Tag: Schwibbogen
Schwip-Schwap-Schwagger’s Schwibbogen Quiz
Germany Quiz 8: Saxony Part II- The Answers
After trying out the quiz and testing your knowledge about the German state of Saxony, here are the answers to the Guessing Quiz. Due to the length of the quiz, I decided to split the answers into general terms and those of the bridges in Saxony. To find out the results of the bridge portion of the quiz, go to the sister column The Bridgehunter’s Chronicles by clicking here. Otherwise, here are the results of the quiz about Saxony. Are you ready for the answers? 🙂
What is the capital of Saxony?
Leipzig Meissen Zwickau Dresden Görlitz Wilkau-Hasslau
Which city in Saxony does NOT have an equivalent in the USA? Mark all that apply.
Dresden Zwickau Zittau Leipzig Meerane Waldenburg
Waldenburg can be found in Michigan and Arkansas
Dresden can be found in Ohio, Maine, New York, Missouri and Tennessee
Leipzig can be found in North Dakota under New Leipzig
Zittau can be found in Wisconsin
Which city in Saxony does NOT have a sister city in the USA?
Glauchau Dresden Freiberg Leipzig Zwickau Riesa
Glauchau’s sister city is Lynchburg (Virginia)
Columbus (Ohio) is Dresden‘s sister city
Leipzig is twinned with Houston (Texas)
Riesa’s sister is located in Sandy (Utah)
Which rivers do NOT flow through Saxony?
Elbe Mulde Saale Neisse Danube
Which city does NOT have nearby lakes/reservoirs? Mark all that apply.
Leipzig Glauchau Plauen Meissen Reichenbach
Plauen is located between two reservoirs, Pöhl and Pirk. The Pöhl is between Plauen and Reichenbach yet it is closer to the former. Leipzig has the most number of lakes in Saxony, with as many as 35 lakes covering over 90 squared kilometers of metropolitan area including Altenburg (Thuringia) and Halle (Saale).
Which city does NOT have a castle or palace?
Zwickau Dresden Leipzig Glauchau Markkleeberg Schneeberg
Which city in Saxony is located at the Polish-German border and is named in both languages?
Zittau Bautzen Oberlausitz Cottbus Görlitz Grimma
Which city is the hub of the porcellain industry- you can see their products at the pottery markets throughout all of Germany?
Meissen Riesa Hoyerswerda Werdau Crimmitschau Leipzig
T/F: The village of Amerika (near Penig) was created in 1839 and was based on the founder’s visit to the USA.
False. There was no known reason behind the founding of Amerika except for the fact that the word also meant for over the pond. The town was centered around a factory created in 1839 bearing the name. Ironically, the town was the filming location for a 1995 movie but the name Amerika was never used there.
Saxony has one of the oldest race tracks in the country, where race cars and motorcycles convene yearly to this city……
a. Görlitz b. Hohenstein-Ernstthal c. Leipzig d. Hoyerswerda
Which of the two cities in Saxony were the site of the infamous beer war in 1731?
- Werdau and Crimmitschau
- Meerane and Glauchau The page on the history of the brewery conflict can be found here.
- Zwickau and Aue
- Leipzig and Halle
Mark the following cities that have a brewery with a check mark and circle the cities that have a liquour distillery.
Chemnitz Meerane Zwickau Leipzig Dresden Plauen Reichenbach Zittau
Breweries can be found in Chemnitz, Leipzig, Dresden, Plauen, Zwickau and Zittau, whereas distilleries can be found in Meerane, Leipzig, Dresden and even in Aue (Saxony)
The Black Triangle, infamous for years of pollution and environmental destruction caused by strip mining, consists of three states meeting near which town in Saxony? Identify the three states and choose which city.
The three states: Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic
The city:
- Bautzen
- Görlitz
- Zittau
- Dresden
Hint: A beverage named after the region and this city, consisting of (10%) vodka, (40%) Vita Cola and (50%) Czech beer was created by the author in 2005.
Which cities are served by the ICE-train line? Which ones will be served by the InterCity line beginning in 2023?
Dresden Chemnitz Leipzig Glauchau Riesa Bad Schandau
Dresden and Leipzig are served by the ICE lines connecting them with Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin/Hamburg. Chemnitz used to be served by the ICE line from 2000 to 2002. Yet together with Glauchau, it will be connected to the MDV route connecting Dresden with Cologne via Jena and Erfurt beginning in 2023.
