Last week, my wife and I flew to Frankfurt and spent a week at the German Christmas markets (Christkindlmarket orWeihnachtsmarkt). Our Ft. Worth traveling friends joined us in this adventure. It has been ten years since our last visit and we were not disappointed. We rented a car and after stopping the first night in nearby Würzburg to recover from jet lag, we drove about four hours to Dresden and stayed there for five nights.
The largest Christmas Markets are in Nuremberg. Their Wochenmarkt Hauptmarkt was filled with hundreds of wooden stands selling Christmas items and food. We arrived after lunch on Sunday and there were so many people that it was difficult to walk through the rows of wooden huts. International tourists flock to Germany from late November until Christmas Eve and the markets have commercially prospered. My first visit here was in the mid-90s as a London ex-patriot. Back then, it was mainly visited by local Germans and was less crowded.
The next morning, we drove south to the Bavarian village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval walled town that somehow survived World War II intact. We parked outside the wall and walked into town along cobblestone streets. The Rothenburg Christmas Markets are smaller and more personal. We bought baked German treats while leisurely viewing the stalls near St. Jakobskirche. I relaxed and savored the festive mood around this historical town.
We spent that afternoon driving to Dresden, the oldest (starting in 1434) and our favorite Christmas Market. We stayed at a hotel next to the Frauenkirche, the Protestant domed church destroyed during the February 1945 fire-bombing, and rebuilt in 2005. There are at least six different markets within a mile radius of this central church. The main markets are located in the Altmarkt (Striezelmarkt). Due to the complete destruction of the Dresden city center during the war, the city was rebuilt in a more open atmosphere which makes walking much easier than other German cities. We toured the rebuilt Opera House (Semperoper Dresden) and learned that it is a copy of the pre-WWII building. Germans like consistency.
We drove south to nearby Seiffen, a small village of about 2,000 residents in the Erzgebirge mountains about ten miles from the Czech Republic. Historically, it was a tin and silver mining town. When the deposits declined, the miners needed another business. The mountains were heavily wooded, so the locals turned to carving wooden toys. In the late 19th century, Seiffen started producing nutcrackers, smokers (smoking wooden men), Christmas pyramids powered by wax candles, and Schwibbogen (wooden arches with candles). The main street are lined with small shops selling locally produced wooden carvings that are also shipped to the larger Christmas Markets.
One of our favorite activities is to drink Glühwein, hot mulled wine, in the Christmas markets. The cups are collector items and remind us of our visits. We sampled Magenbrot (soft gingerbread), Lebkuchen (Christmas cookies), and Gebrannte Mandeln (candied toasted almonds). My favorite treat is Dresden Christstollen, a dense candied bread. We lunched on various German sausages in a bun and breads stuffed with various cooked meats and vegetables. It is impossible to eat healthy when surrounded by so many delightful foods.
We drove northwest to Leipzig, our first Christmas market visit to this cultural city. We were pleased to find attractive huts on the Marktplatz near Bach’s Thomaskirche where we stopped in to listen to organ music. We visited Leipzig during the early summer of 2011 and attended Bachfest, a series of concerts held in Thomaskirche. The music inside this sacred building was heavenly.
The German Christmas markets are not religious, although there are some nativities located near the marketplace churches. The name contains the word “Christ” because it began as a religious feast day to commemorate the birth of Christ. Europe is post-Christendom and has divorced the sacred from the secular traditions. People gather in community to converse, relax, and experience inner warmth as winter fast approaches. A friend asked me if the people touring the old church buildings were respectful. His question caught me by surprise since I have never witnessed disrespectful behavior within a European church. He was worried that non-believers listening to church music might ruin the spiritual experience. I told him that non-believers would feel the Spirit more inside the sacred walls than outside.
I certainly enjoyed the week in Germany with our friends, but I am shopped out after walking around hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of merchandise. I just wish that we would have lingered more over a glass of Glühwein. I must confess that I have a passion for Glühwein infused with cherries (kirschen). For five days, I could not locate a single hut that had cherries. On Thursday night, after going to Evensong at Frauenkirche, I spied a stand with cherries. It was a joyful moment, and we stood in the cold sipping our hot wine by a gigantic Christmas pyramid with brass musicians playing traditional Christmas carols.
As the warm wine spread through my body, I felt Christmas joy. This was the moment I was searching for, surrounded by holy music next to a famous church that was rebuilt after a devastating war. Christ was born into a world of suffering and injustice. Yet, his light shined through the darkness and brought joy to the world. This city was destroyed in 1945 and 80 years later, I am standing in a born-again community. As I grow older, I seek out moments of awe and wonder. God provides them everywhere. It is up to us to notice, ponder, and enjoy.
