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Christmas in General 

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Christmas in Germany (Christmas in General)
MALU

Member Name: MALU

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Christmas in General
Date: 16/12/01 (372 review reads)
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Comments for this review about Christmas in General (47)

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garymarsh6 garymarsh6 Nice interesting review. I was in Thailand last year and they don't celebrate Christmas but go through the motions for Western tourists. We ate a wonderful dinner from a street vendor all for the pricely sum of £3 including a couple of beers. It was great to get away from the commercialisation of the West and the humdrum repeats on TV. Unfortunately the nearest I have come to a Christmas market was in Strasbourg. 02/02/09
majorb majorb I very much like the idea of being able to order myself a young policeman. I wish they did that over here, too. ;-)

Our Christmas traditions seem quite similar in nature, but how do you celebrate New Year? I know many people back home in Northumberland who won't step over their front doorstep until a tall, dark-haired man has presented them with a piece of coal on New Year's Day morning. We also have a spectacular local festival on New Year's Eve, where men carry large flaming tar barrels on their head through Allendale village. 		31/03/02
Peter2002 Peter2002 Never been although sounds nice Great op 22/01/02
Belgian999 Belgian999 I spent Xmas in Hannover with friends in 1999, and had a great time - we managed to spread the presents, food and drink across two days, I don't think we even went outside on the 24th and 25th!

Hope you enjoyed einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr... I'm back in Walldorf catching up on the dooyoo time I missed at home! 		08/01/02
donnaford donnaford I lived in Germany for 4 years as a child so I should have known much of this but I didnt. I did know about the Christmas markets & Nikolaus though. 07/01/02
tweepypie tweepypie Oh, the memories... I didn't go home this year, but it's always nice to read about what my Xmas would have been like...
A lot of the stuff you mention was new to me (like the origins of Nikolaus), so I even managed to learn something.

The Xmas market in Northeim is usually something we complain about when we're there (because it's certainly not like the one in Nuremburg - or even resembles it in any way...), but every year when I'm not there it is one of the things I miss most...

Thanks for that and "guten Rutsch". 		27/12/01
lily7star lily7star Nice op :)
Ooooooh but Malu - one or two little errors in your English (a lot fewer than if I was writing in German though, even before I'd forgotten it all!)
Oh, and I wouldn't have mentioned it but that you warn people about being intolerant of errors in your new profile!
I'm going to have to get to a Weihnachtsmarkt at some point again - it brings back good memories of an advent spent in Bonn :) Oh, and even though that was 20 years ago the family where I was staying did that 24 presents thing - I thought that was typical, not particularly modern? 		27/12/01
beoram beoram congrats on the crown. cheers, B. 25/12/01
collingwood21 collingwood21 Excellent op - a really fascinating read. While I'm here I would also like to say thank you for reading so many of my ops and for nominating me for a crown - it is much appreciated! Merry Christmas! 21/12/01
jusophine jusophine Fabulous, now I'm really in the mood for Christmas. Congratulations by the way on becoming a category guide.
Juliet 		19/12/01
chinnyli chinnyli That was fascinating! I don't really celebrate Christmas myself, but enjoy finding out how people celebrate it differently. Looks like Germany would be a good place to visit pre-Christmas too! Chinny 19/12/01
johninnit johninnit A great op thanks. German Xmasses (especially in the southern cities like Regensburg where I lived) are so legendary, that it seems many towns have become a kind of theme park for us tourists, with lots of very accessible imagery and treats. It's nice though that these flocks of grockles don't seem to dampen the locals' enthusiasm for their own tradition as much as it does in my rather grumpy town of Oxford. The spirit of Xmas must be all-pervading indeed! Cheers, John 19/12/01
michaelhudson michaelhudson BTW, very good photo! 18/12/01
michaelhudson michaelhudson Wonderful op, fully deserving of the crown. Sounds better than my Christmas in Korea! 18/12/01
ANDREWSJK ANDREWSJK Excellent op MALU, worthy of a Crown.
John 		18/12/01
I+Like+Blue I Like Blue An excellent opinion and congratulations on the crown! :)

Some of the best Christmas' we had were whilst we lived in Germany just a few years ago.
In M'gladbach (where we lived) from 1st December a collection of small wooden chalets would be erected all over the town centre, and these were like market stalls selling various Christmas gifts, decorations etc, others would sell Gluhwein and some would sell hot roasted almonds, mmmmmmm.
Oops rambling on here, sorry :) 		18/12/01
chris105 chris105 Cheers on the crown, Malu - and about the photo: ooh-la-la, quel foto madame! :) Now that's a Malu different from what I'd imagined... v.v.trendy, as they say
-Chris
PS when are you leaving for your hols? 		18/12/01
emil emil Lovely op. Full of stuff I didn't know anything about.
Yes I've been wanting to write about "Christmas in India". Hope I get the time before Christmas. I'm very busy on a project where the first demo release is to be out on 28th Dec.
I thing Aang should also write one about Indonesia.
And congrats on the crown.
Emilio 		18/12/01
Trevor15 Trevor15 Malu, what - a - pho - to - graph!!!

I'm liking that very, very much ;-) 		18/12/01
Richie15 Richie15 Aaah, you Germans.....moderation in all things.....just make sure you don't have TOO much fun.... :) 17/12/01
Deany Deany Glühwein, mmmmmm....

Going to the Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarkt tomorrow night with a gang from work, much nicer than trudging round the shops listening to tinny Christmas carols in GB. Great op. 		17/12/01
Trevor15 Trevor15 Thanks. (And anytime).

