Catholic Christmas
Description:
It was the Germans who gave the world the impractical, cheerful and bright custom of decorating the Christmas tree. Or rather, one German is Martin Luther, a great Protestant and religious reformer.
Four weeks before Christmas, on Saturday, Advent begins. The first pre-Christmas service is held in the church, in which children often participate: they sing, play various musical instruments, show performances on Christmas themes. On this evening, the Germans will light the first of the four candles.
Also in advance preparing Christmas pastries: gingerbread and gallows. Stolen in the life of Germans is of particular importance. The very form of sweet bread, abundantly stuffed with raisins, spices and nuts, resembles a veiled child - Christ. Historians find it difficult to identify the author of the recipe and form. It is known that galleys were baked in Saxony as early as 1300.
The aroma of the holiday is also on the streets. About three weeks before Christmas, the Weihnachtsmarkt begins. Usually it is arranged in one of the central squares of the city. There are rows of decorated tents and houses in which there is nothing! Carrots and galleys, chocolate figurines and cotton candy, fried almonds and sweet donuts. There are also all kinds of Christmas souvenirs: figurines of animals and fairy-tale people carved out of wood, Christmas pyramids spinning from lit candles, glass balls and figures “smoking” with aromatic candles. What a German fair without fried sausages and mulled wine!
In the center of the fair there is a stage where Christmas concerts are held. Immediately at the fair you can meet the German Santa Claus, to once again secretly tell what gift you expect from him for Christmas.
Presents will be brought under the Weihnachtsmann tree on the evening of December 24. Then, on Christmas Eve, the whole family will gather at the table.
Christmas is a family holiday, so on December 25, the whole family will gather for a festive lunch again. This time on the table will be a baked goose with tears and stewed cabbage. And the house will again be filled with an atmosphere of comfort, tranquility and magic.