Being a person who has always been fascinated by street markets, the notion of a Christmas market was a really tempting one for me. The idea of a market held on wintry evenings did have a fairy tale like charm. So as soon as the thought crossed my mind, we decided to explore some of the famous German Christmas markets or Weihnachtsmärkte as they are called in German. After much deliberation, we made up our minds on which Christmas markets to visit and booked our train tickets to Cologne, Münster, and Hamburg.
The first thing anyone says - person or internet- while talking about German Christmas markets is the food. And not without good reason. Because whiffs of aromas emanating from food and drinks are the first things that hit you when you step into a Christmas market. There is nothing like having a hot drink or steaming plate of delicacies on a chilly winter night.
On the drinks front, one can choose from a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Each market has its own pretty cups. A lot of people take those with them as souvenirs forfeiting their caution deposits. A cup of mulled wine which is red wine heated with spices, lemon, and sugar is the drink on demand and cannot disappoint anyone. Then there is egg punch, apple punch, hot chocolate in rum and other hard liquors, and the list goes on. However, my favourite is the Feuerzangenbowle which literally translates as “fire-tongs punch”. As the name suggests, it is mulled wine with an ignited rum-soaked sugarloaf dripped into it.
One can also dig into different sausages, crepes, potato pancakes, and other traditional German delicacies. Or else, one can wander around the different stalls munching on gingerbread, nougats, homemade chocolates, licorice and what not. It is nothing but bliss when you stand there and let the winter chill melt away by slow sips and bites, surrounded by lights, music, colours, and people full of joy who are oblivious to everything else.
Apart from the food stalls, there are stalls that sell a plethora of other things. Although there are winter clothes, jewellery, decorative items, utensils, figurines and many more goodies, traditional Christmas paraphernalia is the main attraction. The Christmas candle arches, miner’s figurines to hold candles, toy-figurine incense smokers called Räuchermann, Christmas Pyramids, and various other baubles adorn the shops around.
Some of the traditional figures like the Räuchermann and the Moosmännchen (“the moss-man”) are more folkloric which later got adopted as Christmas figures. Cologne's Christmas Markets make the city’s legendary house-gnomes’ (Heinzelmännchen) presence felt in every nook and corner. The myth goes like this. Unlike other people, the inhabitants of Cologne did not have to do most of their work because the little house gnomes used to finish all their household chores during the nights. But no one could see these little people. Nobody knew who were doing all their jobs for them. This went on until a tailor’s wife, who could not hold her curiosity any more, scattered peas on to the floor so as to know the identity of these mysterious creatures. The poor gnomes slipped on the peas and fell and were infuriated beyond imagination. They disappeared and never returned to the city leaving the citizens to do all their chores on their own.
My imagination was piqued by certain sights I saw while strolling around the different markets. Some of the sellers looked as if they had come straight out of story books. As I looked around, I could see people looking like magicians selling different potions, people selling charms made of lapis lazuli, amber, jade, and moonstone, shiny trinkets, quill pens and inkwells, and figurines of witches, wizards, and other magical beings. Once upon a time, the witches and wizards must have come to these markets to sell their goods. And who knows. Perhaps they still do. When you let your mind fly along that path, you can feel the crackling of magic in the frosty air.
From gnomes and other mythical figures to shopkeepers selling their wares for generations in their traditional attire, the market takes you back straight to the olden times. The Winterwald market of Hamburg is set in such a way as to make someone feel that they are in a winter forest where the ancient people might have set up their markets. Also, there are stalls in Hamburg that sell utensils and other things such as wooden bowls and cutting boards that belong to the bygone era. On the one hand you feel that some of the merchandise are anachronistic, and on the other, the whole market acts as a portal to transport you to the past.
Whether they are reminiscences of the erstwhile times and fairytales or simple gatherings to celebrate and share the joy of the festive season, German Christmas markets are indeed one of a kind. Although the prominent markets are held in the cities of Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and Nuremberg, nowadays, many other German cities have Christmas markets of their own. That itself shows how loved the Christmas market tradition is in Germany.
For a person who was seeing the Advent being celebrated on such a grand scale for the first time, I was so blown away by the whole experience. The joy in the air was so palpable and contagious. I remember that as I was walking back from one of the markets making my way through the merry crowd, the Jingle Bell Rock song had become an earworm. And I think, a gnome might have planted it inside me.