German Christmas Traditions?

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frackledJJ

Traditionally, the christmas tree is set up on the 24th, and kept up until the 6th of January, which is a day called "die 3 Eisheiligen" (the 3 ice-saints), and I have absolutely no idea who they are and what they do, but it's tradition, anyway.

Since it's a holiday, catholics traditionally don't eat any meat that day, so the traditional christmas dinner is carp, prepared blue, meaning it is boiled (?)/ steamed (?) in a broth containing wine as an ingredient. Usually, you eat melted butter and salt-potatoes (potatoes skinned while raw and than cooked in salt water). However, this might be tradition, but most people don't do it anymore, preferring either lighter dishes or ones that are easier to prepare or can be prepared in advance, especially if there are small children in the household/visiting, since, like others have said, all the brouhaha with the gifts needs to go into that day, too, so you have getting the tree up, church service, dinner, gifts and last minute shopping all in one day. Having potato salad and "Wienerle" (hot dogs) for dinner is, you might say, the new tradition. People are basically having whatever they want and feel called on to prepare.

Oh, and: when I was in the US, people told me it was a German tradition to put a pickled gherkin on the christmas tree and let the smallest child search for it, who would, upon finding it, than get a special gift. Hence the glass-gherkin-christmas-ornament in the US. I have never heard of that tradition in Germany. At all. And since only the smallest child is allowed to look for the gherkin, why not give the poor thing the gift in the first place and have done with it? Who'd want a gherkin on a string in a christmas tree? Enlighten me, if you can!

Anyway, those are all the traditions I can think of right now. I'm sure I forgot loads, simply because every familiy has so many "own" traditions that I don't recognize them as "German" traditions in general.
Anyway, hope I helped.

And: Merry Christmas! ;))

P.S.: Nutcrackers are, I'd say "germanic", meaning I am not sure where exactly they come from, if from the Alps (including Austria) or originated from the Black Forrest region, but yeah, they are from around here.

ninasche22

well , we celebrate mostly just with the family , on the 24 th of December , so on Christmas-eve , we give our presents in the same night , all of them ! Then also we don't have santa clause on 25 th , we have something similar , in german he is called "Nickolaus" , he is ONLY for the small children , he comes on 6th of december , over night , and gives usually 2-10 presents, that , the children get in the morning !

hope i could help !

-Nata-

we celebrate "heiligabend" on the 24th..its christmas evening.. usually we go to church at about 5 pm.. after church we go home and eat.. mosty we eat a simple food .. some people dont eat meat on this day.. after dinner, the "christkind" brings the gifts...
yes i think nutcrackers are german

Kitten

Well frackled pretty much summed it up very well but I just wanted to add some 'pre-Christmas' traditions which I think are also important!
One I really like is the Adventkranz, basically it is a wreath with four candles on it and decorated with other things,, it's sort of an anticipation of the coming Christmas. The first Sunday in December you light the first candle, in my family this is usually accompanied by a lot of home made cookies and tea or sometimes mulled wine. The next sunday you light two, the third sunday three and the fourth sunday, yup all four.
This is what it looks like:
http://z.about.com/d/german/1/0/Z/4/AdventKranz1.jpg
There is a rhyme to go with it as well, this is usually taught to young children in kindergarten or school:
Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt.
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier -
dann steht das Christkind vor der TÃ¼r.
(Advent, advent, the light is on
first one, then two, than three, than four,
then the Christkind is at your door)
Then there is as previously mentioned Nikolaus on the sixth of December when St. Nicholas supposedly comes and brings little presents to children, there is some local variation though, in other parts of Germany it is thought to be 'Knecht Ruprecht' who brings the presents who is I believe generally thought of as being St. Nicholas assistant. On the night of the 5th, children put out their shoes in front of their door and in the morning they are filled with little presents, though mainly chocolate, tangerines and nuts, nothing big.
Another thing that is customary before Christmas is 'wichteln', it is often done in schools, clubs or even at work, it's like 'secret santa', you write down names and then randomly choose a piece of paper, whoever you pick, you have to buy or make them a little gift by the date that is generally agreed on. The term 'wichteln' is derived from 'wichtel' which means pixie or gnome.
We also have wonderful Christmas markets in the run up to Christmas! One of the things I miss most about Germany! Basically it's mixture between a craft market and a food fair! You can buy all sorts of arts and crafts and loads of yummy food, waffles, crepes, sweets, bratwurst, roasted nuts, gingerbread, the smells are just unbelievable and of course: Gluehwein (mulled wine).
http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/
Traditionally there is also a lot of baking before Christmas, special Christmas cookies (Weihnachtsplaetzchen) in infinite variations, gingerbread, gingerbread houses and 'Stollen' also called 'Christstollen'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen
I do miss proper German Christmas!

Richiemon

No offense.... but with that German flag on your Avatar... I'd think you knew a little more about Germany and/or German culture...
Do you know about Saint Nikolas Tag? It is December 6th, and it is a kind-of pre-Christmas celebration from old Germany. Saint Nick comes along (and if the children sing for him, and were good), he gives them sweets in their shoes!Nutcrackers are Eastern European, not strictly German, but many are made in Germany and common in German Christmases.

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