A winter fairytale

Kalpana Sunder

Imagine a giant four ton cake proudly paraded around a city, presided over by a glamorous maiden and distributed to the people for a small amount contributed to charity…. The Stollen Festival held on the second Sunday in December is the highlight of the annual Christmas market of Dresden in Saxony, Germany.

Dresden’s main Christmas Market called the Striezelmarkt is the grand dame of Christmas markets — the oldest documented one in Germany dating back to 1434. It’s a children’s wonderland with an old-fashioned Ferris wheel, puppet theatre, merry-go-round and a children’s railway along with a cottage where children can take a bakery course. Its name is linked to the most famous cake of the town called the Stollen, which used to be called Striezel before that. This cake made from yeast, water and flour, dried fruits, candied lemon peel, almonds and rum-soaked raisins with oodles of butter and dusted with icing sugar is the culinary highlight of Dresden. Among many of the Dresden Christmas market traditions, there is a 45-foot wooden pyramid with figurines, wooden characters and Nativity scenes that overlook the Striezelmarkt.

Long ago medieval Christmas markets were called St Nicholas markets and sold household items like utensils and gave away gifts to poor children. Often they sold meat as people used to fast in the period before Christmas. Some even say that it was a way of attracting people to church — as most Christmas markets were held in church squares! Today there are many Christmas markets around Dresden — each with its own intimate flavour. 

A walk around the stalls of the Striezelmarkt reveals the Rauchermann or Christmas Smoker — small whimsical figures with an incense stick placed in the bellies, the Dresden Pflaumentoffel — a chimney sweep made from dried prunes, wooden candles arches with Nativity scenes called Schwiboggens, and exquisitely crafted wooden toys.

The old-fashioned creativity goes into every stall and its decorations — homemade jams, scented candles, hand knitted woolen garments,blown-glass birds with none of the cookie cutter, assembly-line production of today. Gargantuan racks of colourful candles in rainbow colors, delicate hand-blown glass baubles to decorate Christmas trees, golden angels resting serenely in tissue-lined boxes, farmyard animals wrapped in hay in circular boxes, rustic candleholders wrought out of raw wood — this is a sensory feast.

To stave off the cold, there are steaming mugs of hot Gluhwein— mulled wine with cinnamon and other spices, sometimes with caramelised rum. One can satisfy one’s sweet tooth with crepes and hot pancakes, spiced cake and candied apples. Colourfully decorated Lebkuchen hearts — a spiced gingerbread are found everywhere. So areroasted potatoes and spiced chestnuts. 

“The Christmas Market is where people congregate after work in the weeks leading to Christmas. You meet friends, have a drink or two and enjoy the festive cheer”, says our guide.The festive drink is served in a different ceramic mug at every market, and you can take them away with you as a souvenir!

The 1900s Christmas Market, in the shadow of the magnificent Baroque Frauenkirche or the Church of Our Lady with its floodlit spires against the dark mauve sky. This church was bombed in the war but the rubble was guarded by the people for decades, who lit candles and continued to worship. In 1990, they sent a letter of appeal around the world and in an amazing response garnereddonations from around the world amounting to 100 million Euro. One of the best Christmas experiences is a Stollen baking experience at the Wippler Bakery, which uses a closely guarded secret family recipe from 1910. Legend has it that the peculiar shape of the Stollen cake with tapered ends and a split around the middle was originally meant to represent Baby Jesus swaddled in clothes. In an old-fashioned kitchen straight out of a medieval cookbook, Michael Wippler, the charismatic owner of the bakery takes us through the mixing of flour, yeast and water adding raisins, tons of lard as well as candied peels. In this kitchen decorated with old crockery and saucepans on walls, it’s a pleasure to knead and shape the dough into long loaves and leave them to bake in an old-fashioned oven.

The Stallhof Advent Festival located inside the Dresden Palace grounds has a completely different atmosphere, with a medieval theme, soft lighting and people dressed in period costumes. These decorative arcades used to be the stables of the Dresden Royal Palace where jousting tournaments used to be held in times of yore. With atmospheric oil lamps and wood-carved signs, there are stalls selling medieval craft like leather, iron instruments, handmade soaps, and felt clothes. With carolers, performances, and jugglers, this is a fairytale that enthralls you! As twilight settles over the town, lights twinkle, tourists and locals swaddled in fleece and thick coats laden with shopping bags sip on hot wine. I munch on caramelised almonds and feel the wind whipping my face dry — one can’t help humming along with the carolers ‘Tis the season to be jolly’!