German Christmas markets!

They're one of my favorite things about Christmas here - the lights, people coming together, The Glühwein!

So today I'm interested in to show you how to make the most of them and why they're so integral to German Christmas culture.

Almost every city in Germany has at least one Christmas market.

There are more than 2500 in total.

They typically open on the first weekend of Advent - some even a little bit earlier.

And they're a crucial part of the German Christmas season.

Alright, let's jump straight in.

First of all, most Christmas markets are completely free, although some have a small charge.

There are loads of stalls where you can buy candles and handmade crafts and basically do all of your Christmas shopping.

There are also lots of traditional German food stalls with sweet and savory treats on offer.

Classics are kale, these mushrooms, or the classic Bratwurst - no German event is complete without Wurst.

And my personal favorite: sugar toasted almonds.

So good!

And of course there is Glühwein galore - that's mulled wine: hot wine infused with spices and fruit.

And to be honest, that's the main thing when you're meeting friends.

But there are, of course, alternatives like hot chocolate or punch.

But my most important tip for you is to dress warm.

I'm talking layers, thermals, warm gloves, a cozy hat, and an even warmer jacket because trust me, it gets cold standing around even with a Glühwein.

In case you get overwhelmed, here are some basic German words and phrases to help you navigate the Christmas markets.

‘Mit Schuss - with a shot.

This is important if you want a little extra something in your Glühwein like rum or amaretto.

‘Pfand - this is like a deposit for your mug.

‘Bude or ‘Stand - these are the stalls.

If you want to know where the closest glühwein install is, ask for the ‘Glühwein-Bude.

Dresden is particularly famous for its Stollen.

And someone heavily involved in that tradition is the official Dresden Stollen Girl and that's who we're going to meet now.

How are these Striezelmarkt and the Stollen connected?

Striezel is just another word for the Stollen.

So the Striezelmarkt is very connected to the Dresden Stollen It began as a normal bread, but was turned into a special pastry in the year 1491.

Nowadays there are about 100 bakeries producing it every year, each using their own secret recipe with secret spices and ingredients.

It's really a Dresden original.

So stollen is really a big deal here.

Like Dresden, many markets are famous for their specialties.

Nuremberg, for example, has its own famous gingerbread.

The main ones keep things pretty traditional, like this one.

Now we're meeting a man whose life basically revolves around the Christmas market.

He's worked here for decades and knows it like the back of his hand.

I've been doing this for 40 years - creating these figures.

So what's the best thing about working here at the Christmas market?

There's a special flair at the Christmas markets because you get to meet the customers.

Americans are very interested in our nutcrackers because they're familiar with this timeless design.

So we often talk about that, and I have a bit of fun by telling them not to stick their fingers in here.

It's just fun to work here at the Striezelmarkt.

German Christmas markets are known all over the world.

Why do you think that is?

Because it's not just about selling.

We really put our heart and soul into this.

It's our tradition and way of life here.

It's something special.

Of course, we work a lot leading up to Christmas, so when we wrap up at 2 p.m.

on Christmas Eve, we're happy to be back home with the family to celebrate.

Well, there you have it.

Christmas markets in Germany.

Aren't they just magical?

For me, they really get me in the festive spirit, especially when the evenings are cold and dark.

Wouldn't you agree?

This is Michael Müller, an average German, and we're following him to see how German people do things.

It's Christmas time in Germany and we want to know what an average German Christmas looks like.

How does Michael celebrate?

What does he eat?

And who's going to end up fighting?

Let's find out.

Unlike the Brits and Americans, for the Germans, the main Christmas celebration is on December 24th, "Heiligabend".

And although it's not officially a public holiday, only 20% of Germans will go to work today.

Like 81% of Germans, Michael is at least partly looking forward to Christmas and staying true to their organized selves, almost half of Germans start their Christmas shopping in November or even earlier.

Only 1% of Germans start to shop for gifts on Christmas Eve.

Like Tommy, for example.

Most Germans celebrate Heiligabend with close family members.

And today Michael is going to his sister's house.

This is Michaels sister, Steffi.

His father Georg.

His mother Monika and, Steffi's children, Emma and Sophia.

81% of Germans, regardless of religion, celebrate Christmas.

