German Christmas

Due to the fact that it is bordered by nine other European countries, Germany has shared in a plethora of Christmas traditions that take place in many other countries, and has introduced many of their own Christmas traditions to others.

In the United States when children feel that they have been well-behaved enough during the previous year to ask for specific Christmas gifts, they write a letter to Santa Claus, put it in the mailbox with a stamp on it and send it to the post office, where it is destroyed. In other countries, children write their letters and throw them into the fire, in hopes that the smoke will carry their message up to Santa Claus at the North Pole.

In Germany, German children write letters to Christkind, or Christ Child. The letters are sealed up in envelopes and heavily decorated with glue and sugar, so that when the letter is left on the windowsill it will sparkle in the light of the moon at night. Usually, Mom or Dad will come snatch the envelope from the windowsill, to make the child think Christkind came by and picked up their Christmas wishes.

Another classic German Christmas tradition is for a child to fill his or her shoes with hay, straw, or carrots and set them outside of their front doors at night on Christmas Eve. They do this in hopes that when Saint Nicholas rides by on his white stallion he will stop to feed his horse on the food that they left for him, and leave candy and toys in their shoes to repay them for their kindness.

The tradition of decorating a Christmas tree actually originated in Germany, and so it is very popular in a German Christmas. Many wealthy families are even known to have more than one Christmas tree in their home. There is actually more than one explanation of how the Christmas tree tradition was born, and neither of these are actually verifiable. One of the stories is about a man who was in the woods cutting down trees when he encountered a small, hungry young child in the woods. He befriended the child and fed it, and then the two went about their ways. The next morning, the child appeared to the woodcutter and his wife in the form of a spirit, thanking him for his ultimate act of kindness. He identified himself as the Christ Child, Christkind. The Christ Child presented the couple with a small sprig of an evergreen tree. He explained to them that the tree the sprig had come from would always bear fruit year round. From this, the Germans began to fell evergreen trees during the winter time and decorate them gaily with ribbons, lights, candles, ornaments, or even candy or cookies.

Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran church, is also said to have started the tradition of decorating trees for Christmas. He was said to have brought in an evergreen tree from outside one year and decorated it with candles. In the legend, the Christmas tree lights were supposed to symbolize the light of Jesus Christ and the heavens.