Christmas has always been a special occasion for my family and I. It is a time where everyone gathers to spread our love and show appreciation for one another as well as a time to relay our family’s folklore and traditions. As a child, my Great Grandmother Sara, would tell my siblings and I stories of an angelic child with locks and wings that shined gold. This figure would bring Geschenke (presents) to children who were good of heart, but only did so if we went to bed accordingly and didn’t try to see the small angelic figure. If we did try, the Christkind would not come and we would have to wait until next year. My parents also explained the figure St. Nicholas to us. They told us that both the Christkind and Santa Claus worked together in order to spread the joy of Christmas. They explained that Santa Claus took care of most of the children in North America while the Christkind took care of most of the children in Europe. Though there is much controversy in Europe regarding Santa Claus and the Christkind (they are actually opposing figures in Europe) my family incorporated both the American and German culture into one in order for us to have a sense of where we came from and where we live to this day.
That is very interesting! As a child born and raised in the United States, I was curious about what parents from other countries told their children. I have heard of different Santa like figures, but have not heard of stories told in which both figures work together to spread cheer. Did any of your friends have similar traditions regarding both figures?
Your family using the American culture and still sticking with your German culture to teach you the meaning behind Christmas is amazing. As for me, Christmas was just another day where we just killed the biggest chicken in the house and drank soda. We didn’t get anyone to give us the detailed information of Christmas but rather, all we knew was Christ was born on that day till date.
I also grew up in a similar situation. My mother was Afro-Cuban and my father is Nigerian, they both come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. While my mother grew up celebrating Christmas as a Catholic, my father grew up celebrating Christmas as a Christian. The result was very similar to your experience because as children we ended up celebrating with a little bit of both cultures and religious rituals for certain holidays. I think it is great that your parents made it a point to use cultural integration to maintain both cultures.
My family is also of German descent but they do not incorporate many aspects of the culture into our lives. Similarly to the angelic child that your family uses, my parents would bring out an ‘Elf on the Shelf’ that me and my sister would behave for. Every night our elf would “come alive” and move around the house. As a child, thinking the elf was actually moving and watching me was good motivation to behave. We also had to go to sleep at a reasonable time and not touch our elf or it would lose its powers and not be able to move and return to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve to report our behavior to him and help collect our presents.