Christmas in Germany IS NOT What I Expected! 🇩🇪

We celebrated our first Christmas in Germany in 2018 (went to our first German Christmas market in Nuremberg and had our first glass of glühwein, aka, mulled wine!) and then after moving to Germany in 2019, this now makes it our 5th Christmas season in Germany! Even after living in Germany for all that time and all those German Christmas seasons, there are STILL German Christmas traditions that just DON'T make sense to us 😅 So, from visiting a christmas market and other random christmas traditions, what culture shock has been the greatest for us?? I hope you enjoy this take on German Christmas vs American Christmas and what makes them so unique 😊

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INSTAGRAM: @passport_two

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❤️Aubrey was a Speech-Language Pathologist and Donnie was a graphic designer, but we both had a dream to #travel the world and experience cultures. After three years of being married and dreaming about if something like this great adventure would be possible, we decided to quit the rat race and take on the world. We sold everything we had, quit our jobs, and took off! After 9 months of aimless and nonstop travel, we now get to fulfill our dreams of #LivingAbroad as #expats as we move to #Germany!

00:00 - Frohe Weihnachten!
1:28 - It's Time For A Christmas Rhyme
2:33 - Tradition 1 & 2
5:13 - Tradition 3
8:59 - Tradition 4
10:52 - Tradition 5
14:35 - Tradition 6
17:10 - Bloopers

[PassportTwo]

So what is your favorite Christmas movie??

Thanks so much for watching, guys! This will be our last video for the year, but thank you so much for your amazing support through 2022 😊 I can’t do what I do without you guys, so I really mean it when I say thanks for watching! 😃 Have a great holiday season and start to your new year!! 🤩

[ollyo]

When i was a kid we used the outside boots, and i have to Clean them the evenning before.

[tigeriussvarne]

It's not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall from Nakatomi tower.

[thorstenkoethe]

I´m born, raised, and still live in North Germany and the first time I heard about "Krampus" was in the animated sitcom "American Dad".
So it´s a tradition only present in South Germany, I believe.

[jessicab.]

When I was a child I had to clean my boots on the 5th of december very good in order to get sweets in them.

[UnterEngelsfluegeln]

You should definitely make a video about "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel". The story of the movie is not the important part, but how it came together (its a German-Czech Co production) and how it became one of the most viewed "christmas" movies

[holgerlinke]

I live in Germany and have never seen a Christmas circus. Not even a commercial.

[ESCLuciaSlovakia]

Hi Donnie. In Slovakia, we have the same Saint Nicolaus tradition as Germany on December 6th. In our case, we put out normal, winter shoes (boots) on the window or close to the door, we don't have any special shoes for this. Usually we put them on and go to work/school in them on the same morning. People have been doing it for decades or centuries and they didn't have extra shoes just for this.

We put all the sweets and fruits in a little bag or bags and we put the bag either next to the boots (especially if it's big and doesn't fit inside) or inside the boots, but in the upper part of the boot, in the opening, we don't stuck it inside. It doesn't stink there. Some people may put the fruits directly inside the boot, but the fruits we use usually have a skin that we don't eat - banana, orange, mandarin, walnuts etc.

Also, I find it interesting that some Americans don't consider it disgusting to wear their dirty shoes inside and don't mind having their feet inside those "stinky shoes" all day more than necesarry, but having a fruit near them is too much. Just an interesting observation. 😄 Hope you are having a nice day!

[HotelPapa]

On „Elf“ not being popular: Elves are not part of our Cristmas tradition, period. St. Nick does not bring the Presents, so just doesn‘t need an army of helpers.

[AvorNornberg]

Traditional Nikolaus gifts like mandarines/clementines, nuts and candy usually come in a wrapping either naturally or from the factory. But also as child you will put out biggest boot which will be aired out since you don not use it daily.

