Eli Weissenboeck '24 | German Origins of Christmas

            

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/31173422415029320/)

            Christmas is a very misleading holiday. At face value, Christmas is the biggest Christian holiday of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As a non religious individual born in Austria (a catholic country) and who now lives in America (the Hallmark Christmas capital of the world) I was pretty content with this brief synopsis of a day of gift giving and red-nosed reindeer. However, Christmas is a lot more complicated than my quick definition. 

            To my surprise, Christmas is actually a pagan holiday and theologists have determined that Jesus’ true birthday was in September. This, along with the fact that not every Christian sect recognized this holiday made me wonder–well what really is Christmas?Rather than do any research I decided to stay content with the fact that Christmas is just about joy, family, and love during the winter. Just kidding! Having spent the first Christmases of my life in Austria and having researched some darker origins of this holiday, I would love to share some of the differences between American Christmas and Austrian Christmas. The list will gradually grow more obscure so enjoy!

1. Christmas Trees: 

(https://fineartamerica.com/featured/vintage-german-christmas-postcard-patricia-hofmeester.html)

            The tradition of using trees as decorative pieces for Christmas actually originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. In 1419, on the Feast Day of Adam and Eve, which showed the Paradise Play (a play to celebrate the creation of humankind) a tree was decorated with different foods (apples, wafer cookies, and gingerbread). This religious celebration happened to be on December 24th. Following this, more guilds began decorating trees with food. These eventually became candles and today Germans decorate using tinsel, Candle/synthetic lights, ornaments, and a star/angel topper.  

2. Christmas Day: 

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/553942822891976958/)

            For Americans, Christmas Day is December 25th. However, for most of the Christmas celebrating world, this isn’t the case. Originally German/Austrian Christmas was St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6th and today it is December 24th. While this might sound like Christmas Eve, the evening of December 24th is when Christmas presents are opened!

3. Sankt Nikolaus: 

            The original Christmas-present giver was a thin bearded man named Sankt Nikolaus. During the Middle Ages, he would deliver presents during their religious feast on St. Nicholas Day (December 6th). Following the Reformation Period, Martin Luther moved the celebration to December 24th and adopted a new gift-giver–and no it is still not Santa.

4. Christkindl: 

(https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/christkind-christmas-presents-008842)

                In Austria and Germany, there is no cookie munching man climbing down anyone’s chimney. Instead, there is Christkindl, an angel-like baby with blonde hair. Parents will often lock their child out of their home’s main room (where the christmas tree is). Upon ringing a bell from inside, their child is notified that Christkindl has arrived. When their screaming child is finally allowed to enter the now unlocked living room, a small (synthetic) blonde lock of hair is now on the floor to signal that Christkindl has been here! And the presents have magically appeared below the tree.

5. Krampus: 

(Holiday Christmas Card: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus)

            This is when things take a weird turn. This pagan, half-goat half-demon companion of St. Nicholas, is meant to punish children who have misbehaved. Krampus is the son of the God of the Underworld (rightfully named Hel) and torments bad children during Winter Solstice festivals and later Christmas. Although the Catholic Church made attempts to ban him, it must not have panned out since he was still around when I was a kid. I am serious when I say he was really around. In the early 2000s, one man from our town would volunteer to dress in dark raggedy clothes and bring a broom door to door to ask people if they had any misbehaving kids he could beat. My Turkish mother, very rightfully so, would scream at him to never touch her kids and to leave our property or the police would be called.  

 I hope you enjoyed learning about Germanic Christmas origins!