Column from December 3, 2009

Traditional Christmas decorations

at a Weihnachtsmarkt in Germany.

Froehliche Weihnachten

Merry Christmas season to all my readers!

As a special treat for the holidays, Table Scraps is bringing you Christmas traditions from around the world, including recipes, of course.

Each week, from now until Dec. 25, I will be featuring tidbits on how Christmas is celebrated in four different areas of our world. This week, I bring you traditions and a recipe from Germany.

I decided to start with Germany because that’s where many of our own traditions originated.

For example, decorating evergreen trees has always been a part of the German winter solstice tradition and the first “Christmas trees” explicitly decorated and named after the Christian holiday appeared in Strasbourg at the beginning of the 17^th century.

In the 1820s, the first German immigrants decorated Christmas trees in Pennsylvania and, in 1848, the first American newspaper carried a picture of a Christmas tree. The custom spread to almost every home in just a few years.

Celebrating the holiday begins on Dec. 6 – or St. Nicholas Day – in Germany. Children place a shoe or boot by the fireplace. If they have been good, St. Nicholas will fill it with edible goodies.

Germans love to decorate their houses at Christmas. They often have an Adventskranz, a wreath of leaves with four candles. On each Sunday of Advent, another candle is lit.

And most homes have little nativity scenes made of wood.

Father Christmas (Der Weihnachtsmann) brings presents in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve, after people have been to a church meeting. One person in the family will ring a bell and call everyone to come to the room where the gifts have been left under the Christmas tree.

Carols are sung, sparklers are lit and the Christmas story is read. Then, gifts are opened.

A huge meal is prepared because of the tradition that those who do not eat well on Christmas Eve will be haunted by demons during the night.

There is also a banquet on Christmas day featuring a plump roast goose and lots of breads and cookies. This is one of those treats commonly found on tables in Germany on Christmas day.

Lebkuchen (spice bars)

2 cups honey
5-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup grated unblanched almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
3/4 cup mixed candied fruits (orange, lemon and citron peel)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Egg white icing (see recipe below)

Heat honey until thin; do not boil. Mix in all other ingredients, except icing.

Turn onto floured board and knead until smooth, adding a little flour if necessary. Roll with a floured rolling pin to 1/2-inch thickness. Grease and flour a baking sheet and lay rolled dough on it.

Bake in pre-heated 350-degree oven about 20 minutes.

Spread with icing while hot; cool before cutting into rectangles.

Egg white icing

2 egg whites
1-1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Whip egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Add sugar and lemon juice and continue beating until thick and glossy.

Spread on cake or cookies with a spatula.