[ginster]

As for Nikolaus: The kids are supposed to clean their boots on the fifth and set them in front of their door (in some regions also on the windowsill) and then they’ll get filled if they‘re clean, so typically the kids pick their snowboats/ the largest pair they have, hoping they get filled to the brim. I usually got oranges, apples, nuts, a chocolate Santa and a small gift like a toy or later maybe a cheap perfume or something.
Re: The way I learned it ( early 90‘s, northern Germany) Santa: American Divison, wears red, sponsored by Coca Cola. Weihnachtsmann: wears blue, german, makes the presents and decides what you get. Christkind: kind of an angel, brings the presents - although that already had changed by the time my little brother was around, then suddenly the Weihnachtsmannn wore red and suddenly delivered the presents with his sleigh.
Home alone is THE christmas comedy, although a lot also watch Sissi, Drei Nüsse für Aschenbrödel, Lord of the Rings( although that usually in the week of/after christmas) and of course, Die Hard

[MegaJK]

Although I like to watch Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve, our family's favourite by far is Little Lord Fauntleroy, or "Der kleine Lord" in German. Such a sweet and heartwarming movie, such a classic, and with Sir Alec Guinness in one of his best all-time performances!

[Eagle_Owl]

As someone from Southern Germany, I have heard of Krampus before. But geographically, it's a really small region that have the tradition. Knecht Ruprecht is far more common, but he's actually not directly related to Christmas itself, but to Sankt Nikolaus. The holiday for Sankt Nikolaus is (as you know) the 6th of December and he was a real historical person who lived in the region of modern Turkey.

Regarding the shoes: we always just used our house slippers or the food was put in a bag that was in turn put in the shoe (most common were boots).

Regarding to the Christkind: I know no one who associates the Christkind directly to Jesus. It's more like a...kind spirit/angel of Christmas time who blesses children/families? And for most people here, the human form they most associate with an innocent and kind spirit/angel seems to be a blonde young woman? Idk, it's a nice imagery

Regarding the circus: I think circuses do the Christmas circus thing to better get over the winter (financially speaking). Most people I know boycott circuses with animals though. They are not that popular (anymore) afaik. That being said, circus Flic Flac is pretty cool and they don't have animals. But they also have Christmas events. So if you want to see a Christmas circus one day, go check them out :)

[lorenzpatrias]

Wir haben als Kinder einfach die größten Schuhe genommen die wir im Haus finden konnten (also die von unseren Eltern), als Kind hatten wir immer die Hoffnung mehr zu bekommen, wenn der Schuh größer ist.
Da die Süßigkeiten eingepackt sind ist es ja auch kein Problem wenn die Schuhe genutzt sind.

[kiddracoify]

I am surprised that the littel Lord was not on that list.
As for the boots: Usually you would use rainboots a) they are bigger and fit more and b) they are not as often worn as normal shoes. But also kid have to clean their shoes before Nikolaus comes around.

[DominicMeyer]

You forgot the 2 best German Christmas traditions, both more southern (swabian) regional things.
The first is "Christbaum Loben" (Christmas tree praising) during the Christmas days you praise the trees of your neighbors and friends, and then they have to give you one shot of schnapps.
The second one is "heiliger morgen" (holy morning) where men go shopping with his friends on 24th morning to find the final present for the wife and meanwhile do bar hopping.

[schneeroseful]

Am I the only German to have never seen a Christmas Circus Advert?

[sonjaenste]

For us it was the biggest winter boots we had, so more sweets would fit in. Definitely regular shoes, no special Christmas shoes. Great side effect: the amount of candy is regulated by shoe sizes & does not get overwhelming when they're still small.

[a.b.w.h.]

Having strong connections to the US, one day being in Rothenburg ob der Tauber we went to Käthe Wohlfahrt, the biggest Christmas decoration store one can think of with loads of tourists shopping there, and decided to get a pickle to finally meet the expectation. Standing at the cashiers, all customers, that seemed to be German ( by language, appearance, hair-do or what-ever) were asked for their ZIP-code. We, putting down the pickle onto the conveyer belt, were not asked. Someone buying a pickle can't be German😆

[holgernelke]

In our family the Christmas classic movie was always 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' alongside 'It's a wonderful Life'. Later our go to movies became the Austrian movies 'Single Bells' and it's follow up 'Oh Palmenbaum'.