In the meantime, I've done lots of reading and introspection, the kind that's unavoidable when one has no employment and the library is a free place to spend time. The Christmas spirit comes through in fits and starts. The first Sunday of Advent, when the Christmas markets open here in the Old Country was cause for excitement. We've been to markets in Bamberg, charming and sprawling but manageable; Erlangen, compact; Nürnberg - a zoo, I don't know why we do that to ourselves every year; Schloss Tambach near Coburg in the castle of the Countess of Ortenberg with a flaming torch procession through the grounds - more on that later; and Forchheim on the square in front of the medieval town hall, whose windows have been turned into an Advent calendar. Each one has its own charm. All are full of booths selling traditional Christmas treats: hot spiced wine, hot spiced beer (we've not tried it yet) , steamed doughy buns full of rich plum filling coated with poppy seeds and doused in vanilla sauce, hot roasted chestnuts, roasted sugar coated nuts, and of course, bratwurst in a roll with mustard. Christmas ornaments are sold by the boxful and by the handcrafted piece.
The German Christmas tree is a sedate affair. The ones I've seen usually stick to one color scheme, with traditional straw ornaments complementing the red glass balls, and maybe some ribbons, with white candle-like lights replacing the traditional real candles. House decorations are also low key. White lights on the evergreens in the yard is the extent of the external display. In the windows, people display seven-light electric candelabras or wood carved, backlit nativity scenes.
It takes the Americans to really tart things up! To wit: last night, our old friends from Heroldsbach, Peter and Ulla, drove us to see what they call the "Chevy Chase" house, a reference, of course, to that American classic "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." They said that this house informed their picture of an American house decorated for Christmas. It so happens that this house is owned by an American and his German wife. For years, he's asked visiting relatives to bring American light strings and good old-fashioned American lawn ornaments with them on their visits. The result is, for Richard and me, a blast from the past. Multicolored, blinking light strings, those old glass bulbs that used to overheat and burn your hands while you put the ornaments on the tree, Santa in his sled and reindeer that bow their heads and move their feet, a huge, white aluminum Christmas tree of 60's or 70's vintage, plastic lighted candy canes with the red color wearing off, a giant snowman kept upright by a blower, a snow globe similarly run. The yard was full of carefully staged and displayed classic Christmas pieces. Colored icicle light strings ran from the roof peak to the fence. A very bright Christmas angel adorned the peak of the roof. Ulla says you can't buy this stuff in Germany - she might have been teasing by implying that it should be illegal to sell such garish, gaudy things. Peter took all kinds of photographs, until his digital camera gave in to the sub-freezing temperatures.
In traditional American fashion, this display was financed from the husband's small pension and his wife's unemployment check. They had both been laid off from the large Manufacturing Concern AEG in Nuremberg when it closed last year. The family offered hot spiced wine and hot punch for the kids; there were mini candy canes, Brach's hard peppermints and toffees with the green Christmas tree in the middle, and seasonally wrapped mini Hershey bars free for the taking. All donations went to an animal rescue shelter.
It does get cold here, but...
Germans don't wear hats and gloves - too stylish and smart. I, on the other hand, being a sober, common-sense North Country girl, do not hesitate to wear what keeps me warm, damn fashion.
"When it's 10 below zero and the wind is whipping across the tundra, there is no such thing as stylish and smart, and everybody's nose runs. " http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/12/13/keillor/
Christmas is best enjoyed with kids
With these old friends we went to the Christmas market in Forchheim, not for the food, but this time for the Krippenweg - the path connecting the nativity scenes (Krippe) in old churches and buildings around medieval Forchheim. A display of these scenes is part of several Advent displays in Germany; Bamberg has a whole museum for them. The ones we saw were that much more interesting because 10-year-old Pia was with us. She inserted the coins that made these extensive 100+ year old landscapes light up and begin to move! Around the central stable or barn building, peasants sawed wood, churned butter, tended geese. Swans swam on a pond while a water wheel spun, propelled by the outflow of the pond. Pia was curious about what the old-fashioned characters were doing. Blacksmiths hammered, an old woman pumped water from a well, and from the far side, the three kings approached from their fancy tents, accompanied by white-turbaned bearers. One krippe could display six different scenes according to the progression of the Advent season. During our visit, the angel's annunciation to Mary was being depicted. Pia asked her mother, Who's the person in the building with Mary? The krippe in the Old chapel associated with the former emperor's palace depicted the half-timbered town hall and buildings of Forchheim's town square, with Joseph leading the donkey that carried Mary. Mary, unfortunately, was face down in the dirt, having fallen off the donkey. None of the peasants depicted in the scene was rushing to her aid. Presumably divine intervention was required to open the display and put Mary back in her place.
As for the torchlight procession at Schloss Tambach: the burning four-foot long wax torches were in the careful custody of -- the kids! None of them over ten years old! We were careful not to turn our backs on the little torch wavers, and incredulously told Ulla and Peter that this would never be allowed in the US! We followed the circuit through the pitch-dark grounds of the castle - they have a sort of wild animal refuge full of deer and other four-legged, hoofed characters- all the while marveling at the relative restraint of both kids and parents. We found our way, unscorched, back to the castle and rewarded ourselves with a mug of hot spiced wine and more shopping at the tea, chocolate and jewelry vendor tables in the cellar rooms and the stables.
Yuletide lessons
Seeking traditional Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, we were drawn to the poster outside the Huguenot Reformed Church in the center of town advertising "A Festival of Lessons and Carols for the Advent Season and Christmas" - in just those English words. We showed up at the appropriate time and were handed a thick booklet of hymns, and an order of service. I asked about the ticket prices, and the greeter at the door said there was no entry fee. We had unknowingly stumbled into an annual English service at this church. Everything was in English! Including all the readings from the Bible (so that's what "lessons" are - don't know how I missed that detail in my Catholic education! ) All the carols were in English, too! We are still mystified. (Maybe it's a Protestant thing? See the historic note below) The pastor (Rev.) and her husband (Prof.) led the service in perfect English, with maybe a hint of German grammar creeping in. The readers read in good solid English, with a hint of German pronunciation thrown in. Some around us were singing "Hark ze Herald Angels sing." The organist often got a little ahead of herself and the order of service, so it was hard to sing with her, but the choir sounded good after a shaky start. We enjoyed the chance to sing carols with other people, but next year we will get advanced tickets for the boys' choir.
So finally, the Christmas spirit took hold, and if 24 hours of flight and airport time doesn't kill it, we look forward to celebrating with family in the States in two days.
Merry Christmas!
Historic note: around 1686, a flood of French Protestant refugees were invited to settle in Erlangen by the local Lutheran count. These Calvinists built the Huguenot Reformed Church for themselves. It stands on one of the two main squares in the center of Erlangen. Given that the church was built by the French Protestants, we were surprised that the service wasn't in French. At this point, the evidence of these French Protestants, who settled as craftsmen and farmers, exists primarily in family names, some of which label a café offering fancy cakes and pastry, a garden center and a family farm. As far as I know there are no religious services in French in the local Protestant churches.