T/F: The Leipzig-Dresden Railline, the first railroad line ever built, was completed in 1839
False. It was the third line constructed behind the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Dusseldorf-Ekrath lines, both were open in 1838. Note, these are steampower-driven rail lines here.
Mark the following cities that have a professional soccer team (1, 2 and 3rd leagues) with an X, a professional handball team (1st and 2nd leagues) with a check-mark, and check-mark the cities that have an American football team.
Aue Dresden Leipzig Meerane Zwickau Chemnitz Glauchau
Soccer: RB Leipzig (1st), Dynamo Dresden, Erzgebirge Aue (2nd) and FSV Zwickau (3rd) FC Chemnitz was in the 3rd league until its forced demotion due to bankruptcy in 2018. It plays in the 4th league.
Handball: SC Leipzig (men- 1st) HC Leipzig (women) used to play in the 1st league until its forced demotion due to bankruptcy in 2017. After playing for one season in the 3rd League, it has played in the 3rd league since 2018.
American Football: Dresden Monarchs, Chemnitz Crusaders
T/F: FC Dynamo Dresden is the only team from Saxony that has defeated FC Bayern Munich in a soccer match.
False. In 1973, Dresden and Munich played in the European Cup, making it the first East-West German soccer match in history. The team lost 8-7 in two games (4:3 and 3:3)
How many soccer teams does Leipzig have, including the Red Bull Team?
23 teams including the women’s teams and RB Leipzig. Also included: Inter-Leipzig, Chemie Leipzig and Locomotive Leipzig
Information about the Christmas markets in Saxony:
The oldest Christmas market known to man can be found in which city?
a. Dresden b. Leipzig c. Bautzen d. Nuremberg e. Glauchau
King Wenzel created the Bautzen market in the winter of 1384, thus making it the oldest known Christmas market in Germany.
The origin of the Stollen (the German fruit cake with raisins and powdered sugar) originated from which city?
a. Plauen b. Naumburg (Saale) c. Dresden d. Rochlitz e. Flöha
The shortest Christmas market in Germany can be found in this city?
a. Glauchau b. Crimmitschau c. Werdau d. Meerane e. Aue
For only three hours on one Sunday in the Advent period, this Christmas market with a concert and all takes place in this small community.
Which region in Saxony was the birthplace of the Schwibbogen (Christmas arch)?
a. Ore Mountains b. Vogtland c. Lausitz Region d. Black Triangle
In fact, the first known Schwibbogen was discovered in Johanngeorgenstadt in 1740. Others were discovered in Schwarzenberg in the 1800s. Hohndorf holds the Schwibbogen festival during the second Advent every year.
T/F: Customary of a Christmas market in Saxony is the parade of miners in the villages Ore Mountains. If true, name at least one town that does host this.
True. One can find the miners parades in Annaberg-Buchholz and Schneeberg as the most popular places every Christmas but also in smaller towns in the mountains.
T/F: Räuchermänner were common but rare decorations during the East German Communist era.
True. Many of these incense people were handmade and exported to countries outside East Germany, although some tried successfully to smuggle them home to be given as Christmas gifts.
T/F: Pulsnitzer Kekse is a cake with a jelly filling that can be found at a Christmas market in Saxony.
True. In fact, a Christmas market in Saxony is not complete without this specialty that was found in the village near Dresden.
Which Christmas market does NOT have a castle setting?
a. Wolkenburg b. Glauchau c. Zwickau d. Crimmitschau e. Waldenburg f. Torgau
Who is the disco-king in this picture? Have a look in the activities below. 😉
Information on the Personalities from Saxony:
Look at the quasi-autobiography of these personalities of Saxony and guess who they are. The first and last letters of the names are given. Some research is required. Good luck! 🙂
- I was born in Chemnitz, which was known at that time as Karl Marx Stadt, and started ice skating at the age of six. I won several gold medals in the Olympics and the world championship in figure skating, while pursuing a side dish career in acting and sports commentator. I was not only the face of East Germany before the Fall of the Wall in 1989 but also one of the best models of all time. Who am I?
Katarina Witt
- I was born in Dresden to a family of actors and became one myself. I also love writing and conducting musical pieces and playing golf. While I used to be one of the most outspoken opponents of Communism during the 1989 revolution, I settled down and became the well-known, politically correct, sometimes stuck-up and arrogant professor of forensic medicine in a well-known but very popular “Krimi-series” playing opposite a St. Pauli junkie of a police officer. Who am I?
