So in case some of you aren't aware of it, Christmas is celebrated a little bit differently in Germany than in the United States. For this blog entry, I thought I'd try to enlighten you all a little bit...First of all, they know about Santa Claus, or "der Weihnachtsmann" (the Christmas-man) in Germany, but he is far from the main representative of Christmas. It's true, in recent years Santa Claus (much like the one popularized through Coca Cola's advertisements) has caught on in Germany, and you do see him around at the Weihnachtsmaerkte (Christmas markets) and in the Christmas decoration sections at the supermarkets.
However, he is not known as the one to give presents, and is not the one whom is awaited on Christmas eve. For Germans, they await the coming of the "Christkind" or Christ child. Not only is this different, but the 25th is not the biggest day of celebration here - rather, the 24th is when the family celebrates the most (since this is when the Christkind comes).
They also have Sankt Nicholas Tag, which is when Saint Nicholas comes and puts treats in the shoes of good children while they are sleeping. This is not as big of a deal, obviously, but is still a part of the Christmas season!
Anyway, those are just a few tidbits about German Christmas traditions...hope you found them at least mildly interesting! The countdown is just about at two weeks now - getting pretty excited!
2 comments:
you know what you should do with all your free time? blog about all your free time! it gives me something to do when i'm bored at work...which is like all the time. ok? ok good!
NEW YEEEEARS!!!
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