German Christmas Traditions

When Christmas ( Weihnachten ) is coming, everybody is rushing around buying Christmas Gifts. This is one of the stressful german christmas traditions for some of us, because we never know what to buy. Usually everybody has all he needs and you don't want to buy any sort of nonsense.

But in general it is a quiet time and many germans are in a relaxed and quiet mood.
You can see decorated christmas trees all over the place in shopping centers, public places, in the entrance hall of banks and buisiness offices and behind windows.
Christmas Eve is on December 24th then german families get together to have a rich
dinner and to talk.

Gifts are exchanged on the night of the 24th. The 25th of December is the 1st and the 26th of December is the second christmas day. Nobody is working at this time of the year. Everybody is hanging around with family members, eating turkey, chocolate, cakes, cookies and drinking coffee and wine, talking to other family members, watching television, playing games or having a walk in the forest or going to a christmas market. Or bake a big "Stollen".

If you have kids then come to Germany and go to a christmas market in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich or Nürnberg and see their little faces light up. It is a great feeling at the markets that can not be explained. You have to experience it.