Weekendin Singapore Dec '14 | Issue 09 | Seite 138

intheTRAVEL

intheTRAVEL

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Tree in Spain

A German Night Market

Christmas in Germany


Christmas in Spain

Christmas preparation in Germany often starts in the first week of December. People set aside special evenings for baking spiced cakes and cookies, and they hand-craft gifts and decorations, such as little dolls of fruit
which are seen as traditional Christmas toys.
Germans also make beautiful gingerbread houses and cookies. The German Christmas tree pastry
Christbaumgeback is white dough that can be molded into shapes and
baked for tree decorations.

Christmas in Spain is a festive time filled with music, dance, and lights. It
is known as Navidad in Spanish, and while the season officially begins on
December 8th, it lasts until early January. December 8th is the Feast of
the Immaculate Conception, and this day is particularly revered since the
country’s patron saint is the Virgin Mary. In Seville, it is celebrated in front
of the great Gothic cathedral with a ceremony called Los Seises or the
“dance of six”. Oddly, the elaborate ritual dance is now performed by not
six but ten elaborately costumed boys. It is a series of precise movements
and gestures and is said to be quite moving and beautiful.


In parts of Germany and many of its neighbouring countries, people believe that the Christ Child sends a messenger on Christmas Eve. Named
the Christkind, he appears as an angel in a white robe and crown, bearing gifts. The Children leave letters on their windowsills for Christkind, a
winged figure dressed in white robes and a golden crown that distributes
gifts. Sometimes the letters are decorated with glue and sprinkled with
sugar to make them sparkle. December 6 is Nikolaustag, St. Claus day you leave out a shoe or boot outside the night before, and the next morning you find presents (if you were a good kid) or a rod (if you were bad).
There is also a Christmas Eve figure called Weihnachtsmann or Christmas
Man who looks like Santa Claus and also brings gifts.
Advent is also celebrated in anticipation of Christmas. Advent starts on the
first Sunday after November 26th, and a candle is list on each of the four
Advent Sundays, followed by Christmas Eve and finally Christmas Day. The
four red candles are placed in the centre of the Advent Wreaths made of
holly flowers. Children are given a more exciting way of counting down,
as seen in the Advent calendars with their bright Christmas pictures that
hang alongside their beds. Each of the dates has its own paper window
which opens up to a Christmas picture inside.
As the concept of the Christmas tree originated in Germany, they are
a very important component in celebrating this festive season. Many
homes in Germany tend to have more than one tree, and hence they can
be seen glittering and glowing all over the country. Traditionally, the trees
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Weihnachtsmann

are brought into the house on Christmas Eve, and decorated in secret by
the parents. In Germany, children be part of the decoration process because it is believed that the tree has a mysterious spell for all young eyes
that rest on it before Christmas Eve. In some homes, the tree is placed in a
locked room, and the children are awoken by their parents at midnight of
Christmas morning, to a surprise sight of a lit tree surrounded by piles of
parcels. The tree is decorated with apples, candy, nuts, cookies, cars, trains,
angels, tinsel, family treasures and candles or lights. The gifts are kept under the tree and nearby, beautiful plates are laid for each family member
and filled with fruits, nuts, marzipan, chocolate and biscuits.
The Christmas tree is decorated prior to the evening feast, which usually
comprises of dishes such as suckling pig, white sausage, macaroni salad,
reisbrei (a sweet cinnamon) and many regional dishes.
The Christmas Eve is popularly called here as Dickbauch (meaning fat
stomach) because of the myth that those who do not eat well on Christmas Eve will be haunted by demons during the night.
The feasting continues on Christmas Day with traditional dishes including
plump roast goose, Christstollen (long bread loaves stuffed with nuts, raisins, citron and dried fruit), Lebkuchen (spice bars), marzipan, and Dresden
Stollen (a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit).

Christmas Eve is when the main celebrations and parties are held and
hence is known as Nochebuena or “the Good Night.” It is a time for family members to gather together to rejoice and feast around the Nativity
scenes that are present in nearly every home. As the nights glitter the sky
on Christmas Eve, tiny oil lamps are lit in every house to create a warm
glow throughout the village. A special Christmas dance called the Jota is
done, a custom that has been passed down for hundreds of years and is
danced to the sound of guitars and castanets. The Spanish Christmas eve
is interrupted with the ringing of bells at midnight, calling the families to
La Misa Del Gallo or the Mass of the Rooster. It is only after the service that
the Spanish Christmas meal begins.
The starter is usually a soup known as the Carn d’Olla, and is made with
a large piece of meat that is cooked in stock for hours to ensure a thick
consistency. The meat is then removed from the soup and served later
along with the main course or alongside various tapas dishes. While the
family feast often includes turkey with truffle, the most popular meal for
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself is seafood; ranging from shellfish
to mollusks, to lobster and small crabs. After the meal, the family members
gather around the tree to sing carols and hymns, and the celebrations
continues into the early hours of the morning. As most of the celebration
is done on the eve, Christmas day itself takes on a rather quiet and relaxed
atmosphere.

Bonfire Ritual

A unique practice in Spain is that of the Hogueras (bonfires), a tradition
that is said to have existed even before Christmas itself. It is in observance
of the winter solstice, and is characterised by people jumping over fires as
a symbolic protection against illness. Seen primarily in Granada and Jaen,
it is often seen in conjunction with Christmas period. It is not Santa who
brings children their gifts, but the Three Wise Men. As Christmas continues for a few weeks after the 25th of December, they wait until January
5th , the Eve of Epiphany, where they place their shoes on the doorstep
and await the gifts that arrive from Three Wise Men who pass through in
the night. In the day, there are also parades in various cities known as the
Cabalgata parade, where candy and cakes are given out to children.
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