Jan-Josef Liefers- and yes that was me doing the disco, which I find still mega-embarassing. 😉
- I was born in Leipzig but grew up in Potsdam. I started acting in 1982 and have continued this career ever since. I star in many krimi-series including a Tatort series, where the setting is my hometown of Leipzig, and I play the hot, saucy investigator who eventually dies in the arms of my detective partner in the very last episode played in 2015. Who am I?
Simone Thomalla
- I was born in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in 1842. While I later became a teacher in Saxony, I started a life of crime which resulted in me losing my teaching license and being jailed many times. During my time in a prison in Zwickau, I became a librarian and was interested in reading books. It was then when I started writing, having produced several works focusing on the American Wild West, many of which had the character Winnetou in it. I continued writing until I died in 1912 and am buried in a tomb in Radebeul (near Dresden). Who am I?
Karl May
5. I was born in Görlitz in 1976 to a father who was a soccer player and a mother who was a swimmer. I followed my father’s footsteps and started playing soccer at the age of seven, having played for Chemnitz and Kaiserslautern before making my breakthrough with the soccer team Bayer Leverkusen in 2000. There, my aggressive play brought forth many championships with Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and even Chelsea in England. I even became the captain of the German national soccer team before retiring in 2012. Who am I?
Michael Ballack
- I was born in 1873 in Dresden. Even though I was a housewife, I became famous for inventing and patenting the modern coffee filter in 1908. Six years later, I founded the coffee company which still exists today, producing coffee and filters for the coffee machine. I relocated the firm to Minden (Hesse), where I lived to be 77 years old. Who am I?
Melitta Bentz
- I was born in a small village in Saxony in 1937, but I became famous for becoming the first German astronaut to fly in space in 1978. After working for the Potsdam Institute for Physics, I later worked for the Russian Institute for Space Education and later for the European Space Agency. I was a household name in East Germany as well as in films. Who am I?
Sigmund Jähn- I was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz and a museum dedicated to my work is there to visit today.
* Mr. Jähn died in 2019 at the age of 82. Details of his life can be found here.
- I was born in Dresden and learned the trade as a massage therapist and remedial gymnastics teacher. I hated corsets and many of my female clients always had problems with their posture and their sensitive areas. Henceforth, I learned another trade as a seamstress and invented the modern Busenhalter (BH), which is bra in English, in 1899. Because of its simplistic design for these sensitive areas and its sexy appeal, it has since been revolutionized and one can find them in different shapes, sizes and forms, including sports bras and bikinis. Because I was the one who made the bra in Saxony, who am I?
Christine Hardt
Which of these statements are true or false?
T/F: Richard Wagner, composer and founder of the annual Bayreuth Festspiel which takes place in July, originated from Saxony.
True. Wagner was born in 1813 in Leipzig.
T/F: Robert and Clara Schumann, a husband-wife piano duo of the 19th Century, were both born in Zwickau, but married in Leipzig.
Only Robert was born in Zwickau, yet they married in Leipzig.
T/F: Frederike Caroline Neubert, born in Reichenbach, was one of the first female pioneers in acting, having done stage performances in the 1600s.
False. Although she was born in Reichenbach, she was famous on stage a century later.
T/F: The Semper Opera House in Dresden is named after the world renowned composer, Gottfried Semper.
True. He even built the building, completing it in 1841.
T/F: The Princes is a rockmusic band that was created last year in honor and memory of Prince.
False for three reasons: 1. The name Die Prinzen was carried over into English because of the English name existing for a band from Estonia. 2. The band, originating from Leipzig, specializes in a capella music and 3. The band was created in 1987, 29 years before Prince’s passing in Minneapolis. Sorry, no purple rain here.
T/F: Catherine of Bora, who married Martin Luther, originally came from Glauchau.
False. While Glauchau is predominantly religious, Catharine of Bora was from Leipzig.
Teilen mit:
Christmas Market Tour 2015: Gotha
The last stop on this year’s Christmas market tour takes us 70 kilometers east through the heart of the German state of Thuringia to the small town of Gotha. With a population of 44,000 inhabitants, the city, located between Erfurt and Eisenach may look appalling at first when getting off the train at the station.
