New Year's Eve Tradition: Dinner for One

Dinner for One is a New Year's Eve tradition in Germany. It is actually from British TV, but it is played on several German TV stations at different times during the evening. This video has a 2 minute introduction in German, before the actual show begins.

Signs of Weihnachten: Weihnachtsbaum

According to the custom of Magda's family, we decorated our Christmas tree the morning of Christmas Eve. Once again we went with the straw ornaments, some of which Magda and her sister made as kids. Plus a few Santa Claus ornaments made of oyster shells by friends from Hilton Head. The lights are real beeswax candles. Of course this was on a real tree. Artificial trees are not unknown here, but there use seems restricted to businesses and not in the homes.

While a few people put up their Christmas trees earlier in the month, a most seem to wait like we do. In fact many of the stands that sell Christmas trees didn't even open until the beginning or middle of last week. Often these stands are run by a family that grows the trees on their farm in the Eiffel. They cut their crop of 50 or 100 trees, bring it into town and sell it out in a couple of days.

The tree stays up at least until after Jan. 6th, the "Tag der Heiligen Drei Könige"(day of the three kings). Some will keep them until Lichtmess on Feb. 3rd. Traditionally in addition the Christmas tree, "Krippen" (nativity scenes) are also taken down on this day.

Signs of Weihnachten: Weihnachtsmarkt

We lit candle number four on the advents wreath on Sunday. That means there won't be any more Sundays before Christmas.

We did take a little time out on Saturday to visit a Weihnachtsmarkt. Last year, we had heard from a neighbor that Ahrweiler had a pretty and pleasant market that was worth a visit. Ahrweiler is a small town on the Ahr river about 30-45 minutes from us. The Ahr river is Germany's northern most wine  region. It is know for it's red wines that rarely get exported, being mostly bought up by folks from Bonn or Cologne that visit on week-ends. We use to hike here quite a bit, but it had been several years since we were here. And I don't recall spending much time exploring Ahrweiler.

So it was with some surprise that we discovered this well-persevered town. There is still a defensive wall around the town, a legacy of medieval times that has been restored and/or rebuilt. Inside the wall are pedestrian only streets with half-timbered houses on either side.

The main part of the market was in the marktplatz with Ahrweiler's the Gothic church St. Laurentius providing a backdrop.

The Ahrweiler Weihnachtsmarkt is a week-end only market, so it does attract the kinds of crowds that markets in the larger cities attract. This was locals and people on a week-end getaway enjoying the day shopping the stores in the town, checking out the booths in the market, and having a glass of glüwein while standing by a fire and chatting with friends. It was a pleasant atmosphere.

The other nice thing about this market is that a number of the booths were selling local or handcrafted products. So often, Weihnachtsmarkts are filled with people selling the same products that you can buy in the store, and often without much of a discount. There just are not enough handcrafters to handle all of the Weihnachtsmarkts that have sprung up in the last few years. Ahrweiler had enough to be interesting.

Signs of Weihnachten: Getting in the Mood

Last Sunday we lit the third candle on our Advent wreath. One more candle to go. I suppose that should be a pretty good hint that Christmas is comming.

We also brought out the Christmas pyramid this week and got some candles. That are a couple of videos of the pyramid in action that I've attached to the end of the blog entry.

Magda's tradition is to put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. That is not a problem this year since her school doesn't let out until the 23rd this year. I can't imagine that we would try to put one up much before then anyway.

But I have to say that the thing that has done the most to make me become aware of the upcoming holidays was the purchase of some tea last week. Of course, we are not talking just any tea here. We talking about Weihnachts tea. This is a black tea (Ceylon) with cinnamon, orange peel and almonds added to give the taste and smell of the season. Weihnachts tea is a long-standing tradition here in Germany and also in Great Britain this time of year. It is funny how the taste or smell of something can make you more aware of an event than all the things you see around you.

 

 

Signs of Weihnachten: Starting the Countdown

This year the real countdown to Weihnachten started on November 28, the 4th Sunday before Christmas. The custom is to set up a wreath with four candles. Each Sunday leading up to Christmas, a new candle is lit. This picture was taken last Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent.

This is also the week-end that the house exteriors were decorated. Since this is a neighborhood with a lot of apartment buildings, mostly this involved placing lights in the windows. But some people do go a bit further that that. But by comparison to the US, the decorations are pretty tame.

December 1 begins another count down. That is for the advents calendar. Typical Advents calendars involve a narrow cardboard box that can be hung on a wall. There are 24 numbered doors in the box. Each day, one of the doors are opened to reveal a treat. Once all the doors are opened, it is Christmas Eve.

Our Advents calendar this year is a little different. We slide out a piece of marzipan each day from the bottom, revealing a new fact about Weihnachten printed on the inside of the box. And, oh yeah, leaving us with a piece of marzipan to enjoy.

December 6 was Saint Nicholas Day. Saint Nicholas lived during the 3rd century in present day Turkey. A child of wealthy parents who died while Saint Nicholas was still quite young, he used his wealth in secret gift-giving to deserving people. So today, kids in Germany wake up on December 6th to find small gifts (typically sweets) at their front door. Actually not just kids find gifts. People will door small gifts at the door of friends that have helped them through the year. We actually took a Saint Nicholas run the evening of December 5th to drop off some bags of cookies at the door of 3 such friends.

Signs of Weihnachten: September thru middle of November

Thought it might be interesting to take a look at the build up to Weihnachten (Christmas) that we are experiencing here. To do that though, it is necessary to go back a couple of months. The first signs of Weihnachten started showing up in early September this year. That was when the grocery stores here put up big displays of Christmas cookies, candies and cakes. Lebkuchen (Germany's gingerbread), zimtsterne (cinimmon stars). spritz cookies, and, of course, stollen began filling the shopping carts of Germany.

Groceries followed in early October with displays of baking goods. This was combined with advertisements about the importance of starting your Weihnachten baking early. The things offered for baking are truly amazing, and they are in even the cheapest of grocery stores. Hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, blocks of marzipan, melting chocolate, pre-made spice mixes for lebkuchen and spekulatius, hirschhorn (an ingredient for springerle), pre-made marzipan cookie decorations to made just a few of the items.

The department stores got into the act in mid-October putting up their displays of Weihnacten decorations.

Mid-November, began the big push of table decorations. Holiday themed table clothes, napkins and other decorations hit the market, as well and opportunities to buy new vine glasses, tableware, and dishes for the holiday table.

Five weekends before Weihnachten, the Weihnachtmarkts opened. In Koblenz, the Weihnachtmarkt is located in three marketplaces in the Altstadt (old part of town). It seems more about food and the sale of manufactured items, than about individuals selling handmade items that was the basis for the tradition. But still it brings some light and fun to the town in the evening at a time when it is getting dark at 4:00 pm. Plus there are an occasional shop that offering the kind of handmade items that you expect to find.