- originally posted on my old blog in 2018
If you aren’t familiar with Christmas Markets, they are quite popular in Europe. There is a nice little documentary on Amazon about Christmas Markets called The Seasoned Traveler Christmas Markets if you are interested. One of the most famous is the Christkindlemarkt in Nuremberg, Germany. Christkind means Christ child, for those interested. The Christkind is the German gift giver, sort of like our Santa Claus. the Christkind is not as you would expect a baby Jesus. A baby can’t possibly give gifts so in his stead is a beautiful angel with long curly blond hair and golden wings. This particular market dates back to the 1600s, but there are several others throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. Unfortunately, they are not very common in the United States. The only one I’ve ever heard of in my state is the small market included in Enchant ( advertised as a light maze and Christmas market, but the maze is the much bigger attraction).
I went to Enchant this year and experienced my very first Christmas market. Sadly, the market is much smaller than the Christmas Markets in Europe. There were only twenty stalls or so and only one of them catered to Christmas merchandise. There were, however, some homemade goods like the Christmas markets in Europe and there were nice holiday treats to eat, like cinnamon nuts, hot chocolate, and desserts like cookies and chocolate candies. One of the homemade items sold was blown glass Christmas ornaments. They were absolutely beautiful and the highlight of my Christmas Market experience. I ended up buying three ornaments; two for myself and one as a gift.
I have to admit after learning about European markets, the market in Enchant was a big disappointment, but I did enjoy the light maze. One day I will go to a Christmas market. I’m particularly interested in the Christkindlemarkt in Nuremberg, Germany, and the one in Salzburg, Austria. But until I am able to go to one of those, I will have to make do with the markets here at home.