I love the German Christmas traditions, but some of them are a little weird.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
In the past I’ve made a several Christmas videos, including but not limited to German
versus American Christmas traditions, a video about Advent calendars and Advent wreaths
in Germany, Christmas dinner in Germany versus the USA, trying German Christmas snacks, and
even a video in which I read you a poem.
And I have put all those videos and more into a Christmas and New Year’s playlist, which
I will link down in the description box below.
But now, some of the German Christmas traditions that I’ve experienced that are, in my opinion,
are a little bit weird.
First up: Krampus because, well, this one's a pretty easy target.
From what I learned, Krampus is the evil sidekick of St. Nicholas
in some parts of the German-speaking world.
So not in all parts of Germany, but here in Munich at least there is the Krampus Run in
December, where hundreds of...
Krampuses? Krampi? Krampuses? Krampuses.
During which hundreds of Krampuses parade through the city.
Now, Krampus can take many different forms, all of them terrifying, and while St. Nicholas
brings gifts for the good little kids, Krampus is the punisher of the bad boys and girls,
and even carries around a whip or this whip-like stick ready to use.
Now as an adult, I personally loved the Krampus Run.
I had so much fun there, but still it just, it seems a little weird that St. Nicholas
has this evil companion running around with a whip.
For more information on where Krampus came from and video footage of the demon sidekick,
you can check out my video from the Krampus parade in Munich a few years ago.
Next up we have the Christkind pageant in Nuremberg.
Now, as far as I’ve understood it, Christkind literally means "Christ Child," and in many
parts of Germany this then equates to the baby Jesus.
But in Nuremberg the Christkind is actually a teenage girl, and every two years there
is this kind of competition to choose the new Christkind.
Which, having a competition to choose the new Christkind already seems a little bit strange,
but then I found out that there are also height regulations for the Christkind.
So to even qualify to compete, the girls must be at least 160 centimeters.
Which makes this sound to me more in the direction of a beauty pageant.
Is this a Christkind beauty pageant?
I just don't understand why is there are height qualifications for choosing the next Christkind.
So yeah, this tradition just seems a little strange to me.
If anyone can explain it better I would love to hear down in the comments what this Christkind
pageant is all about. Thank you.
Now this next one is a Christmas tradition that is a little weird, but I love it.
I love it so, so much.
And that is putting your clean shoes or boots outside on the night of December 5th so that
Nikolaus can come during the night and fill them with little treats like oranges, walnuts,
small chocolates.
I think this one is weird because it always feels a little strange to eat chocolate that
has been in my shoe.
Like, no matter how much I clean the shoe, it’s still a weird place to put food.
But I love this tradition because it’s also just so cute to open up the door the next
morning and find my shoes filled with treats.
And yes, Nikolaus has come to our apartment many years, Mr. German Man always makes sure
that he knows to come here too. Thank you, Stefan.
Another strange Christmas tradition that I’ve taken part in several times here in Germany
is called Schrotteln.
Now, Mr. German Man tells me that this tradition can also be called Wichteln, but it’s never
been called that any of the times that I’ve taken part in it, so I’m sticking with Schrotteln
for this video.
Now, Schrott means scrap, so Schrotteln is basically where you gift your friends your
old scrap, the stuff you don’t want anymore.
You dig around in your home and find something that you don’t want anymore.
You wrap it up, usually in old newspaper, and then get together with your friends and
play a little game where you have to pass around the “gifts” until everyone ends
up with something crappy from someone else.
It is totally fun, and a really great way to enjoy spending time with your friends without
having to go out and buy something new, spend money, so I really love this tradition too,
but still when you explain it out, like that you give your friends the crappiest stuff
that you can find in your apartment that you don't want anymore, it definitely sounds a
little weird.
And then during Christmas it is also a tradition in Germany to watch the movie “Drei Haselnüsse
für Aschenbrödel,” which is literally in English "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella,"
but is also known in English as "Three Wishes for Cinderella."
And this movie was filmed in 1973 in both Germany and the Czech Republic, and the movie
was filmed with both German and Czech actors and when they first shot the film, the Czech
actors spoke Czech and the German actors spoke German, so the original footage of this movie
is in both Czech and German all mixed up together.
And then for the final Czech film, they dubbed the German parts into Czech, and for the final German
film, they dubbed the Czech parts that they had into German.
Which I think is an amazing, such an interesting way to go about making the movie.
But it was still a little weird for me when I first found out that watching this now over
40 years old Cinderella movie that has apparently nothing to do with Christmas is a
Christmas tradition in Germany.
And then lastly we have a weird German Christmas tradition that isn’t.
So in America somehow, at some point in time, somewhere the rumor got started that it is
a German Christmas tradition to hide a pickle, real or as an ornament I’m not really sure,
in the Christmas tree and the first child to find it gets a prize.
But I have yet to find anyone in Germany who does this or who has ever heard of this tradition.
So this is a weird German tradition that isn’t.
However, if anyone out there does this tradition in America or Germany or anywhere in the world,
I would love to know, so please let me know down in the comments.
So my question for you is: what is your take on these Christmas traditions and what other
interesting holiday traditions do you know of around the world?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching!
If you love these videos, if you enjoy the content I'm putting out there, please don’t
forget to subscribe to the channel and hit that like button, thank you so much, it's
very much appreciated.
And also a really, really, really big thank you so much to our patrons on Patreon, who
help make these videos possible.
Thank you so much for your support.
If you would like to check out our Patreon page, you can find a link to that down in
the description box below.
Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
If anyone...
More in the direct...
Fine...
Another strange...I have a really hard time starting.
Still kind of like, huh. Interesting. A little weird. Interesting.