Due to my spending time studying for today’s German test, this post about the Tübingen Christmas Market didn’t get finished yesterday. But my studying paid off: I’m happy to report that I got an “A” on the exam and for the course overall. Whoohoo! So, I think it’s official that I really do know some German now. All it took was 12 weeks of having a 3-hour class, plus an hour or two of homework everyday. Piece of cake. 😉  I’m now finished with the first “A” level of German … after New Year’s, it’s on to the start of the “B” level classes. 

Just think, it was only a few months ago that I barely knew any German at all – I used to joke that I probably knew about 30 words at most, 10 of them the numbers from 1-10. However, one of the other words I did know before we moved to Tübingen was Weihnachtsmarkt, the German word for Christmas market. It was a word I’d seen frequently in Bolzano, since Bolzano has quite a famous Weihnachtsmarkt every year.  Bolzano’s Christmas market is actually quite popular with Italian tourists from all over Italy, who typically flock to Bolzano (and other nearby towns) to go to the Weihnachtsmarkts in the South Tyrol region. While other Italian towns have different kinds of December markets, and even other Christmas markets, the  Weihnachtsmarkt is a tradition originating in the German-speaking regions.

And, during the 3 years we lived in Bolzano, I became quite familiar with idea of a Weihnachtsmarkt.  Although these kinds of markets historically were very home-grown affairs, with lots of handmade crafts for sale, many of them, and the one in Bolzano in particular, have turned into more commercial ventures over the years. There are rather cookie-cutter stalls set up in these markets, one the same as the next, with few, if any, handmade wares on offer. Interesting to see as an event, perhaps, but not all that exciting overall, particularly when you see it year after year.

However, the Christmas market here in Tübingen must be more like what they all would have been like years ago. Last weekend for the Weihnachtsmarkt here there were 700(!) small and very individual stalls set up throughout the streets in the old city center. Most of the stalls either had handcrafted items for sale, and/or typical market foods on offer. What was fun was that these stalls were, by in large, manned by “average folks” who were part of clubs or groups that were raising money for their club or group, and/or the artistans who actually made the crafts. Someone explained to me that the reason that the Tübingen Weihnachtsmarkt only lasts for 2.5 days is because all these folks have “day jobs,” so they really cannot afford to run the festival for more than one weekend. That’s unlike the more commercial markets, where professional vendors sell the wares, so those markets can run for weeks at a time (the Bolzano one, for example, goes for 4 weeks).

Not that there’s anything wrong with having professional vendors, of course. However, the whole atmosphere of the Tübingen Weihnachtsmarkt was completely different from the one in Bolzano. It really reminded me of an old-fashioned hometown crafts fair. There weren’t a lot of tourists, and it seemed like almost everybody knew everybody. People filled the streets just having a good time browsing, drinking some mulled wine, have a bratwurst-type sandwiches, and just generally enjoying strolling through town and getting into a little bit of the Christmas spirit.

What also added to the family atmosphere was the number of children, ages perhaps 10-15, who performed, either solo or in pairs, and played Christmas carols for the crowds. Not all the kids  were great musicians, mind you, but I really thought it added to the hometown feel of the festival.

In the previous posts this week, I capture a bit of the “flavor” and the “motion” of the market. Below I’ve included some photos that try to capture the general feel of the market. It will give you a sense of what it looked like. However,  I have to say I found it an interesting challenge to be photographing something that was not “spectacular” to look at. It was certainly a lot of fun to wander through, though.

BTW, due to changes in the software that I’m using for this blog, when you click on any one photo below, it will put you into what’s called a “carousel” slideshow. Hopefully you won’t find this carousel too crazy, though.