The Christmas Market has been a tradition in Leipzig for 600 years.
© Joyce McGreevy

Winter is Wunderbar at Germany’s Christmas Markets

It’s an ink-dark December morning as my sister and I board the train in Berlin. Yet our hearts are light, warmed by the promise of discovery.  Winter wanderlust leads us to Leipzig’s Weihnachtsmarkt one of Germany’s oldest, biggest, and most beautiful Christmas markets!

Now popular around the world, the European tradition of the December market wasn’t always so charming. In the early Middle Ages, it was merely the last chance to stock up on supplies before hunkering down for a long, miserable winter. Visions of survival, not sugar plums, danced through one’s head in those days.

In the 1400s, markets took a festive turn. Carved wooden toys, gingerbread, and other treats began appearing among the sacks of grain and racks of farming tools.

Baby, take a bough! The tradition of Christmas wreaths began in Germany.
© Joyce McGreevy

Martin’s Market Effect

Intentionally or not, Martin Luther also gave Germany’s Christmas markets a boost.

According to historian Erika Kohler, the 16th-century church reformer’s “rejection of the veneration of saints . . . supplanted Saint Nicholas as the giver of gifts.” As a result, the most favored day for gift-giving shifted from December 6 to Christmas Eve.

Martin Luther overlooks a Christmas Market near Berlin’s oldest church (1200s)
and the iconic TV Tower (1969).
© Joyce McGreevy

Today, Germany is home to several hundred Christmas markets—Berlin alone has more than 70. Whether you travel west to Cologne, east to Dresden, south to Munich, or points between, you’ll find a market to suit your mood.

A City of Peace and Celebration

For Carolyn and me, that’s Leipzig—the city renowned for classical music, creativity, and the beauty of its Gothic architecture.

A prosperous commercial center, Leipzig revealed even greater worth when, in October 1989, it hosted the largest peaceful protest in East Germany. Historians consider the “Peaceful Revolution” a key  factor in accelerating the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

What to Our Wondering Eyes Did Appear

Half a century later, my sister and I exit the largest terminal railway station in Europe and marvel at what we see:  the entire city center has been transformed into a winter wonderland.

Christmas markets are made for strolling, not hunting for a parking place.
Most Germans arrive by train or tram.
© Joyce McGreevy

Oh, I see: This must be how Dorothy felt when the doors of the Emerald City swung open. In Leipzig, the Weihnachtsmarkt is a world immersed in magic.

Decorated stalls and goods for all budgets lure shoppers in Leipzig.
© Joyce McGreevy

Wooden holiday huts line every avenue and lane, each hut ornately decorated and laden with artisan goods. Forests of twinkling fir trees sprout from their rooftops. Carousel horses circle, crowds on foot flow by, and a Ferris wheel revolves above gilded spires.

Ride the Ferris wheel to see how the holiday bustle takes over the streets of Leipzig.
© Joyce McGreevy

The air is redolent with berry-red glühwein (mulled wine), savory bratwürst, and caramelized sugar. Music fills the air, too—a busker acing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on accordion; carolers at the Old Town Hall; and trumpeters outside Thomaskirche, the church where Johann Sebastian Bach was choirmaster.

In Leipzig, Bach wrote choral cantatas at the rate of one a week.
Listen to a seasonal example, here.
© Joyce McGreevy

How German Christmas Traditions Crossed Cultures

Yuletide revelry has been a Leipzig tradition since 1458. Americans, by contrast, did little to “mark the day,” let alone the season, until the 1800s. Then two German immigrants changed everything. Thomas Nast is the better known, the illustrator whose images of Santa Claus became iconic.

Less known is Karl “Charles” Follen, a German refugee, Harvard professor, and abolitionist. In the 1830s, readers of a popular American magazine learned that each December Charles and his wife Eliza surprised guests with something extraordinary: a Christmas tree:

The tree was set in a tub and its branches hung with small dolls, gilded eggshells, and paper cornucopias filled with candied fruit. The tree was illuminated with numerous candles.

Leipzig’s network of courtyard passages and arcades dates back over 500 years.
© Joyce McGreevy

The spell was cast.  Americans began adopting German Christmas traditions as their own, including glass ornaments, wooden nutcrackers, and  . . .

Advent wreaths and Advent calendars. In Germany, most families make their own.
© Joyce McGreevy

Christmas pyramids. (A rotor at the top is driven by warm air from lit candles.)
© Joyce McGreevy

Glühwein (mulled wine) and alcohol-free kinderpunsch. Pay a small pfand (deposit)
for  the option of returning the mug or keeping a holiday souvenir.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Right Pickle

One “German” tradition may not be German at all: the Christmas pickle.

Thanks to demand among tourists, you’ll find this ornament at KaDaWe, Berlin’s massive department store. But mention the Weihnachtsgurke to most Germans and they’ll wonder what-the-dill you’re talking about.

Happily, the murky gherkin myth is our only jarring experience. In Germany’s holiday markets, food is so tasty that even our inability to pronounce certain dishes cannot stop us from trying them. My sister and I sample whatever we see—then walk 6-8 miles a day to keep it from becoming permanent souvenirs.

Waffles with vanilla cream are a Leipzig specialty; Lebkuchenherzen (gingerbread hearts)
are popular throughout Germany. 
© Joyce McGreevy

Holiday Travel Tips

Ready to plan some Weihnachtsmarkt travel of your own? Most Christmas markets run from late November to January 5.

Built in the 1770s, Leipzig’s Hotel Fürstenhof is the perfect place
to review your Christmas market itinerary.
© Joyce McGreevy

Pack light to save half your suitcase for holiday gifts. To stay warm without bulk, wear packable down, thermals, and stick to Berlin’s favorite fashion tone: black. Then savor the color at Germany’s Christmas markets.

Happy Wanderlust to all, and to all holiday travelers, a good flight!

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . .!
© Joyce McGreevy

See video of the Leipziger Weihnactsmarkt here.

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