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| Holidays Home » Germany » Christmas Tourism » Christmas Traditions |
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Christmas Traditions in Germany |
Christmas is celebrated worldwide on 25th December with pomp and grandeur. The Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas tradition in Germany is a month long holiday full of celebrations.
In Germany the Christmas tradition of placing an Advent wreath of fir or pine branches on the door is very common. Four Sundays before Christmas, the Advent wreath is placed with four colored candles. Every Sunday a candle is lit on the wreath sing Christmas carols and eat Christmas cookies. The children start counting down with an Advent calendar until Christmas comes. Every day the children open a small flap on the calendar to see the Christmas picture hidden there.
In Germany preparations for Christmas celebrations often begin before December 1st. the special evening are set aside by the Germans for baking spiced cakes and cookies, and making gifts and decorations. The traditional Christmas toys in Germany are little dolls made of fruits. The Christmas traditions in Germany include leaving a letter for the Christkind by the children on their windowsills. Christkind is a winged figure dressed in white robes and a golden crown who distributes gifts. The children decorate the letters with glue and sprinkle with sugar to make them sparkle.
In every German houses beautiful gingerbread houses and cookies are made. The Christbaumgeback is a German Christmas tree pastry is white dough that can be molded into different shapes and baked for tree decorations.
In Germany December 6 is celebrated as Nikolaustag, St. Claus day. On this day a shoe or boot is kept outside the door on the night of Dec.5 with hopes of presents on the following morning. It is believed that if you were good you will get gifts but if you weren’t you will get a rod. In different parts of Germany the people believe that on every Christmas Eve the Christ Child sends a messenger in the form of an Angel called Christkind dressed in a white robe and crown, bearing gifts. In Germany Weihnachtsmann or Christmas Man is a Christmas Eve figure that looks like Santa Claus and also brings gifts. Christkind accompanied by one of its many devilish companions like Knecht Rupprecht, Pelznickle, Ru-Klas, or one of the other monstrous playmates created by this nation brings presents.
The German Christmas tradition of decorating the house with Christmas trees is age old. In Germany you will find many homes with several Christmas trees, and in all towns across Germany they can be seen glittering and glowing. Germans locks one of the rooms of the houses before Christmas and no one is allowed inside the room and on Christmas Eve the children are woken up at midnight by their parents and taken down to the locked room. When the door opens they see the Christmas tree all lit up, with piles of parcels on little tables. In the small parts of Germany the small German boys dress up as kings and carry a star round the village, singing carols.
For more information on Christmas Tourism in Germany visit www.holidayshub.com
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