Lately, I’ve been really fascinated by the traditions of Christmas in Germany. From the festive markets to the beautiful decor, Germany really lights up Christmas.
In a way, I feel like it is the true home of the Christmas tradition. So, I reached out to one of my German readers, the writer of Random Poison, and asked her about the traditions in her native homeland.
She was nice enough to write us a guest post on the traditions throughout the season. I became immediately interested in the similarities between Christmas in Germany and Christmas in the U.S., but even more, intrigued by the differences.
I would like to share with you her post. It is about as warm and fuzzy as Christmas can get. In fact, it has inspired me to start sharing some of these traditions with my own family.
Christmas in Germany with Traditional Celebrations
“Frohe Weihnachten” from the writer of Random Poison
“Frohe Weihnachten,” or “Merry Christmas” as you would say in English. Alternatively, I could wish you many other things for all those other holidays that are celebrated around this time, but I”ll stick with this one today.
Also, I was asked by the Fairytale Traveler, Christa Thompson, to write a guest post about Christmas in Germany. So, Christmas it is.
Before Christmas
Well, let me tell you a bit about how Christmas in Germany is celebrated around here. Even though you can buy all kinds of Christmas chocolate shortly after Halloween, it is quite common that festive decorations are not put up until the end of November.
Or more precisely, decorations are not put up before the last Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent. As this is quite a confusing description let me describe it a little differently.
Sundays of Advent
The Four Sundays Before Christmas are called the Sundays of Advent (Adventssontage). Bu