Christmas in Germany: Christmas Decorations

Besides Advent calendars and wreaths, home decorations in Ger-many include red candles, pine twigs, and candlesticks. One regional folk custom encourages families to display candlesticks shaped like miners and angels in their windows at Christmas time. Families display one miner for each boy child in the house and one angel for each girl child. The Christmas pyramidis another traditional German Christmas decoration. Some researchers believe that this pyramidal arrangement of shelves served as the forerunner to the Christmas tree. Many German families display a Nativity scene in their homes. This is especially popular in Roman Catholic areas. Bavarian craftsman have a reputation for producing marvelous Nativity scenes out of carved wood. Many fine Christmas cribs are produced by German artisans and sold at Christmas markets. The most famous German Christmas decoration, however, is the Christmas tree. In the last several hundred years the Christmas tree has spread throughout the world, and today is recognized as a nearly universal symbol of the holiday.