Traditional Christmas Toys and Decorations in Seiffen

We were in the town of Seiffen for our trip to a remote Christmas market in 2016. Seiffen is in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), so we had a nice train ride through the forests to the town of Grünthal. Grünthal is only about 10 miles from Seiffen, and the hotel in Seiffen provides a shuttle. We had to transfer trains 4 times on the way from Bruck (home) to Grünthal, and we never had more than 10 minutes to make each connection, but we made it without a hitch.

Seiffen is the site of a depleted tin mine. The Erzgebirge is full of old mining towns where various minerals were mined. Over the centuries, as the mines became depleted, the miners turned to making wooden toys.

 

 The former miners eked out a meager existence. An example of the living conditions is shown in the Spielzeugmuseum (Toy museum). The one main room of the very small house (the only bedroom was upstairs in the attic) has everything the family owns and uses to make a living. The picture shows an oven/heater in the back-right corner, a wood lathe with an oil lamp above it in the front-right corner, bobbins for making lace in the back-left corner, a desk on the left side, and a butter churn in the front-left corner. The dining table is in the middle. I don't know where the meals were cooked, but the oven has the wash hanging in from the ceiling in front of it. In spite of the poverty, there is a beautiful wooden chandelier above the dining table.

Seiffener Kirche

The symbol of the town is the small round church on the hill overlooking the town. The church is recognizable because it is often depicted in the carvings made in Seiffen. The inside is fairly plain except for a nice little organ and some beautiful chandeliers. There a three large ones made from crystal in a nearby village, and there are smaller wooden ones in the windows. When we were there the sun was low enough for the light to strike the crystals, which made colorful spots on the white walls of the church.

wooden chandelier in the church

Fancy wooden chandelier in the museum

The wood chandeliers can get quite fancy. Their shapes are said to be the inspiration for the Christmas pyramids common throughout town.

The town seems to have only one industry, and that is Christmas toy and decoration making. Wood turning is a popular technique used to make the nutcrackers, for example, and the hundreds of figures in the miniature parade of miners shown in the lower photo. This reproduction of the parade was carved in honor of the wedding of two nobles in the 1700s.

Real Erzgebirge-made nutcrackers

  

Miners' parade

I learned about a woodworking technique I hadn't seen before. It is also done on a wood lathe, and an example is in the photo. It is called Reifendrehen, which is literally translated as hoop-turning. On the lathe in the picture is a disk with a ridges on it. I had no idea what those funny bowls were for the first time I saw one. But then I saw one cut diagonally, like the piece in the front of the table in the picture. If you look closely, you can see the profile of a giraffe. After turning the funny ridges (which are the legs and neck of the animal in most cases), the woodworker can cut many slices from the disk and have a start (the profile) of many identical animals. The inexpensive toys are sold as is, but the more expensive versions have the individual legs cut out, the body rounded over, and ears or horns added. The hand painting is very detailed.

Reifendrehen

On the evening we were there, the town had a parade of lights. The parade was led by two kids with a lantern on top of a pole. Next came Santa Claus, followed by more kids and families also carrying candles, some in lanterns and some of those on top of poles.

After parading through town, they gathered in in the square in front of city hall, where a brass band played and we all sang Christmas songs. Luckily, they passed out little sheets of paper with the lyrics. Santa gave gifts to children whose parents had presumably provided the gifts and given Santa their children's names.

As the children collected their gifts from Santa, they sang a short song or recited a short poem about the Christmas story or about Santa. We have noticed that children in Germany recite a poem or sing a song anytime they are about to receive a gift in public (and, it turns out, in private Christmas celebrations, too). This includes trick-or-treating at Halloween, receiving gifts from Santa in the town square, or collecting charitable donations when going door-to-door dressed as the Three Kings on January 6th. I can imagine it's meant to impress upon them that you don't get something for nothing.

While we were in Seiffen, we visited one of the workshops where the toys are made. Parts of the workshops were enclosed by glass so we could see the craftsmen and -women turning pieces of toys on lathes, or sanding them, or painting them. We were able to choose, assemble and paint our own toys. We each chose an angel; Kathy's is the blue one on the left and Richard painted the white one on the right. The little white angel with glass wings is a treasure we bought from a shop there:

On the far left is Kathy's angel, on the far right is Richard's. In between is a locally made one with glass wings that we bought.