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Christmas in Germany
The Christmas season begins with the first advent Sunday. Traditional households have a advent wreath in the family room and the walls, doors and windows are tastefully decorated with handmade German Christmas crafts. The wreaths are decorated either modern, with trendy colored decorations, or in traditional colors with orange slices, cinnamon sticks, apple slices and pinecones. Each wreath holds four candles, representing each of the four advent Sundays before Christmas. With each new Sunday, another candle gets lit so that by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are burning. The lighting of the advent candle is a special moment in the homes with children. The family spends a quiet moment together and sing carols and some read passages out of the bible.
On the 6th of December, the German version of Santa Claus visits the children. His name is Sankt Nikolaus. On the night of the 5th of December, the kids place their cleaned shoes outside the door. The next morning, the shoes are filled with goodies.
Assisting Sankt Nikolaus is Knecht Ruprecht. He is normally dressed in a brown robe and carrying rods in his belt to give the bad children and a basket on his back full of sacks of tangerines, peanuts, spiced cookies and chocolate to give to the good children. Theodor Storm (1817-1888) wrote a popular poem about Knecht Ruprecht which is learned still today by all of the children in school. Read the poem here >>> Knecht Ruprecht Poem
On the 24th of December, on Christmas Eve, the father of the house solely decorates the tree in the morning and the room gets closed off so that the Christkind (translated: Christ Child but is an angelic figurel) can bring the gifts in the afternoon while the family is at church services. The mother of the house spends the morning cooking a small dinner which is often a small meal like Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. She is also preparing for the Christmas dinner for Christmas day in advance. The kids get to see and open their gifts after the evening meal and when it is dark outdoors. This adds to the mood. The tree gets lit for the first time with real candles or with traditional white lights. The family sings Christmas carols together and reads passages from the bible.
Christmas day is family day. The family goes to church in the morning and comes home to eat their Christmas dinner. Often friends or relatives are invited to join them.
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