Customs

The season begins -- much as it does in the United States -- weeks before Christmas, when major department stores throughout Germany decorate their storefronts and stock their shelves in preparation for the rush of holiday shoppers. The famous wooden ornaments and nutcrackers made in Germany take their places on shelves filled with every imaginable type of holiday decoration, toy and sweet.
    Marzipan, a favorite candy made of almond paste that's formed and decorated to look like fruits, vegetables, animals, wurst and countless other things, fills candy aisles and the display windows of confectionery stores (conditereis). Among the most popular forms of the treat are marzipan potatoes (Kartoffeln) and the pink good-luck pigs that hold "lucky" gold coins in their mouths.
    Favorite cookies and cakes include Stollen (fruitcakes), Lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies), Zimmtsterne (sugar-iced cinnamon stars), Nussgeback (nut cookies) and Spekulatius (crunchy windmill-shaped cookies with almonds), and others.
    Outdoor Weihnachtsmarkte (Christmas markets) begin setting up in town squares all over Germany in November and continue until a few days before Christmas, selling traditional wooden ornaments, nutcrackers and sweets. It's here that Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, often makes an appearance and reminds children to be especially good.

In Germany, Advent is the beginning of the Christmas season, the period which begins four Sundays before Christmas. It's characterized by the lighting of one candle on an Advent wreath for each Advent Sunday, with the last candle representing the ultimate lights of joy and hope, the birth of the Christ child.
    Each day during Advent children open a window of their Advents-kalender (Advent calendar), excitedly counting down the days until Christmas. In many households, ornate manger scenes, straw stars and decorative angels take their annual places to honor the Yuletide. In some regions, forsythia and cherry branches are cut and brought indoors on Dec. 4. According to traditional beliefs, you can judge the days until Christmas by the progression of the sprouting branches; they're in full bloom on Dec. 25.
    Preparations for the holiday in some homes include construction and decoration of a fine Knusperhaus, literally a nibble-house, or Hexenhaus (witch's house) for the children. It's made either of Lebkuchen or posterboard decorated with candy attached with a glue-like mixture of powdered sugar and water. This tradition originated with the classic German folk tale "Hansel and Gretel." The famous children's opera of the same name is performed annually throughout Germany during the Christmas season.
    In many German homes, St. Nicholas presents gifts to the children on Dec. 6, during his house-to-house mission throughout Germany.  Some say he gets around in the Rhine River regions by sailing the rapid currents on the back of a whale.
  But the Bescherung (distribution of gifts) on Christmas is much as the gift-giving family celebration held on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning in the United States. Typically, family members dress up on Heilige Abend (holy night, or Christmas Eve), have a light supper, often of some type of fish or perhaps wurst and potato salad, and attend early-evening church services. When they return home, they might gather together to sing Christmas carols once more before exchanging gifts. Midnight candlelight services, both Protestant and Catholic, are also popular in Germany.
    While Christmas Day is a time to visit relatives, exchange gifts and indulge in a delicious turkey or goose dinner, Christmas Eve is a time to stay up late and celebrate. It's the time when each family member's Weihnachtsteller (Christmas plate) is filled with home-made treats, fruits, chocolates and nuts.
    If ever the family brings out its finest table linens, china, crystal and silverware, it's for the Christmas Day feast. And candlelight, wine and after-dinner liquors are very much a part of the elegance that is Christmas in Germany.
    Preparation of the Christmas tree is vastly different in German and American homes. Although electric lights and electric "candles" have became popular in the last decade, many German families hold to the use of traditional dripless wax candles or Bienenwabenkerzen (honeybee candles), which fill the air with a rich honey scent.
    In the interests of safety, trees intended to be fitted with real lighted candles are typically much smaller and sparser than the billowing, full-skirted trees many Americans are accustomed to. Another difference between the German and American Christmases is that German families celebrate two Christmas days. The day after Christmas is not merely a day to unwind after the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations; it is a national observance, a legal holiday that allows families and friends to spend a little more time together. Stores and other businesses are closed.
    Frohe Weihnachten. Merry Christmas. And may all your New Year's dreams and wishes come true.