Plus a quarter of the buildings in the city may appear run down, like this former publishing house:
Don’t let that scare you. 😉 Speaking from experience with other German cities, you cannot judge one just by the train station alone. One has to go further to see what it really looks like from the inside. 🙂 When walking or even biking towards the city center, you can see that Gotha’s architecture, much of which originated from the days of the Renaissance and the Reformation have been intact. Only a small fraction of the buildings were damaged or destroyed in World War II, including the railway station. Another small fraction was neglected by the East German Socialist government during the Cold War, most of which have been restored since 1990.
Gotha’s cityscape features not only a mixture of old and new buildings, but also seven- count them- SEVEN palaces located in and around the city center! :-O The most notable ones are the Friedenstein Castle and the Friedenstein Towers, located on the hill overlooking the city to the north. Built in 1643, the palace was part of the duchy of Saxe-Gotha (later annexing Coburg) which ruled Gotha until Germany’s defeat in World War I. Ernest Pios of Saxe-Gotha founded the duchy three years earlier. But apart from that, many of the historic buildings in Gotha that are still standing come from this time period, including the Historic Town Hall (built in 1574 and has still been used since 1665), the Ekhof Theater (built in the 17th Century and is the lone theater left that uses the original stage machinery), St. Margaret’s Church at Neumarkt (built in 1543) and one of the youngest from the era, the Insurance Museum at Bahnhofstrasse (built in 1820 and was the site of the Gothaer Insurance Company. Now a combination museum and labor court).
But beyond the history, the insurance and even the distillery Gotano, which produces wermouth for the region, Gotha’s Christmas market provides tourists with a bunch of surprises that will keep them in the city for longer than planned. When looking at the market itself, consisting of three different markets at Butterplatz, Neumarkt and Hauptmarkt/Rathaus, and by viewing the shopping areas in the background, one could say that the markets are nothing spectacular. Just typical small-town markets that come and go every weekend.
Guess again! 🙂
Each of the markets has at least one unique feature that one should visit while visiting Gotha. For instance, looking at Butterplatz, the place is flanked with two pubs but its main attraction is the Medieval theater, where plays and concerts are performed every evening and people can enjoy food directly from that period. It does serve as competition to the pubs, especially the Irish Pub, which is behind the stage, however people staying there can still enjoy the music and other performances while drinking their Snake Eyes and Newcastle Ale.
The Hauptmarkt has their display of items in front of the historic town hall. The first impression of the market is that only small rows of red huts with eateries and mulled wine (Glühwein) make this a pure open-air restaurant. However, there is more to it than just that. This open-air site features the largest Schwibbogen in the world, as seen in the picture above, where visitors can walk in and enjoy a hot drink and a meal in the glass covered facility. The Schwibbogen is eight meters high, 13 meters long and 5 meters wide, providing 65 places for visitors to eat and drink. Opposite the place is the stage where cooking contests with prominent celebrities take place on weekends, competing with various German TV cooking shows that are broadcasted on frequent occasion. Adjacent to the Schwipbogen is a piece of artwork worth seeing. A manger set was created by Rüdiger Noldin and his friends depicts life-size figures of Baby Jesus, his parents Joseph and Mary and the animal figures, all woodcarved using chainsaws. The artwork is remarkable as the details are carved out, lookig like the real scene.
And if you are tired of seeing the red-colored huts with the eateries, you can also purchase souvenirs typical of the town and region at the Gotha Adelt. While not part of the market scene, it is highly recommended if you are looking for items for your loved ones that don’t represent the typical items found in a grocery store or bookshop, like mustard, local beer, Gotano wermouth, liquour, oil and spices, books on the history of Gotha and/or its palaces, refrigerator magnets and the like.
Despite what the Hauptmarkt offered on the north side of town hall, I wished that there were more huts and small shops featured on the south side. Between the town hall and the Friedenstein palace along the former Leina Canal, there is a vast amount of space that is open and could potentially be filled for the holiday occasion. Why this space was not utilised is unknown but the area where the Leina Fountain in front of the Palace is located provides a splendid view of the buildings alongside the streets, leading directly up to the town hall. Looking at the picture below, could you imagine what the area woould look like if the Christmas market extended to here and not stopped in front of the town hall on the north side? 🙂
Thinking about that while leaving Hauptmarkt, we head to the last market square, which is Neumarkt. Surrounded by a mix of historic and modern buildings, the market features a backdrop in the St. Margaret’s Church, which looks splendid at night. However the largest of the huts at the Christmas market are located here. This includes the bumper car hut and this interesting place- a two-story hut that is a restaurant serving local specialties of venecin and wild boar and many varieties of hot drinks. At 7.5 meters high, 15 meters long and eight meters wide, Weisheit’s Schlossmühle, which is the only one known to the German Christmas market scene, can house up to 200 guest.
