Weihnachten in Deutschland (Christmas in Germany)

Christmas in Germany is quite different from that in Sydney. For a start, there's the obvious difference - it's Winter here, so we are much more likely to have a white Christmas (although it's looking only 50/50 at the moment). In addition, there are a large number of Christmas traditions here that are quite novel to us. Despite the fact that many of the traditions are more Christian than secular (santa has a much lower profile over here), this reflects a deep history of Christianity rather than a broad commitment to Christ, and many of the traditions are carried out with no reference to Jesus - much like in Sydney. We've decided to follow as many of the traditions as possible so we can enhance our German experience.

Advent

This is the first difference. Although Advent is often written in our Australian diaries, we've never taken much notice of it, and only recently found out what it meant. We think some churches in Australia observe it, but it is definitely not built into the traditions and calendar of the country as a whole. For those who don't know, Advent means "coming". The four Sundays before Christmas are called 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Advent. These names are sometimes used to refer to these days without giving the normal date. For example, a movie can be advertised as "8:15pm on 1st Advent".

The idea of Advent is that we wait for the coming of Jesus - both looking backwards to his coming as a baby, and looking forward to his return in the future. All Christians should in this sense be Advent people - always looking forward to his coming and being prepared.

One tradition of Advent is the Adventkranz (Advent wreath). This is a wreath made of some evergreen plant with four candles in it. Each advent Sunday, another candle is lit. ie one is lit on 1st Advent, two are lit on 2nd Advent etc. The candle flames that grow brighter each week signify the coming of Jesus (in 1 John 8:12 Jesus says "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life"), and are brightest just before Christmas, when he finally arrives. Here is a photo of us on 3rd Advent with our first ever Adventskranz.

Another Advent tradition here is the Adventskalendar (Advent Calendar). Each day from the 1st to 24th of December, you open a door in the calendar to reveal a little surprise (eg chocolate). We're not exactly sure how it fits with the Advent idea, but probably it is building expectation for receiving God's gift of Jesus. You may have seen or had these in Sydney, but they are not so common. In the picture you can see a HUGE adventskalendar with Christmas displays that look over the Christmas markets. Half the fun is trying to find today's number which is harder than it seems.

Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)

One really fun aspect of Christmas here is the Weihnachtsmarkt. Little wooden stalls are set up in the city centre, and sell christmas food, drink and craft. Here is a really nice photo of the markets just after some snow. You can see maybe 5 huts here. The complete markt is spread throughout the city centre, and would number close to 100 huts.

Here is Nathan drinking one of the many Christmas drinks. The common denominator in these drinks is that they are all hot. Some of the varieties include 1) Glühwein - a hot, spiced, sweet red wine. Quite nice. 2) Feurzangenbowle (flaming tongues of fire) - similar to Glühwein, except you light a rum soaked sugar cube over the drink so that flavoured caramalised sugar mixes into the drink. Novelty, but tastes OK. 3) Eierpunsch - mixture of raw eggs and some kind of strong alcohol. Too strong - could hardly finish it 4) Kinderpunsch (childrens punch) - hot spiced fruity drink so the children don't feel left out. Keeps you warm but otherwise not that exciting. The drinks are served in several kinds of interesting cups, which we have kept as souveniers (there is a deposit that you lose, though).

Here's Jo's mum at a stall selling chocolate coated fruit. These were a real hit with us - the fruit is really good quality, despite being hidden by the chocolate (the stalls must rely on repeat business), and who can argue with chocolate? In her hand is krappelchen - best way to describe what they look and taste like is sugar coated donut holes (but shaped like little pillows).

One of our good friends Vera is visiting us for Christmas and New Year, and caught the last two days of the markets. Here she is enjoying a chocolate coated pear.

Geschenke (presents).

Another difference here is when you receive Christmas gifts. There's at least three different times a child could expect to receive something. Before December, an Adventskalendar, which is actually 24 little presents in one. On the night before the 6th January (Nikolaustag - Saint Nicholas Day), you leave your shoes on the window sill, and Saint Nick puts presents in them overnight. On the 24th December - Weihnachten - usually after dinner, you open your Christmas presents. On the 25th December - Weihnachtstag - you don't get any presents. This year, we're going to open our presents on 24th. Though when you take into account the time zone difference, it will actually be the 25th in Sydney anyway.

Here is a picture of Owen's socks (He doesn't have any shoes yet!) on the window sill. The socks were made by a friend from our German classes we took in Sydney. They're green and gold so Owen can support the aussies in the soccer world cup!

Important German Word: -chen. Any word ending in chen means a small version of what preceeds it. For example:

1) Gummibärchen = little gummy bear. For those who are old enough to remember them, they came from Germany!
2) Ampelmannchen = little traffic light person (see post on 9th Sept, 2005).
3) Brotchen = little bread = bread roll.
4) Schlösschen = little castle

For all you out there with the surname Chen, be aware that when you introduce yourself to a German, they may have a quiet little chuckle when you introduce yourself as "little John", for example.