Germany

A German Christmas begins when families display the Advent wreath and add and light one candle on each of the four Sundays before Holy Evening, December 24. On December 6, good children find treats left by Sankt Nikolaus, and on Christmas Eve, gifts may be delivered by Christkindle (the Christ Child), perhaps accompanied by a helper like Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man).

While it may never be determined who introduced the Christmas tree custom–some credit St. Boniface, others Martin Luther-nearly all Germans agree that the evergreen is their country’s symbol of the season and that generations of their enthusiasm for it has inspired the world to follow suit.

Like the tiny horse this Santa holds, handmade wooden toys are popular German folk art. Because of a growing demand in the 1700s, and a rich supply of forests, German villages established a popular tradition of toy making that still thrives today.

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