But what stands out the most at this market place are the various foods that a person can try. It is a well-known fact that the Christmas market in Gotha is laden with stands serving Thuringian Bratwurst and its various sorts. The origin of the bratwurst and why they are very popular all over Europe is one to be written at another time. However another meat product worth trying is the Grillschinken, known as the grilled ham slices. The pork products are grilled on a rotating spit, similar to the one used for döner kebaps, which is typical in Germany. Slices are taken off and with the fixings (onions, barbeque sauce and cheese), become a tasty sandwich. 😀
Having that together with the Erdbeerkönigin, a hot drink mix consisting of strawberry liquour and honey met liquour, it is very hearty and one that puts a crown on a couple hours exploring the market and purchasing last-minute items before Christmas. By the way, the Erdbeerkönigen drink can be bought at the honey stand, where other honey liquours and other honey products (spreads, candles, candies and bars) are available for purchase at the corner of the church.
Given its location in the flat agricultural landscape, the Christmas market in Gotha is best described as one that features unique huts with a historic background, offering local goods coming from local farms which can attract the visitors, providing them with a chance to taste everything. And while everyone is familiar with the Thuringian Bratwurst, Gotha’s products, which one can rarely find, clearly depicts what the town has to offer to the people, when visiting the town. And it is a good thing too, after going through seven palaces and dozens of Renaisance-style buildings, one can use a break by trying something that is not typical for Germany but one for Gotha.
As observed in my visit, Gotha has a lot to offer with the Christmas market, especially given its setting, and it definitely plays down the firsthand impressions of the city, as mentioned at the beginning. There are towns that deserve to be ignored because they are too modern or too dilapidated and unappealing. Then there are towns like Gotha, where going beyond the run-down train station, one can see some jewels of the town just by going 100 meters away from the station. When you see that, keep going. Chances are very likely that more will be found, and with that, more information on the history and culture of the town. So keep looking and start exploring. A lesson learned for the trip home by train……
Teilen mit:
Christmas Market Tour 2015: Gotha
The last stop on this year’s Christmas market tour takes us 70 kilometers east through the heart of the German state of Thuringia to the small town of Gotha. With a population of 44,000 inhabitants, the city, located between Erfurt and Eisenach may look appalling at first when getting off the train at the station.
Plus a quarter of the buildings in the city may appear run down, like this former publishing house:
Don’t let that scare you. 😉 Speaking from experience with other German cities, you cannot judge one just by the train station alone. One has to go further to see what it really looks like from the inside. 🙂 When walking or even biking towards the city center, you can see that Gotha’s architecture, much of which originated from the days of the Renaissance and the Reformation have been intact. Only a small fraction of the buildings were damaged or destroyed in World War II, including the railway station. Another small fraction was neglected by the East German Socialist government during the Cold War, most of which have been restored since 1990.
Gotha’s cityscape features not only a mixture of old and new buildings, but also seven- count them- SEVEN palaces located in and around the city center! :-O The most notable ones are the Friedenstein Castle and the Friedenstein Towers, located on the hill overlooking the city to the north. Built in 1643, the palace was part of the duchy of Saxe-Gotha (later annexing Coburg) which ruled Gotha until Germany’s defeat in World War I. Ernest Pios of Saxe-Gotha founded the duchy three years earlier. But apart from that, many of the historic buildings in Gotha that are still standing come from this time period, including the Historic Town Hall (built in 1574 and has still been used since 1665), the Ekhof Theater (built in the 17th Century and is the lone theater left that uses the original stage machinery), St. Margaret’s Church at Neumarkt (built in 1543) and one of the youngest from the era, the Insurance Museum at Bahnhofstrasse (built in 1820 and was the site of the Gothaer Insurance Company. Now a combination museum and labor court).
But beyond the history, the insurance and even the distillery Gotano, which produces wermouth for the region, Gotha’s Christmas market provides tourists with a bunch of surprises that will keep them in the city for longer than planned. When looking at the market itself, consisting of three different markets at Butterplatz, Neumarkt and Hauptmarkt/Rathaus, and by viewing the shopping areas in the background, one could say that the markets are nothing spectacular. Just typical small-town markets that come and go every weekend.
