Christmas Traditions

As legend has it, in Germany parents decorate their Tannenbaums on Christmas Eve. The last ornament hung is die Weinachtsgurke—a delicate glass ornament in the shape of a pickle. This is a substantial ornament, for the next morning the kids will rush in to open their gifts from St. Nicholas. But the festivities can not begin until 1 of the young children locates the elusive gherkin. The 1 who finds it gets to open the very first gift, and may well even get an extra treat for his or her effort. So the story is told here in America. Glass Christmas Pickles are a popular ornament, and usually come with the curious legend tucked or printed on the box.

The oddest component about this legend is that it is practically unknown in Germany. Nobody knows where it came from, or who began it. Properly identified is the fact that the decorating of Christmas Trees with lights, ornaments, and tinsel originated in Germany, but unless the Pickle Tradition was practiced in a remote region of the fatherland, it is likely that the legend was produced at least in part by Americans, possibly of German descent. There are numerous stories floating about about how the tradition might have started.

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1 rumor tells of a Bavarian-born Union soldier fighting in the Civil War named John Lower (or possibly Hans Lauer) who was captured and sent to prison in Georgia. In poor wellness and starving, the prisoner begged for just one pickle before he died. A merciful guard took pity and identified him a pickle. Miraculously, John lived, and right after he returned house he began the tradition of the Christmas Pickle, promising great fortune to the one who discovered the special ornament on Christmas Day.

If this story seems a bit stretched, there is a second story becoming perpetuated in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where 24% of the population report German ancestry. Residents claim that hundreds of years ago two young Spanish boys, when traveling home from boarding school 1 Christmas Eve, sought refuge for the night at an inn. Here they encountered a cantankerous inn-keeper who trapped them in a pickle barrel. When St. Nicholas stopped at the inn that evening he sensed their distress and tapped the barrel with his staff, magically freeing them. No matter whether this story is accurate or not, Berrien Springs calls itself The Christmas Pickle Capital of the Globe.

The initial ornaments utilised by Germans to decorate Christmas Trees were fruits, particularly apples, and nuts. These, along with the evergreen tree itself, represented the certainty that life would return in the spring. In the mid-eighteen hundreds, a couple of enterprising individuals living in the village of Lauscha (in the present-day state of Thuringen) began selling glass ornaments. Employing fruit and nut molds at first, they ultimately branched out, adding thousands of molds to their repertoire: angels, bells, saints, hearts, stars, and so on. Nonetheless, there is no evidence of their having made a pickle, or of the pickle tradition ever becoming practiced in Lauscha or any other German village.

Wherever the legend came from, the Christmas Pickle Tradition is here to remain. Many German glass ornament makers have capitalized on the story and offer you a range of gherkins, dills and cucumbers (some even donning cheery Santa caps!), perpetuating the myth even as their German neighbors vehemently deny getting ever heard of it. Whatever the origin, the tradition is sure to bring a hearty dose of Christmas cheer. And isn’t that the point?