And despite over half of Germans identifying as Christian, only 1 in 4 go to church service at Christmas.

And in recent years there have been fewer and fewer Christmas trees are important to Germans.

In 2020, there were 25 million trees in German living rooms.

Real Christmas trees are generally preferred, but plastic trees are becoming more popular, especially amongst young people.

Between 3 and 4 pm, Germans enjoy sweet treats and coffee.

Presumably, all the caffeine and sugar calms them down after a hectic morning.

Classic German sweets include stollen, a fruit bread made with raisins and Plätzchen, self-made cookies.

There are also “marzipan potatoes” and Lebkuchen aka gingerbread.

Steffis Plätzchen are a little dry.

Germans pride themselves on their honesty, so normally Michael would tell her.

But as it's Christmas, he refrains.

The top plan on Christmas Eve is gift giving, or "Bescherung" in German.

And this is usually done before dinner to prevent the kids from becoming too annoying.

In Germany, gifts are brought by either the Christkind or Santa Claus.

No way!

It's Santa's definitely not grandpa.

It's conventional that a family member dresses up as Santa.

But in Germany, kids don't just get their gifts... [singing Silent Night in German] Kids have to earn their gifts.

This year, the average German plans to spend 507.10 on Christmas presents, with the most popular gifts being vouchers and money.

41% of German say that socks are their least favorite gift.

But contrary to what you might expect, Germans are not likely to admit that they're disappointed in a gift.

For Germans, Christmas Eve dinner is a humble affair, with a more lavish meal being served the next day on the 25th.

In old Christian tradition, Lent began on Saint Martins Day on November 11th and ended on December 24th.

Which is why, traditionally, a simple dish is served on Christmas Eve, the most popular being potato salad and sausages.

Most Germans say that the sense of harmony is important over Christmas... However, only 1 in 3 Germans say they can truly relax over the festive period.

But just an hour later, all seems to be forgiven.

And that's because half of Germans believe that Christmas is a festival of love.

And with that, we close the chapter on yet another average German Christmas.

But is it just us, or does Michael look a little lonely?

Perhaps he's looking for love.

As always, like and subscribe for Average German.

Cinnamon stars, vanilla crescents and more: these cookies help get palates well primed for the holiday season.

Susi Carreira and Katja Stieber run a baking blog They're experts on Christmas baking recipes.

Welcome to our Christmas bakery.

We'll show you how we bake Christmas cookies in Germany.

Butter cookies are one of the favorites.

Instead of white sugar, Katja Stieber uses 100g of powdered sugar.

The sugar spreads much better through the dough when it's powdered, and you don't end up with these sugar crystals all over the dough.

You'll need 125g of cubed butter, a beaten egg, 260g of flour, a pinch of salt, powdered sugar and, for flavoring, half a vanilla pod, not vanilla-sugar.

At first, it's very, very crumbly.

But a little kneading turns it bit by bit into a nice smooth dough.

The finished dough goes into the fridge for one hour.

Now it's time to cut out the cookie shapes.

The dough should be rolled out to about four millimeters thick.

Cutting out the cookies is fun for one and all.

Especially when done together with others.

We get together with friends and do our baking with them.

We take along the kids and it's lots of fun.

Cookie cutters are found in all shapes and sizes.

These, for example, are terrific because they're so spread out and don't have any fragile edges.

With a cat, it's a little harder.

Then you have to use a spoon or some little tool to press out the tail to get the dough off.

The cookies are baked in the oven for ten minutes at 180°C.

Then comes the best part: the decorating.

The icing is made of powdered sugar, lemon juice, and food coloring.

The beautiful tree green for more elaborate decorating, colored sprinkles and a white frosting can be used.

Baking for the Christmas season is a tradition in many European countries.

Norway and Sweden have their ever popular gingerbread.

Austria has its shortbread cookies filled with jelly.

Czechia is known for its wasp nests, made with ladyfingers.

An in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Spekulatius spice cookies are essential holiday treats.

Berlin blogger Susanne Veth knows how this tradition got started.

They were baking cookies even back in the Middle Ages.

The monks did that in the monasteries to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.

It was also a sign of wealth - the monasteries had lots of money, so the monks baked and handed the goods out to the poor.

