German Holidays

German HolidaysBy Jennifer Schmalzried

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Hello! I am Glenn the

Christmas Wreath!

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to this tutorial over the German Winter Holidays. You will be learning about the times and traditions of the Christmas season in Germany. While there may be some things that are different, there are also some things that are similar to our holiday season here.

Glenn the Christmas Wreath will be with you throughout the Experience to Guide you and give you tips and encouragement, and to cheer you on to a Merry Holiday Season! Have Fun!

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Help

• This button will take you back one page.• This button will take you to the splash page.• This button will take you to the Menu page.• This button will take you to the Help page.• This button will take you to the next page.

Menu

Click on the German Winter Holiday that you would like to begin learning about.

Advent

Christmas Eve and Christmas

Epiphany

Final Activity

Advent

Advent is the holiday that happens in the 4 Sundays before Christmas Day. This year, 2011, Advent starts on November 27th. Advent starts anywhere from November 27th to December 3rd on any given year.

Advent is a time of expectant preparation for the celebration of the Nativity, or the Birth/Coming of Jesus the Messiah, and in some places, the second coming of Christ.

Advent (cont.)

Advent is typically celebrated with prayer, reflection, thanksgiving, and the lighting of the candles on the advent wreath.

The Advent Wreath has 4 candles, one for each Advent week. Some traditional colors of Advent candle are blue, pink, and purple, although red is quite common as well.

Advent (cont.)Traditionally, a family will gather around the wreath

each Sunday to light the next candle and sing Christmas carols. Click here for a video of ‘O Tannenbaum’.

Another home tradition is the kids’ favorite: the chocolate Advent calendar. This calendar has 24 doors that you open starting on December 1, and open the last and biggest door on December 24, Christmas Eve. Each door contains a piece of chocolate stamped with a design or symbol of Christmas.

O Tannenbaum Click to start and stop!

Advent Quiz

How long before Christmas does Advent start?

Congratulations! Let’s see how much you have

learned!

Three Weeks Four Sundays

Four Weeks Five Weeks

Wrong!

Remember, the season of Advent does not start a certain number of weeks before Christmas, but rather 4 Sundays before!

Go back to the quiz and try again.

Shucks! Try again!

Correct!

Congratulations! You have selected the correct answer!

Let us continue onto the next question!

Great job! Let’s keep going!

Advent Quiz

What is a favorite tradition of Advent for children?

Advent Calendars Lighting the candles

Communion Singing Carols

Wrong!

What is one thing that most children like more than eating their vegetables? Chocolate! The favorite Advent tradition is chocolate Advent calendars.

Go back to the quiz and try again.

Correct!


Go back to the menu to select your next topic, or go back to home.

Christmas Eve and Christmas

Christmas Eve is the night when Jesus is born, and where, here in America, Santa Claus comes with gifts for underneath the tree and good things to fill the children’s stockings with. Many families leave a drink, such as milk, and some cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. The kids then go to bed to wait for the morning when they can open their gifts and stockings.

Christmas Eve and Christmas (Cont.)

In Germany, many things are otherwise. Some of the main differences are that the Christ child, or das Christkind, brings the presents. St. Nick visits on the sixth of December, St. Nickolas Tag.


The night before, the children put out their (cleaned) shoes for him to put candy and other small goodies in for the good children, switches for the bad children, and the really naughty ones get hauled away in a sack by his helper, Knecht Ruprecht.


Another major difference is that the children open all the gifts on the afternoon and evening of Christmas Eve, rather than on Christmas Day. The children typically do not receive stockings.

Christmas Eve and Christmas (cont.)

Dinner is typically eaten after the gifts have been opened, and then a midnight Christmas Mass or Christmas Service is attended.

This really is the end of the official celebration. Most of Christmas is celebrated on the afternoon of the Heilige Nacht, or Holy Night, December 24th. The 25th and 26th are mainly used for being with family and friends.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Quiz

Click on the picture of the one who brings gifts on Christmas Eve!

