Erfurt’s Christmas market

A couple of weeks ago, I experienced my first Christmas market in Erfurt, Germany also known as Weihnachtsmarkt. In other regions such as south Germany, it’s called a Christkindlesmarkt. These markets supposedly originated in the middle ages. It’s a very beautiful sight scattered all around the city center. There are two epicenters.

One is situated at a place called the Domplatz (Cathedral Square) at the foot of the magnificent Erfurt Dom also known as St. Mary’s Cathedral, Mariendom or Domberg St Marien. That’s what I have captured in the feature picture of this blog. The picture is taken from the stairs of the Cathedral where I am blessed to have some of my lectures.

The Christmas market is filled with decorated open air stalls and the atmosphere is filled with sweet smelling aroma of sweets and burning spices. Some of these stalls sell foods, Christmas cookies and nuts. Others sell Christmas arts and crafts. Some sell warm woolen socks and clothing. Personally I bought a Bratwurst. It was about a half meter long and delicious. Another interesting phenomenon for me was something called Glühwein. This is wine (usually red) mixed with spices and served hot or warm. It is also known as mulled wine. I guess it is supposed to help keep the body warm in winter. One more feature of the Christmas market is the Christmas pyramid also known as Weihnachtspyramide in German. It’s a Christmas decorative piece which also has its roots in German traditions of the middle ages. It’s made of different Stacks upon stacks filled with Christian and traditional German pictures and sculptures. Some say it’s a predecessor of the Christmas tree hence its pyramidal form. The ones I have seen are lit up with lights and have a fan/propeller at the pinnacle of the pyramid. The heat from the lights/candles propels the fan. According to a friend, in olden times when German miners came out of their mine tunnels in the evening where they had been mining all day, these pyramids gave light to them to help them find their way.

Of course it would not have been a Christmas market without a ferris wheel and Christmas trees full of lights. Simply put it’s truly a festive atmosphere.

The other Christmas market in Erfurt is situated behind Erfurt’s famous Kramer Bridge. It’s purportedly the oldest, longest inhabited bridge in Europe. This Christmas market has a different character from the one at Domplatz. It has more of a middle aged feel to it. Even the vendors dress in middle aged clothing and there are old German songs performed live by musicians dressed in traditional old German garb from the Middle Ages. The food is even prepared in the old ways with ancients tools. It’s pretty interesting.

Scattered across the city center are many little decorated open air stalls like the ones at the two big markets selling similar festive products.

The only down side is the abundance of traffic that the Erfurt Christmas market draws. There are soooo many tourists that it is said that all the hotel rooms in town are booked weeks in advance. In the evenings and especially on weekend’s people pack the city center streets like sardines. But this is not necessarily negative because it generated revenue for the city.

All in all this has been quite an interesting experience for me—totally new but much welcomed and appreciated.