What Is a Christmas Pickle?
There's more than one story about German blown-glass Christmas pickle ornaments. The most commonly heard story, and the one that is enclosed with pickle ornaments, says that it is a German tradition to hide the pickle deep in the branches of a Christmas tree. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Tradition
-
Christmas tree. The tradition says that the pickle is to be hidden on Christmas Eve. The first child who finds it on Christmas morning will get an extra gift. The first adult who finds it will have good luck for the next year.
Considerations
-
According to The German Way's article on the German Pickle Ornament, the German version of Santa Claus visits in early December rather than Christmas Eve and children usually unwrap their gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. Thus, the popular legend is probably not authentic.
-
A Civil War Story
-
Another legend was told to researcher Rita Mace Walston by a descendant of the soldier John Lower. It says Lower, a German-American Civil War soldier, was starving in a prison camp and begged his guard for a pickle. That pickle gave him the strength to live and when he returned home he started the tradition of hiding the Christmas pickle.
Glass Christmas Ornaments
-
Glass Christmas ornaments. Blown-glass Christmas ornaments, including fruit and nut shapes, have been made in the small German town of Lauscha since 1847 according to The Ornament Shop's article, "Oh What a Lovely Tree: A Social History of Christmas Ornaments."
Ornaments in the United States
-
F.W. Woolworth started importing glass ornaments from Germany around 1880. They became very popular in American Victorian homes.
Fun Fact
-
Dictionary. The German word for the Christmas pickle ornament is Weihnachtsgurke.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit christmas tree image by Lisa Turay from Fotolia.com christmas ornaments image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com closeup of a dictionary image by Simone van den Berg from Fotolia.com
