Bratwurst und Bier (Bratwurst & Beer)

Christmas Markets might be one of the images that a person may conjure up when one thinks of Germany. Truth be told, I usually think of castles, bratwurst, and beers before we moved here. That being said, it was quite a nice surprise to actually experience a German Christmas Market. We live in the city of Mainz, which hosts one of the bigger Christmas markets in Germany. In fact, not far from the center of all the market action, stood a “Christmas pyramid”. The one in Mainz is suppose to be the biggest in the world. What is a Christmas pyramid? The best I can figure out is that it’s something that people put in the houses during Christmas time. On top of the pyramid is a fan, powered by the heat produced from the candles below. I thought it was quite appropriate for a country that is so environmentally conscious to power a fan with candles rather than electricity. Anyway, back to the Christmas market….

You can find all sorts of Christmas related items in these markets: ornaments, nativity scenes, incense, gift baskets (mainly food related items), and all kinds of other goodies. Although we didn’t have anything in mind to buy, we had thought that it might be nice to buy a few more pieces of a nativity that we had started collecting in Naples, mainly consisting of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. Why so few pieces? Well, it’s because they’re darned expensive due to the fact that each piece was made of ceramic and hand-painted. To our surprise though, most vendors in Germany only sell the entire nativity, which goes upward of €200 or more. Yikes! Our plan of collecting a few pieces a year had backfired, so we consoled ourselves with the food items at the market. We saw goodies that we hadn’t seen in previous markets. We sampled pan roasted creamed mushrooms, lentil, chicken noodle, and goulash soups, Prager schinken (similar to roasted pork sandwich), chocolate dipped strawberries and bananas on a stick, roasted chestnuts, and of course, gluhwein! I saved the best for last, gluhwein, is a spiced up version of red or white wine, served warm to keep the shoppers from freezing in the cold. Oh man does it work! Warm and spicy drink, not to mention potent! We were all warm and fuzzy the three or four times that we visited the markets.

With all the shopping and eating at markets, we can easily forget why we have these events. Take a moment to remember why we celebrate this joyous season. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!