp;&nbsp; Christmas, in Germany, really begins during the afternoon on December 24th.&nbsp; They have an evening meal that is simple and very traditional-usually <em>Kartoffel-salat<\/em> (potato salad) and <em>Wurstchen<\/em> (sausages.)<\/p>\n<p>Some say the tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve, rather than St. Nicholas Day, was started by the reformer Martin Luther in the 16th century to honor Christ rather than a Catholic Saint. Children open their gifts on Christmas Eve, which have been brought by the Christ Child (<em>Christkind<\/em>) while they are at church.&nbsp; Traditionally, families do not put up their tree until Christmas Eve and then it is unveiled as a surprise for the children (although that is changing some what.) This is because the tree holds a mysterious magic and therefore, the children aren\u2019t supposed to see it before Christmas Eve, when it is usually decorated by Mom while Dad keeps the children busy elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-672\"><\/span>The \u201cfirst\u201d Christmas day is the big day for most German families.&nbsp; Parents, Grandparents and children all get together for church if they haven\u2019t gone on Christmas Eve and then share an enormous meal which typically features a roast goose that might be accompanied by traditional German side dishes like apple and sausage stuffing, red cabbage and potato dumplings.  <\/p>\n<p><em>Christstollen<\/em> is another very traditional food.&nbsp; It is a bread-like fruit cake made with yeast, water and flour and can be stuffed with dried fruits, raisins, almonds,<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Fruitcake\" src=\"http:\/\/www.living-in-germany.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/christstollen.jpg\" width=\"200\" align=\"right\" height=\"227\"> nuts and\/or marzipan.&nbsp; As a Christmas pastry, <em>Stollen<\/em> was probably baked for the first time in the earlier 1400\u2019s in Saxony and made only from flour, yeast, oil and water.&nbsp; The shape of the cake was originally meant to represent baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.&nbsp; Since bakers weren\u2019t allowed to use butter during the Advent fast, the cake was rather tasteless and hard.<\/p>\n<p>Oil was allegedly expensive and hard to find in Saxony so the Prince Elector began petitioning the Pope for the right to use butter without paying a fine to the church.&nbsp; Six Popes and 40 years later, permission was finally granted-but only for the royal family!&nbsp; Once Saxony became Protestant, the ban quickly disappeared and traditional <em>Stollen<\/em> has changed over the years to a sweeter bread.&nbsp; The most authentic \u201cofficial\u201d <em>Stollen<\/em> comes from the city of Dresden and only 150 bakers have the right to make it.<\/p>\n<p>All that feasting is followed by the \u201csecond\u201d Christmas, which is more low-key as people relax or go on family outings before starting work again.&nbsp; Germany is changing, though, and it\u2019s becoming more common for people to travel to various family members homes on both days which means children, in reality, get presents all week long.&nbsp; Meals are typically not as elaborate on December 26th, which is St. Stephan\u2019s Day in the church calendar.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that Germany has so many rich varied Christmas traditions that continue, in spite of television and the internet.&nbsp; Many of them are specific to a very small area, maybe only one or two villages.&nbsp; The most enjoyable way to learn about them is by asking the older residents in your neighborhood (village.)<\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- END .article -->\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 24th-December 26th: Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) is typically a very quiet time in Germany.&nbsp; If you listen, very carefully,&nbsp; in the stillness you will hear the animals speaking.&nbsp; Other legends hold that the rivers turn into wine, mountains open to reveal precious gems and church bells can be heard ringing&nbsp; from the bottom of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-places-to-see"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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