Christmas in Germany

Christmas in Germany is a celebration of proportions unparalleled in my experience. I've been wanting to write about it since celebrations started in full at the beginning of December, but somehow have only managed to get around to it now that I am back stateside for Christmas with my family. In Germany there is no Halloween or Thanksgiving to hold back the flood of Christmas products in stores. These items started popping up right after I arrived in Germany in September. I tried to keep my eyes down and ignore them, determined not to be sick of Christmas before December rolled around. In grocery stores there appeared whole islands, 50 square meters large at least, dedicated to Christmas candies, cookies, and cakes. There was every imaginable kind of advent calender, by everyone from Kinder to Europe's poshest chocolatiers.

I needn't have worried about Christmas cheer being spoiled by premature product pushing though, because Germany's Christmas markets produce enough genuine cheer to overcome it all. The celebration begins on the First Advent, the first Sunday in December. Cozy little huts with food, mulled wine (Glühwein), and handmade gifts pop up on every Platz and free space in the city. Marion (the woman who gave me a place to stay in my first weeks in Berlin, and who has become a dear friend) took me to the best markets around. I contemplated bringing my camera, but saw that the battery was nearly dead, and decided it wasn't worth it. A bad decision, which I did not repeat on subsequent market trips. The first market we went to was quite beautiful and not nearly as kitschy as some in touristy parts of Berlin. It was at a farm here in town. It was pretty amazing to see a farm surrounded by the city, but of course it was quite necessary before the fall of the wall, since West Berlin had difficult access to fresh food as the surrounding agricultural countryside was off limits to them.

The second place we went to was a dirt cheap second-had market. There I found a few really fantastic things, which were particularly special because of their uncertain origins. I was feeling a little more clear headed as we went to the third market, which was clearly in a very nice area (as was the first). Large villas surrounded the church. The market was populated with cheerful, well dressed people, the booths filled with expensive artisan wares and charity organizations promoting their causes. I started watching the people and saw so many fascinating things going on all around. There was a beautiful young woman with doe eyes, working a booth for a group to prevent violence against foreign women. She was selling little lottery tickets for the items on the table. She held up her little basket, with red tickets up to an older man, looking up at him with bright enticing eyes. Beautiful. I started seeing things like this everywhere and hated that I did not have my camera.

Finally at the last place we went, a shiny black case caught my eye. In it was a pristine Super 8 movie camera, complete with all the accessories and papers, even the receipt, which showed that it was purchased at an Airport in Nakaku, Yokohama, Japan by one Martha Damröse of Berlin on the 12th of April, 1970. It was perfect and I walked away with it for 5 euros. My mind is busy working on ideas far more concrete than any I've had in a long time. My mind is quite occupied by new ways to tell a story with different sorts of images. Now I just need to search out the story I want to tell.