Funny you should say that; you're the second person in a week to make that suggestion. Perhaps a change of career is in order ;-) 		17/12/01
Ophelia Ophelia They seem to 'do' Christmas in a big way in Germany - I love their Christmas shops. Excellent op. 17/12/01
Katz1 Katz1 Cheers for that Malu, glad I put that flea in your ear ;) A very interesting read. 17/12/01
chris105 chris105 Remarkably similar to the German one, actually! Although Christmas IS on the 25th (whatever next?!) and nowadays most restaurants not only remain open on Christmas Day but have big do's organised (read big ripoffs!).

We too open pressies on the 24th - Christmas Eve. Then it's off to midnight Mass (11.30pm, actually) and finally some hearthy breakfast back home. This year we're planning organisational suicide, in that we're having friends over for dinner Christmas Eve (then pressies, Mass etc), then having family over for the traditional Christmas Lunch on the 25th.

Merry Christmas in Tenerife, if we don't speak before you leave. And oh, btw, I loved "useonlywhennecessary"!!!! :)
-Chris 		17/12/01
beoram beoram Brilliant op, Malu. a couple of random 'Christmas' facts, since I don't really feel like writing my own Christmas op:
(1)I believe the date of Christmas 24th or 25th has much more to do with the 'original' pagan celebration held round this time, which celebrated the difference between the lunar & solar years. As the lunar year ends round the 24/25th (as I understand this), the 'pagans' saw the remaining days of the solar year as 'free' days--party days. The '12 days of Christmas' is somehow related to these 'free' days.

(2)on a very different note, the fat, jolly Santa Claus was 'invented' by the Coca-Cola co. in the 1920's, or so I've been told.

cheers, B. 		17/12/01
B-DISE B-DISE Wonderful MALU, lovely! Gundi is Namibian born German and over here its pretty much the same as your Christmas. The rest of the majority in Namibia has the typical Europian Style Christmas as you so detailed explained. German, no different, Europian, no different. Do enjoy your holiday and may you have a wonderful Christmas :) 17/12/01
emma76 emma76 I lived in Germany as a child and my dad used to force us to go round to German houses and sing Christmas carols in German! But the people were genuinely delighted that we'd made an effort. Also, at school, we used to have a visit from someone called 'Black Pete' who I assume was Rupprecht. Am I right? Good op! :-) 17/12/01
MALU MALU Hi everyone, nice to see that you like my ranting! Malu 17/12/01
Aang Aang Wonderful op. Christmas in Jakarta can mean shops full of Christmas songs, carols sung by little kids, Christmas cards from Moslem friends, and bombs, allegedly let off by elements of the US trained armed forces. 17/12/01
SueMagee SueMagee That took me back to when my daughter was in Bonn! Thanks, Malu.

Sue :) 		17/12/01
Sexy+Kay Sexy Kay Superb opinion. Ausserordentlich interessant - Kay 16/12/01
misslook misslook A very intresting read - thanks and merry christmas - Emma 16/12/01
lamorna lamorna A sense of peace wafted over me reading this Malu. It was pure pleasure. Thank you, and you've made me fancy herring and goose!

{L} 		16/12/01
jillmurphy jillmurphy If they don't crown this it'll be a festive crime! And I'd love to hear the others, yes. 16/12/01
sidneygee sidneygee Delightful !!.

I cinvinced our 'brood' that in lapland, they ate Roast Reindeer instead of turkey, and garnished it with glace cherries, so each person would have a 'red-nose' in memory of Rudolph (AND this was LONG before Billy Conolly 'stole' that one from me !!!) lol 		16/12/01
zoe_page_1 zoe_page_1 Hier in Manchester haben wir auch ein Weinachts Markt - naeschte Woche werde ich darueber schrieben. Ich freue mich auf Weinachten 2002 - dann kann ich zum ersten mal in Deutschland feiern :) (BTW, wish I could spell in German....) 16/12/01
merv merv Entertaining and informative as ever, well worth a crown. Sounds though we could learn a thing or two from our European partners. Have a good Christmas. 16/12/01
Karael Karael Very interesting as my wife is German. She comes from the north and there, as you say, presents are opened on the evening of the 24th after which at about 10pm they have a meal, usually goose. Enjoyed the opinion. 16/12/01
a-true-ben a-true-ben I believe the birth of Christ can be dated to not earlier than 4AD because of the Roman tax census (hence journey to Bethlehem) and not later than 7AD because of the death of King Herod (the Biblical one, not the Dooyoo one) but I don't know any more details. Very interesting op, thanks. 16/12/01
pje pje Frohe Weihnachten! :¬D 16/12/01
kes33 kes33 Interesting op, I agree with KingHerrod that it doesn't sound enormously different. 16/12/01
kittykat18 kittykat18 Very interesting thanks. I love the German market in Cardiff. 16/12/01
Trevor15 Trevor15 I love reading about other customs. Must be a rogue anthropological gene I've inherited. ;-) 16/12/01
KingHerrod KingHerrod It does not seem that different, perhaps more civillised! I am Saint Nick, did you not know, and my travel arrangements are as you say, secret, but a giraffe helps.

Have a good festive season. 		16/12/01
lula153 lula153 Fastinating stuff - I recently went to a 'Christmas round the world' party and spent some time looking at the subject on the internet. It's amazing how different things are in different parts of the world. 16/12/01
MALU MALU Katz1, Ta for the idea! 16/12/01
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