They don't spring it on you all at once, oh no! What's the pleasure and anticipation in that? It starts with city officials stringing all the Christmas lights across your street with big hanging stars, plump cupids or trumpeting angels as the most popular ornament. They don't turn them on yet except maybe to test them, but you start to feel excited about what's to come.
Then comes St. Martin's Day on Nov. 11th which is celebrated in many European countries and is a Catholic holiday in Germany, especially if you live in southern Bavaria. Martin was born in Hungary in 316 and lived in Italy where he became a Roman soldier. He was commissioned to Gaul (France) and he later was baptized and became a monk. He was a friend of children and a patron of the poor and did many kind deeds to people everywhere he went. There is a famous story where he was traveling with two other soldiers and was about to enter a city when he saw a poor beggar who was too weak to call for help and freezing in the cold during a storm. Martin was wearing a long, thick Roman cloak of red and he got down from his horse and using his sword, cut the cloak in half, giving one part to the poor man, thus saving his life. That night, Martin dreamt that the person he had shared his cloak with was Christ, who thanked him for his kindness. This dream convinced Martin to leave the army, get baptized, and become a monk. Eventually, the stories of Martin's compassion spread and church officials wanted to make this lowly monk a bishop. Martin didn't want the position, and legend says that he tried to hide from the throngs of good intentioned church officials by hiding in a goose pen in a barn, but the gaggle of geese gave him away. He did become a bishop in Tours, France and continued to be a patron of the poor and to children in his new role. To this day, people celebrate St. Martin's Day with a feast of goose with all the fixings like red cabbage and dumplings!
It is traditional for children to create paper lanterns in kindergarten or primary class in remembrance of St. Martin. Hundreds, if not thousands of little kids gather in parade like formations with their lanterns accompanied by teachers, volunteers and parents on the night of the 11th.The lanterns are fantastic creative designs. I saw rounded pink pigs (schwein is VERY popular here in Germany), big glowing yellow suns, whimsical jellyfish, big blue whales, bulging frogs, oranges, stars, and many more, each set more stunning than the next group as well as traditional lantern shapes, but with stained glass cut outs of scenes from St. Martin's life or pop art spiral designs which were all hand crafted by the kids. The lanterns are supposed to symbolize the light that holiness brings to the dark comparing the hope and love that St. Martin's good deeds brought to the people.
In the past, these lanterns were lit by little tea candles. Now what could possibly go wrong with kids carrying paper lanterns with lit candles you may ask? Well, picture rambunctious Hans swinging his lantern a little too vigorously and seeing the whole thing going up in flames while people start screaming until some responsible kill joy douses the flames leaving a charred mess on the cobbled street and a crying, wet kid in its wake. Pretty exciting don't you think; part of the appeal, no? And so, battery operated candles were invented just for this parade (wink wink)! And then they created special sticks to hold the batteries with dangling wires with a light at the end to light up the lantern. Yeah, it has definitely become less dramatic than all the accidental burnings in the past.
Luckily, I had seen some pre-made lanterns at the supermarket and bought a couple of them not knowing about St. Martin's Day, but thinking they'd be great for the Winter Solstice Festival of Light in Kensington Market in Toronto on Dec. 21st. When we saw the parade forming outside our front window, I knew what to do and hurriedly assembled the lanterns, lit them up and hurried Steven and Elowyn out the door to join the parade and follow it down to the market square.
The parade in our town opened with a black and white police cruiser that looked suspiciously like an American cruiser. I hurried to catch a glimpse of the make of the car and sure enough, it was an American Ford with California license plates! Very strange! I mean, the first question is why? German police cars look quite quaint in comparison with their diminutive size, friendly white colour and bright neon yellow and orange stripes for high visibility. Quite puzzling to see not one, but two of the American cruisers except the car bringing up the rear of the parade had German license plates!
Right after the cruisers, a white horse ridden by St. Martin led the procession in full medieval looking bishop's garb with lots of gold trimmings wearing a long red cape that draped in flourish over the rear of the horse. He also carried a bishop's crozier and waved to the crowds much like Santa during the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto except instead of 'Ho ho ho', he said, 'Gruß Gott' (God's greeting to you).
Along the parade, all the kids were singing more or less in unison songs that I had heard my father sing to me and my siblings as kids. Songs like 'Laterne Laterne!' I thought of dad singing and how much he would have loved to be here right now. He would have been singing and swinging his lantern too and finally experiencing the childhood that he missed during wartime Germany.