Guess again! 🙂
Each of the markets has at least one unique feature that one should visit while visiting Gotha. For instance, looking at Butterplatz, the place is flanked with two pubs but its main attraction is the Medieval theater, where plays and concerts are performed every evening and people can enjoy food directly from that period. It does serve as competition to the pubs, especially the Irish Pub, which is behind the stage, however people staying there can still enjoy the music and other performances while drinking their Snake Eyes and Newcastle Ale.
The Hauptmarkt has their display of items in front of the historic town hall. The first impression of the market is that only small rows of red huts with eateries and mulled wine (Glühwein) make this a pure open-air restaurant. However, there is more to it than just that. This open-air site features the largest Schwibbogen in the world, as seen in the picture above, where visitors can walk in and enjoy a hot drink and a meal in the glass covered facility. The Schwibbogen is eight meters high, 13 meters long and 5 meters wide, providing 65 places for visitors to eat and drink. Opposite the place is the stage where cooking contests with prominent celebrities take place on weekends, competing with various German TV cooking shows that are broadcasted on frequent occasion. Adjacent to the Schwipbogen is a piece of artwork worth seeing. A manger set was created by Rüdiger Noldin and his friends depicts life-size figures of Baby Jesus, his parents Joseph and Mary and the animal figures, all woodcarved using chainsaws. The artwork is remarkable as the details are carved out, lookig like the real scene.
And if you are tired of seeing the red-colored huts with the eateries, you can also purchase souvenirs typical of the town and region at the Gotha Adelt. While not part of the market scene, it is highly recommended if you are looking for items for your loved ones that don’t represent the typical items found in a grocery store or bookshop, like mustard, local beer, Gotano wermouth, liquour, oil and spices, books on the history of Gotha and/or its palaces, refrigerator magnets and the like.
Despite what the Hauptmarkt offered on the north side of town hall, I wished that there were more huts and small shops featured on the south side. Between the town hall and the Friedenstein palace along the former Leina Canal, there is a vast amount of space that is open and could potentially be filled for the holiday occasion. Why this space was not utilised is unknown but the area where the Leina Fountain in front of the Palace is located provides a splendid view of the buildings alongside the streets, leading directly up to the town hall. Looking at the picture below, could you imagine what the area woould look like if the Christmas market extended to here and not stopped in front of the town hall on the north side? 🙂
Thinking about that while leaving Hauptmarkt, we head to the last market square, which is Neumarkt. Surrounded by a mix of historic and modern buildings, the market features a backdrop in the St. Margaret’s Church, which looks splendid at night. However the largest of the huts at the Christmas market are located here. This includes the bumper car hut and this interesting place- a two-story hut that is a restaurant serving local specialties of venecin and wild boar and many varieties of hot drinks. At 7.5 meters high, 15 meters long and eight meters wide, Weisheit’s Schlossmühle, which is the only one known to the German Christmas market scene, can house up to 200 guest.
But what stands out the most at this market place are the various foods that a person can try. It is a well-known fact that the Christmas market in Gotha is laden with stands serving Thuringian Bratwurst and its various sorts. The origin of the bratwurst and why they are very popular all over Europe is one to be written at another time. However another meat product worth trying is the Grillschinken, known as the grilled ham slices. The pork products are grilled on a rotating spit, similar to the one used for döner kebaps, which is typical in Germany. Slices are taken off and with the fixings (onions, barbeque sauce and cheese), become a tasty sandwich. 😀
Having that together with the Erdbeerkönigin, a hot drink mix consisting of strawberry liquour and honey met liquour, it is very hearty and one that puts a crown on a couple hours exploring the market and purchasing last-minute items before Christmas. By the way, the Erdbeerkönigen drink can be bought at the honey stand, where other honey liquours and other honey products (spreads, candles, candies and bars) are available for purchase at the corner of the church.
Given its location in the flat agricultural landscape, the Christmas market in Gotha is best described as one that features unique huts with a historic background, offering local goods coming from local farms which can attract the visitors, providing them with a chance to taste everything. And while everyone is familiar with the Thuringian Bratwurst, Gotha’s products, which one can rarely find, clearly depicts what the town has to offer to the people, when visiting the town. And it is a good thing too, after going through seven palaces and dozens of Renaisance-style buildings, one can use a break by trying something that is not typical for Germany but one for Gotha.