Back then, rare spices like ginger, cardamom, allspice and cloves filled the air with the familiar Christmassy aromas.

For a long time, they were luxuries in Europe and only used for holidays.

It's important for them to be fresh and not already ground or taken from some drawer where they were stored for half a year, because their aroma fades very quickly.

Anyone who enjoys baking can whip up an enormous variety of cookies during the Christmas season.

It's also the custom to give them as gifts, and everyone's glad to get them.

Every kind needs to be sampled at least once.

So a plate full of Christmas cookies always seems to disappear in no time.

Snow-white in its blanket of finest powdered sugar and chock full of all kinds of candied fruits.

The Dresden Christmas stollen, with its riot of flavors and buttery taste, is one of the world's favorite holiday goodies.

Every year, Dresden appoints someone new to make sure it stays that way - a critical post.

I'm Lisa Zink, I'm this year's stollen girl, the 27th, and I'm training to become a baker.

I bake stollen myself too, but I'll show you that later.

First, she'll take us on a little journey into the past.

Master Baker Michael Wippler knows many stories and anecdotes about the Dresden Christmas stollen.

He has no problem passing them on to the stollen girl.

The Christmas stollen symbolizes the swaddled Christ child.

And of course, a newborn has to be handled gently with lots of love.

And every baker of stollen does just that.

For them, every stollen has its own little character.

There's no other food so rich in symbolism.

Christmas itself is simply baked into the Dresden Christmas stollen.

But enough history.

Stollen girl Liza Zink takes us along in the Hentschel confectioneries bake house.

This is where she's getting her training.

Did you press Tara first?

Did you pay attention?

Lisa Zink is in her second year of training and has her hands full.

During the holiday season, all the bakeries are churning out goods at full tilt.

That goes especially for the Dresden stollen bakeries.

Now the flours in, next, I crumble a bit of yeast into it.

We put some water on it so it'll work faster and then some sugar.

The sugar's function is to get the yeast to rise faster.

This year, the Hentschel confectionery is authorized to market their stollen as original Dresde Christmas stollen.

Their family recipe follows the strict specifications of Dresdens Stollen Association.

There are minimum proportions that have to go into them, but you can go ahead and add more butter and raisins, for instance.

Everyone can change it their own way.

Everyone has their own secret recipe or family recipe, and the customers like that.

They seek out the baker who makes it the way they like it best.

The doughs primary ingredients are wheat flour under healthy portion of butter.

Then it's flavored with orange and lemon zest mixed into a paste of candied lemon peel and nutmeg-flower spice.

And then it's time for the kneading.

The biggest mistake is to add in the raisins at the start, for example.

They'll be torn apart by the kneading, so that turns the dough brown.

So it's very important that the raisins be folded in at the very end when the doughs been kneaded.

After letting the dough sit for half an hour, Lisa Zink weighs out 4 pounds for each loaf.

She and Andreas Kröber roll them into loaves.

With a little practice, they easily turn out perfect.

A cut down the middle gives them their final shape.

Then we put them into the oven to bake at 220 degrees for about an hour.

Once the stollen have cooled, Andreas Kröber rubs off any slightly burnt raisins on the top.

Then he glazes the loaf with a layer of butter.

On top of that, comes a generous coating of powdered sugar.

Lisa Zink Sprinkles on the finishing touches.

And here it is, in all its glory: the Dresden Christmas stollen.

Incense smokers, nutcrackers and Christmas arches act as ambassadors for the small German village of Seiffen, nestled in the Ore Mountains and known worldwide for its toys.

Since he was a child, Pastor Michael Harzer has witnessed how the crafted woodwork pieces from Seiffen make it feel like Christmas, year after year, here in the Ore mountains, we live in an area where some days in November are very foggy.

It can really put a damper on your mood, and you can hardly wait to finally set up the pretty Christmas arches and pyramids that shine bright in the darkness.

In Seiffen, Christmas decorations aren't just set up, they're made here too.

There are over 120 producers of woodwork in this little eastern German village, and one of them is the Neuber family.

Christian Neuber is the sixth generation to craft wooden pieces.

For him, theyre a way of life.

I think people get more than just a Christmas arch or a pyramid out of it.

They're taking with them the spirit of the Ore Mountains.

In that way, I believe we're contributing a great deal to people's well-being.