Santa Claus

Christ Child

St. Nickolas

Knecht Ruprecht

Wrong!

Remember that in Germany, it is not Santa Claus who brings the gifts! Santa Claus is mostly an American icon. In Germany, it is the Christ Child who brings the gifts on Christmas Eve.

Please go back to the quiz and try again.

Wrong!

Remember, it is not St. Nick who brings the gifts on Christmas Eve. St. Nickolas already came on the 6th of December to fill the children's shoes with goodies. It is the Christ Child who brings the gifts!


Wrong!

Remember, Knecht Ruprecht does not bring the Christmas gifts! He comes with St. Nickolas on December 6th to collect all the naughty children in his sack and haul them away, and put switches in the bad children’s shoes.


Correct!

Congratulations! You selected the correct answer!

Let us go on to the next question!

Christmas Eve and Christmas quiz

What do the children put out for St. Nickolas on December the sixth?

Wrong!

Remember, it is not Milk and Cookies that you put out for Saint Nickolas, but rather one puts out a clean shoe for him to fill with goodies and treats. You put out Milk and Cookies for Santa Claus.

Please go back to the activity and try again.

Wrong!

Remember, it is not Stockings that you put out for Saint Nickolas, but rather one puts out a clean shoe for him to fill with goodies and treats. You put out Stockings for Santa Claus to fill on Christmas Eve.


Wrong!

Remember, it is not a candle in the window that you put out for Saint Nickolas, but rather one puts out a clean shoe for him to fill with goodies and treats. You light a candle in the window to celebrate the season.


Correct!


Please go back to the menu to pick your next holiday!

Epiphany

Epiphany is the celebration of the Magi’s visit to the baby Jesus. The Magi were the three Kings from the East who followed a special star to where Jesus was.

They gave him gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

Frankincense and Myrrh are fragrant tree resins that are used in the making of incense and perfumes.

Epiphany (cont.)

Epiphany takes place 12 days after Christmas, January 6th. (Do you see where the song “12 Days of Christmas” comes from?) Epiphany is also called ‘Three Kings Day,’ or Heiliges Drei Königes (Holy Three Kings) in German.

Epiphany (cont.)

Epiphany is celebrated as a state holiday in three parts of Germany: Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt. Click here for a map of these Staaten (states).

Epiphany (cont.)Typically, children will go in

groups of four from house to house dressed as the three Magi and the Star and knock on peoples’ doors. Whomever answers will be asked by the children for a little money to give to their specific charity.

Epiphany (cont.)The children will then bless the house by

painting the initials CMB on the doorframe. These stand for the initials of the names of the Three Wise Men, Casper, Melchior and Balthazar, or the Latin phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat (Christ bless this house). Click here for a video showing this.

Drei Königes Tag

Epiphany ActivityBefore this, had you ever heard of or celebrated

Epiphany? If you have, how do you do to celebrate? If not, what interested you most about the holiday? What did you dislike about this holiday? What is your opinion on this holiday? Type your response below.

Epiphany Activity

Did you consider…• The later appearance of the Magi?• The types of gifts that they brought?• How the Magi got there?• The children asking for donations and singing? • The House blessing? • What the letters stand for?

Final Activity

Click on each labeled box on the timeline to select which holiday takes place at that time. Then return here to view the answers and return home so the next person can begin.

A B C DFinal Activity Answers

Final Activity

Click the correct holiday in the list below the time point. Remember your choices!

Epiphany

St. Nickolas Tag

Christmas Eve & ChristmasAdvent

Final Activity


Epiphany

Christmas Eve & Christmas

St. Nickolas Tag

Advent

Final Activity



Advent

St. Nickolas Tag

Epiphany

Final Activity



Epiphany

St. Nickolas Tag

Advent

Final Activity

Congratulations! Please check yourself on the order of the Holidays!

Advent St. Nickolas Tag Christmas Eve & Christmas Epiphany

Thank you for participating! I hope that you had a great time learning about the German Winter Holidays.

Documents

German Holidays