At the town square entrance, the regal white horse suddenly lifted his tail and started taking a massive dump right there on the cobbles without missing a beat and creating a three metre long trail. About 3 classes of kindergarteners with their parents waded right through this steaming trail until some kid shrieked and the procession suddenly stopped while the volunteer officials put on a brave face and quickly stood in front of the 'horse apples' as my dad would call it and directed the procession around it. We were right there at the entrance and watched the whole spectacle with great amusement with the other bystanders and shrieked with laughter and horror when the occasional adult trying to cut through the parade to get a beer on the other side walked right through the stuff with their expensive shoes. Lots of 'scheiße' swearing followed and shoe scraping while parents admonished the swearers to mind their language in front of their wide-eyed lantern holding kids. We left after the parade and went home for our own hot feast of potato soup, crispy buns and wurst while we talked about our great evening and the fact that there would be a lot of smelly shoes to clean that night by disgruntled parents!
Right after St. Martin's Day, things start ramping up in the market square. Suddenly the lion fountain is drained and filled with fresh evergreen trees, then a fence of evergreens is set up around the square and finally, trucks arrive with wooden huts that resemble Bavarian ski chalets, all lined up on the periphery and inside the square in a circle. All the inhabitants inspect these goings on daily and stand around and admire or discuss it, and sometimes a wily senior offers his advice or expertise to the workers on hanging the oversized fat cupid over one of the gateway entrances, or hanging the strings of lights just so. Throughout the week, you can see the whole market getting built until the day when the stalls are filled with Christmas ornaments and baubles, mugs to fill the spiced Glüwein, and racks and griddles for the bratwürst and crispy potato pancakes with apple sauce.
Many markets this year opened the week before Advent which is the case in our town of Ratingen, but most open traditionally the Friday before Advent. German Christmas Markets have their origin way back in 1393 in Frankfürt and even earlier in the beautiful jewel of a city, Dresden. They were originally set up in front of the local cathedral or market square as an encouragement for people to attend Mass every day during Advent and then after Mass to indulge in the market. It was there that craftsmen sold their beautifully crafted wooden and tin ornaments that they had fashioned and for people to mingle and indulge in some mulled wine (introduced first in Köln), to eat local baked specialities like lebkuchen, stöllen, printen, dominoes, spekulatius cookies and much more like pretzels and würst, potato fritters, dumplings and scweinhache.
We of course went to our very first Christmas Market in our town. The most popular hut is also the biggest because it's the place to buy mulled wine. It's packed with people as a meeting place to warm up with Glüwein and have a warm meal. Each market fashions their own mug with the year and pictures of the town or area. Cost is usually €3 for the mug with another €2 or more deposit for the mug. If you bring it back, you get your deposit back, otherwise keep the mug and use it throughout the holiday season and on New Year's Eve. The wine and spice mixture also varies from each market and now includes white or rose wine and also non alcoholic wine for children which Elowyn was really happy about. There is also a creamy yellow egg liquor called Eierlikör or in Dutch, Advocaat which has a custard like flavour with rum. I haven't tried yet, but will in the coming weeks.
Here's the recipe below if you feel like indulging. It can be drunk as is or pored over ice-cream or plain cakes or as a base to flan topped cakes. So yummy!
http://www.texanerin.com/
Anyway, we went straight to the Glüwein area and received our steaming mugs of goodness. Tastes great with the bratwurst and potato fritters that we had too. The trick is start early while it's still daylight and to wander from stall to stall before it gets too busy, stop and eat something which in our case is usually bratwurst or schnitzel on a bun,, roam some more and watch crafts people at work carving wooden ornaments, drink more Glüwein, take a Ferris wheel ride to see your city up high in lights, wander some more, buy interesting ornaments, eat some yummy roasted chestnuts or Gebrannte mandeln (sugar-coated toasted almonds flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla), listen to live music, take a bunch of photos of everything, drink your last Glüwein and keep the mug, then call it a night before it starts to get horrendously busy by 8 pm. Go home, put up your feet, snuggle up in a blanket and watch a movie while drinking hot tea.
Yesterday we went by train to Düsseldorf which boasts seven different markets each with their own theme and items they sell as well as different Glüwein. And each market has it's own unique mug for you to use and take home with you. The best one was a snowman mug. It was there where we went on the enormous Ferris wheel and got to warm up in the heated pods while going four times around and seeing the city in its lighted glory overlooking the Rhine River. By the time we left around 8pm, it was hard to move through the shoulder to shoulder crowds as night time is the most popular time to go to see the lights and meet up with friends after a busy work day.
Here's a website devoted to some of the more famous Christmas Markets in Germany to give you a sense as to what they're all about. It is magical here at Christmas time and the markets really do help you get through the short, dark days. Luckily, Toronto is opening its second Christmas Market at City Hall this year. Check it out, along with the Distillery District to enjoy your own Glüwein and German delicasies!
http://travelaway.me/best-
Tomorrow, we travel to Paris for eight days to explore the city of light and to also indulge in the unique Parisian Christmas Markets.
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