Ontem foi o "Advent", marco do início das celebrações natalinas aqui na Alemanha. Foi a data de acender a primeira vela e iniciar a contagem regressiva. Muitas famílias começam a utilizar um calendário em que cada dia tem uma portinha com um doce dentro pra ser aberta quando tal dia chega. Não vou me alongar muito sobre isso. Tem dois textos explicando tudo direitinho sobre as tradições alemãs de Natal. Um da Folha Onine, outro que recebi por e-mail.
Ontem eu fui à feira de Natal aqui em Erfurt. Tudo muito bonito. E muito grande. Várias barracas de madeira, ocupando a Domplatz e a praça da prefeitura. Algumas vendendo Bratwurst e outras coisas de porco, outras vendendo nozes, outras, bolo, outras, quinquilharias para decoração, outras, salame e queijo, e quase todas, o Gluhwein (vinho quente). Não tenho nenhuma foto porque as pilhas que comprei no supermercado não funcionaram. Prometo postar algumas fotos, e de preferência, tiradas em algum dia que tiver neve, o que não foi o caso de ontem. Aqui na Alemanha, a neve de Natal não é de algodão.
Bom, este texto da Folha Online explica direitinho as tradições de Natal por aqui, falando dos eventos típicos, como o Advent e o dia de São Nicolau, e das feiras, dando destaque pra de Nurnberg, a maior de todas:
Aqui está o texto que recebi por e-mail
Joy, surprises and secrets in Advent season…….
These are the words of a popular German Christmas carol. Basically, the word “Advent” comes from Latin and it means “arrival” - arrival of Jesus Christ on 24 December. When the first candle is lit up on the Advent and the first window is marked open in the Advent calendar, when the smell of gingerbread, “Stollen” (typical Christmas cake), roasted almonds and mulled wine fill the air and the Christmas Fairs open, then Christmas is coming. Homes, shops and the streets are lavishly decorated. Mothers and grandmothers bake cookies, nutcrackers crack the first nuts, the “Räuchermännchen” spread their fragrance in the room, and the children open the first window of their Advent calendar.
By the way, the Advent calendar was mentioned for the first time about 150 years ago. At that time 24 small pictures were pasted on a sheet of paper, later they were hidden behind a small paper window and only for about 25 years children can open small paper windows on the calendar every day. There, they find sweets or a small toy or present. (But only if the child is well-behaved!) In many families they put up a pyramid, an arc or a chain with lights. Did you know that Christmas was mentioned for the first time in 354? In the “Volkskundemuseum”, Juri-Gagarin-Ring, you can find 240 different kinds of Christmas calendars!
It is a contemplative time and makes people think how to do something good, how to surprise their beloved relatives, friends and colleagues. During Christmas many concerts in churches and other places are held. Money is collected for charity and needy people. Children read the Christmas story and play it later in the church on Christmas Eve, 24 December. It is the story of Jesus Christ’s birth in a barn in Bethlehem.
To shorten the long time until Christmas Eve, it is a tradition in Germany that children wait for “Saint Nicolas” on 6th December. Children (and sometimes students!), clean their shoes extremely well and put them in front of the door the evening before St. Nicolas Day. If they are lucky, they find the shoes and boots filled with apples, oranges candy and/ or small presents on the 6th morning.
In many cities there are Christmas Fairs. The most well-known in Germany is the Christmas Fair in Nuremberg, the oldest is the so-called “Dresdner Striezelmarkt”, and Erfurt has also one of the 10 most beautiful Christmas Fairs in Germany. The Cathedral Square is beautifully decorated with a huge, candle-lit Christmas tree and a large hand-carved wooden pyramid and creche. 200 small wooden huts offer typical Christmas handcrafts, e.g. carvings from the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), Christmas tree ornaments from Lauscha/ Thuringia, handmade candles and lots of other things. It is very easy to find a small Christmas gift. You can find all kinds of rides and entertainment, including choirs, orchestras and story-tellers.
One highlight is certainly the exhibition “Florales for Christmas” in the basement rocks of the Domberg (right behind the Christmas Fair on the right side). This year the topic of wonderful decorations, arrangements and figures is “Fairy Tales”. The exhibition and the Christmas Fair are open from 10:00 am – 08:00 pm.
This is a well-known children’s poem:
“Advent, Advent, a candle is burning.
At first one, then two, then three, then four.
Then Santa Claus is at the door.”
And people, who like to have fun, add:
“And when the 5 th candle is burning,
then you will have missed Christmas.”
I wish you a wonderful Advent season.
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