The week ahead: December 23-29
A look at what’s coming up on the East Coast and around the world. This week, that includes the release of steel consumption numbers, a fuel strike in India and Christmas shopping in Germany.
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- People visit Germany’s oldest Christkindlesmarkt (Christ Child Market) on its opening day in Nuremberg November 29, 2013. The first official record of this pre-Christmas market dates back to 1628. A list of notices for stall holders from 1737 shows that almost all of Nuremberg’s craftsmen were represented. Every year, Germany’s traditional markets, such as the centuries-old Christkindlesmarkt in medieval Nuremberg, draw millions of visitors, both local and foreign. They open before the first Sunday of Advent and usually continue until December 24 at 12 noon. (REUTERS/Michaela Rehle)
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- A student collects leaves at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School in Sitong town, Henan province December 3, 2013. In a remote part of central China, the day starts at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School with a pre-dawn jog, some revolutionary songs and then an activity long since forgotten at other schools: reciting quotations from Mao Zedong’s famed ‘Little Red Book’. While the ruling Communist Party that Mao led continues to hold him in esteem as the leader of the Communist Revolution, his radical policies and teachings have been largely shelved since his death in 1976 in favour of a pro-market approach that has turned China from a backwater into the world’s second biggest economy. The 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth is on December 26, 2013. Picture taken December 3, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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- Fueling station workers across India last week planned a one-day strike for December 24, according to the Times of India. The strike is meant to highlight fuel dealers’ concerns about margins on diesel fuel. (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty)
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- LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 03: Fans hold signs as they wait for Britney Spears to arrive at a welcome ceremony as she celebrates the release of her new album “Britney Jean” and prepares for her two-year residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Spears’ show “Britney: Piece of Me” will debut at the resort on December 27. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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- People who choose their insurance plan on the exchanges set up under the national healthcare reform law by December 23 will have until January 10 to pay and still receive coverage as of January 1, the nation’s biggest group of insurers said on Wednesday. (AFP/Getty file photo by Karen Bleier)
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- A piece of wood mailed to Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Chairman from 1979 to 1987, as part of a protest by building contractors and carpenters who claimed their lumber was unneded since no one was buying houses due to high interest rates at the time, sits on display in the exhibition “The Fed at 100” at the Museum of American Finance December 17, 2013 in New York. The exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve System on Monday. The Fed was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907. Over time, the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System have expanded and its structure has evolved. Events such as the Great Depression were major factors leading to changes in the system. The approval process for new leader Janet Yellen was pushed last week into January. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
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- German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere poses next to a model of the ‘EuroHawk’ unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during his visit to the Joint Support Service base in Grafschaft near the western German city of Bonn in this July 12, 2011 file picture. After many false starts, Europe looks ready to back plans for a drone development programme aimed at cutting its reliance on U.S. and Israeli rivals and bolstering its position in the industry. European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on December 28 and 29, 2013 will throw their weight behind a drive to build a next-generation European surveillance drone by 2020 to 2025, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters. (REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Files)
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- Comet ISON will reach its closest approach to earth December 26th. Sky-watchers have been paying attention to the comet since November. (Photo: NASA, via Reuters)
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- Prince Carl Philip (L-R), Prince Daniel, King Carl Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia pose during a reception in connection with Queen Silvia’s 70th birthday at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, December 18, 2013. Queen Silvia’s birthday is celebrated on December 23. REUTERS/Janerik Henriksson/TT News Agency
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- The interior of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA factory in Calvert, Alabama, is pictured in this undated handout photo. The federal government on Friday will release a preliminary report on steel consumption. (REUTERS/ThyssenKrupp)
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- Cast member Meryl Streep waves at the premiere of “August: Osage County” in Los Angeles, California December 16, 2013. The movie opens in the U.S. on December 25. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
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- New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will get a shot at the Baltimore Ravens December 22. Read the Baltimore Sun scouting report here. (Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)
By Rick Steves
Cradling a cup of hot-spiced wine as a hand warmer, I stroll through Nurnberg’s main square. All around me are bundled-up shoppers and kids sampling fresh gingerbread, riding the carousel, listening to roving brass quintets, and marveling at the newest toys.
I’m standing in Germany’s largest Christmas market — 200 wooden stalls crammed with local artisans dealing in all things Christmas. With all these goodies, it’s no wonder that Nurnberg’s Christkindlesmarkt attracts more than 2 million people annually.
A traditional center for toy-making in Germany, Nurnberg has long prided itself on the quality of its market. With no canned music, fake greenery, plastic kitsch, or war toys, it feels classier than your average crafts fair. As far back as 1610, a proclamation warned that “indecent joke articles would be confiscated.” The merchants’ stalls are old-style wood huts with traditional ambience, and each year the most beautiful stall is awarded the prestigious “Prune Man” trophy, a homemade figurine made of fruit.
Germany’s holiday markets are a Christmasy fantasy of tiny figurines — and this market offers some of the best. Nutcrackers, strong-jawed to crack even the toughest nuts, are usually authority figures like soldiers, policemen, and constables. “Smokers,” which are small carvings of woodworkers, loggers, postmen, and other common folk, send out fragrant incense from their tiny smoke-ring-blowing mouths.
Many of these classic wooden figurines originated in the highly forested region of Saxony in eastern Germany. When the iron ore and silver mines went out of business back in the 15th century, Saxon miners became woodworkers.
A popular Nurnberg decoration is the candle chime. A multi-tiered wooden stand holds candles, which heat a pinwheel on top, causing it to spin. Each level of the stand features a different carved scene — a Nativity, forest critters, nutcrackers, or miners at work. It’s said these chimes were especially popular in mining communities because of the miners’ hunger for, and appreciation of, light.
The golden Rausch Angel hovering above the market is an icon of Christmas in Nurnberg. The name is a bit of German onomatopoeia — “rausch” is the sound of wind blowing through the angel’s gold foil wings. For locals, there’s no better way to cap their home’s Christmas tree than with a miniature version of this angel.
After the sun sets, Nurnberg’s Christkindlesmarkt delights as shoppers enjoy some old-time fast food. Spicy smoke billows from stalls selling the famous Nurnberg bratwurst, skinny as your little finger. Stick three of them on a crunchy fresh roll and then add a generous squirt of spicy mustard.
At the next stall, wrap your mittens around a mug of hot-spiced wine. A disposable paper or plastic cup would ruin the experience, so you must pay a deposit for a nicely decorated ceramic one. Either return the mug or keep it as a collectible, since each year there’s a different model.
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