When you live in a place that has “seasons”, there’s always a reason to celebrate. Having come from CA, I had no idea that weather could change so dramatically. It’s like when your Master of Ceremonies comes out in a different outfit. It sets a whole different tone – and keeps things interesting.
There are plenty of seasonal celebrations here in Germany – all of them called “Fests”. There’s Spring Fest and Volksfest in Spring and Autumn, respectively, which focus on the growing cycle (first and last harvests). These celebrations seem to center around drinking a lot of beer and last a few weeks. In the summer there are a multitude of Fests – some for one day or weekend, others for a week or two. These are somewhat randomly inserted into the summer season – but are always a good excuse to get out and enjoy the weather. We’ve seen signs for (and attended some of) the following: Wine Fest (um yeah, we went there….a lot!), International Fest (international food and cultural demonstrations), Venice Fest (you got me!?!), Harbor Fest (we are landlocked, so this one focuses on seafood eating), and countless others.
But, the crown jewels of the Fests in Germany, are the Christmas Markets. Every little village seems to have one – even if only for one weekend. And there are definitely more than 20 individual ones within an hour’s drive from our place. Stuttgart has one of the largest ones, which is really just blocks from our apartment and it lasts a full month - ending on Christmas Eve.
The market is comprised of many neat little booths (all made of wood, most with rooftop decorations that are outstandingly done). There you can find a multitude of items, mostly Christmas decorations. There are also places to find specialty items (handmade puppets, wooden toys and puzzles, shearling boot liners and gloves, even jewelry and antiques) and then there are your Ginzu knives and magic cleaning products (which we've only seen at the larger markets).
About 25 percent of the booths sell edibles (german sausages on rolls, crepes, waffles, gingerbread and chocolate covered fruit on a stick (a fest staple!)). And then there’s the Gluhwhine. This is basically hot sangria which they sell in signature “Weinnachtfest” (“Christmas Market”) mugs. It comes in White or Red (with an option to “make it Irish", if you know what I mean) and there’s a non-alcoholic version for the kids called “Kinderpunsch”. Let me tell you this: Whether or not the idea of hot spiced wine sounds good to you now – when you are FREEZING amidst the festive décor and holiday rush of a Christmas Market – it’s the only way to fly. Hubbz has even turned to me at one point and said: “My fingers are cold, I need some gluhwine” – clearly the digestive tract is not the only voter in his body’s evaluative process!
Since I truly envisioned us living in an Ikea catalog when we were sorting for our move, I opted to leave a lot of our Christmas décor back in the states. We brought the essentials (important ornaments, stockings, etc), but none of the small things we put out around the house to mark the season. Well, this was surely divine intervention, Loved Ones. Because we are having a great time accumulating things that will decorate our house today – and remind us of our Christmases in Germany for years to come!
That’s it for now. But there are more things to share about Christmas in Germany – so stay tuned!!
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