A Pickle of a Tradition – Christmas
According to legend, decorate Christmas tree her parents in Germany on Christmas Eve. The last ornament is hung Weinachtsgurke of a delicate glass ornament in the shape of a cucumber. This is an important jewelry, for the next morning the children rush to open their gifts from St. Nicholas. But the celebrations can begin only when one of the children found the elusive gherkin. Someone who is open to the first dose, and may even receive a special bonus for histheir efforts. So the story here in America is told. Glass Christmas Pickles are a popular ornamental, and usually hidden, with the curious legend come or printed on the box.
The strangest part of this legend is that it is virtually unknown in Germany. Nobody knows where they came from or who started it. Well known is the fact that the decoration of Christmas trees with lights, ornaments and tinsel in Germany originated, but unless practiced the tradition was in a pickleremote area of the country, it is likely that the legend was created partially by the Americans, perhaps of German descent. There are several stories in circulation, as the tradition has begun.
A rumor tells of a Bavarian-born Union soldier fighting in the Civil War, named John Lower (Hans Lauer or maybe), which was captured and sent to prison in Georgia. In poor health and starving, the prisoner asked only for a pickle before he died. A compassionate guard took pityand found him a cucumber. Miraculously, John lived, and after he came home, he began the tradition of the Christmas Pickle, promising happiness, the one who found the special ornament on Christmas Day.
If this story seems a bit stretched, there is a second story continues in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where 24% of the population of German descent report. The residents say that hundreds of years ago two young Spanish boys, if you are traveling home from boarding schoola holy night, a refuge for the night in a hostel. Here they met a surly landlord, they are caught in a pickle barrel. When St. Nicholas is no longer at the hostel that evening, he sensed her distress and tapped the barrel with his staff to release a magical way. Whether this story is true or not, Berrien Springs calls itself The Christmas Pickle Capital of the World.
The first decorated Christmas tree ornaments of Germans wereFruit, especially apples and nuts. These, together with the evergreen tree itself, represented the certainty that life would return in the spring. In the middle of the eighteen hundreds, began a few enterprising people live in the village of Lauscha (in the present state of Thuringia) selling glass jewelry. With fruit and nut shapes at first, they eventually branched by thousands of molds to their repertoire: angels, bells, saints, hearts, stars and so on. There are still noProof of the practiced under a cucumber, cucumber, or the tradition ever been in Lauscha, or any other German village.
Everywhere, where the legend came to be is the Christmas pickle tradition here. Several German glass ornament makers have turned to the story and offer a variety of cucumbers, dill and cucumbers (some even wear Santa caps gay!), The myth, even as their German neighbors vehemently denies ever heard of him. Regardless of the origin,Tradition is sure to bring, with a hearty dose of Christmas cheer too. And is not that the point?