As observed in my visit, Gotha has a lot to offer with the Christmas market, especially given its setting, and it definitely plays down the firsthand impressions of the city, as mentioned at the beginning. There are towns that deserve to be ignored because they are too modern or too dilapidated and unappealing. Then there are towns like Gotha, where going beyond the run-down train station, one can see some jewels of the town just by going 100 meters away from the station. When you see that, keep going. Chances are very likely that more will be found, and with that, more information on the history and culture of the town. So keep looking and start exploring. A lesson learned for the trip home by train……
Author’s note: This sums up this year’s tour of the Christmas markets in Germany. If you want to view the other Christmas markets, please click here and you will find a list of Christmas markets visited since 2011. If you know of a Christmas market the author should visit next year or in the future, please use the contact form and mention this. Chances are, the author will have a look at it and take whatever suggestion you give him. Many thanks and wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 😀
Teilen mit:
The Mystery Christmas Piece: The Three Candles
The Schwibbogen, one of the landmarks a person will see while visiting Germany at Christmas time. Consisting of an arch with holders for candles, the Bogen is more commonly known as the Lichterbogen, and has its traditions going back to the 18th Century. The first known Bogen was made in Johanngeorgenstadt in the Ore Mountain region in Saxony, in 1740. It was made of black metal, which is the color of the ore found in the mountain range, was made out of a forged metal piece, and was later painted with a series of colors, adding to the piece 11 candles. This is still the standard number for a normal Bogen, but the number of candles is dependent on the size. The smaller the Bogen, the fewer the candles. Paula Jordan, in 1937, provided the design of the Bogen, by carving a scene. At first, it featured 2 miners, 1 wood carver, a bobbin lace maker, a Christmas Tree, 2 miner’s hammers, 2 crossed swords, and an angel. The light shining in represented the light the miners went without for months as they mined the mountain. However, since World War II, the scenes have varied. Nowadays, one can see scenes depicting the trip to Bethlehem, Jesus’ birth, a historic Christmas village, and nature scenes, just to name a few. Here’s a classical example of a Bogen one will find in a window sill of a German home:
One will also find Schwibbogen at the Christmas markets, including the Striezelmarkt in Dresden and the largest Schwibbogen in the world at its place of origin in Johanngeorgenstadt, which was erected in 2012 and has remained a place to see ever since! 🙂
Going from the Ore Mountains, 7,400 kilometers to the west, one will see another form of the Schwibbogen, but in the state of Iowa. During the Christmas trip through Van Buren County, Iowa, and in particular, Bentonsport, several houses were shining with candles of their own. But these are totall different than the Schwibbogen we see in German households and Christmas markets. Each window had three candles, with one in the middle that is taller than the two outer ones. This is similar to the very top picture in the article, even though it is a mimic of what was seen at the village. When attempting to photograph the houses, the author was met with this:
Even though there is not much to see from there, it shows how the candles are arranged in front of the window, closed with a curtain. Van Buren County was predominantly Dutch (more on that will come when looking at the Christmas villages), but it is unknown what the meaning behind the three candles are, let alone who was behind the concept and why. Could it be that the Dutch were simply mimicking the Schwibbogen from Saxony but just simply using three candles instead of eleven and subtracting the designed arch holder? And what does the design of the three candles stand for?
Any ideas are more than welcomed. Just add your comments or use the contact form to inform the author what the difference between the three candles and the Schwibbogen are in terms of origin and meaning. The information will be provided once the answers are collected and when looking at the Christmas villages in the county. They are small, but each one has its own culture which has been kept by its residents. The three candles are one of these that can be seen today at Christmas time, even while passing by the houses travelling along the Des Moines River, heading northwest to Des Moines. Looking forward to the info on this phenomenon. 🙂
Author’s Note: Check out the Flensburg Files’ wordpress page, as a pair of genres dealing with Christmas have been posted recently. They are film ads produced by a German and a British retailer, respectively. Both are dealing with the dark sides of Christmas, as the German one looks at loneliness without family (click here) and ways to get them home for the holidays (even though the technique presented is controversial), and the British one deals with a girl meeting a man far far away (click here), who is lonely and wants company, which is given in the end. Both have powerful messages, so have your tissues out. 🙂
THE FLENSBURG FILES 