Toys have been produced in Seiffen since the mid 18th century, and to this day great craftsmanship and attention to detail goes into them.

In the Neuber family's workshop, ten employees seem to make the wood come to life.

Reoccurring motifs are, of course, angels, but also miners like these figurines and their mine lamps.

This is no coincidence.

For centuries, Seiffen was a tin mining town.

In fact, mining played a key role in the Ore Mountains until the mid 19th century, and the Christmas arch also reflects this past.

When a miner had his last shift and came out of the main engines into the daylight, he set down his mine lamp on the arch of the entryway.

And that's where the modern Christmas arch comes from.

The idea is that the miners were happy to put aside their dangerous work and celebrate Christmas.

One of the most popular motifs in these local woodwork pieces is the church of Seiffen.

In the meantime, it enjoys worldwide fame, making it a tourist magnet for visitors from dozens of countries each year.

Hints of the region's mining tradition can be seen everywhere, including in the Christmas pyramid.

There may be a connection to the horse capstans.

Larger mines also had horses that operated a kind of elevator.

They trotted around in circles and pulled up the transport basket or the water from the mine.

That may be where the idea for the pyramid came from.

Even though Christian Neuber works with the Christmas theme all year round, only after he lights the candles on the pyramid, does Christmas begin for him too.

For us, this is the most wonderful time of year, I really must say.

And Christmas is really a time to find peace and a moment of introspection.

And it's about recharging your batteries again for next year.

Then, just like every year, the lights from the toymaker village of Seiffen will shine all over the world.

They're the classic Christmas tree ornaments, the baubles from Lauscha in central Germany.

Here, they're still traditionally hand-blown.

In the run up to Christmas, the ornaments can be found on every corner in this little town.

One ornament is prettier than the next.

It really warms your heart.

Traditional or original, they have all been made by hand for about 170 years.

The legend tells of a poor glassblower who didn't have any apples or nuts.

In those days, that's what they decorated the tree with.

But he didn't have any money for them, so he reproduced them in glass.

Allegedly invented here in 1847, the delicate Christmas tree decorations became a hot export item shipped as far away as the United States.

Lauscha is still home to glassblowers who spend the whole year making nothing but Christmas tree ornaments.

They're always artistic, sometimes rather kitschy, but certainly not mass produced.

From Lauscha we head to London.

The famous Harrods department store carries everything for a traditional British Christmas.

Including, of course, the famous Christmas stockings.

Theyre hung on the mantelpiece, waiting for Santa to fill them.

The most exclusive ones cost more than 500.

The colors and designs are unlimited.

Even though I'm not young anymore, we still love to fill up stockings for each member of my family because it's like a nice surprise and a nice thing for Christmas Day.

If you're a kid, you can open up a stocking and you can get anything from a present to some sweets.

Moving on north to Stockholm.

Sweden and other Nordic countries have a tradition all their own.

At Christmas, Swedes put out their ‘Julbocks, billy goats woven from straw.

They used to represent the recurring fertility of the earth.

The Julbock has a tradition from from the Christmas play, where people go around villages and ask for money, and one is dressed in a goat mask.

The Julbock is an essential part of a Swedish Christmas for people of all ages.

Greccio, a tiny town in Italy, reminds us that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.

This is where the nativity scene is said to have originated.

In 1223, Francis of Assisi is said to have started the tradition in this grotto.

Greccio has been considered the Nativity town of Italy ever since.

A museum here displays representations of Christ's birth from all over the world.

The nativity scenes are all wonderful, especially this Alaskan one.

The birth of Jesus has to do with family.

For us, it's a special aspect of religion.

Back in Germany, in the mountains of Saxony, Seiffen celebrates Christmas all the year round.

The wooden handicrafts on display here are the creations of the local woodworkers.

The small town is home to over 120 woodworking shops.

And since the mid-18th century they've been carving Christmas decorations, also with images from earlier mining days.

The figures embody stories from the region, just as the Christmas arches do.

Visitors aren't just taking a Christmas arch or pyramid back home with them.

I'd say they're taking a piece of the Ore Mountains with them.

So I think we really help spread good cheer here.

The carvings from Seiffen are world famous today, as a highlight for festive Christmas decorations.