俏皮木偶小香腸——?dú)W洲心臟度圣誕

早在1434年，德國(guó)東部名城德累斯頓(Dresden)便辦起世上首個(gè)圣誕集市(Striezelmarkt)。"

然而有確切的文字記載、被列入史冊(cè)的第一個(gè)圣誕集市則是1628年于德國(guó)紐倫堡舉辦的，掰掰手指，已經(jīng)有將近600年歷史了。每年11月中下旬起，漢堡、不萊梅、德累斯頓、科隆、紐倫堡、法蘭克福等地的圣誕集市便相繼登場(chǎng)，整整一個(gè)月的時(shí)間，德國(guó)各地都沉浸在歡樂(lè)當(dāng)中，怎叫人不激動(dòng)!

When it comes to traditional holiday images， Germany’s 1)Bavaria is the heartland.

Long a center of toy-making in Germany， a woody and traditional 2)ambiance prevails. Nutcrackers are characters of authority， uniformed， strong-jawed and able to crack the tough nuts. Smokers， with their fragrant incense 3)wafting， feature common folk like this village toy-maker. Prune people， with their fig body， walnut head and prune limbs， are 4)dolled up in Bavarian folk costumes. And hovering above it all is the golden “rausch angel”， an icon of Christmas in 5)Nürnberg. Rausch is the sound of wind blowing through its wings. It’s a favorite for capping family Christmas trees.

Bakeries 6)crank out old-fashioned gingerbread the “Lebkuchen Nürnberg，” using the original 17th century recipe. Back then， Nürnberg was the gingerbread capital of the world， and its love affair with gingerbread lives on. Shoppers can also 7)munch the famous Nürnberg bratwurst， skinny as your little finger， and sip hot spiced wine.

As in so many cultures， kids love their local version of Santa Claus. While Santa is a legend， his character is based on Saint Nicholas， a kind and generous 8)bishop who actually lived in Turkey in the 4th century. Holiday gift-giving， especially in 9)Catholic regions， is often associated with the feast day of Saint Nicholas，December 6th.

But Germany is “10)Luther country.” Back in the early 1500s， the great reformer， Martin Luther， wanted to humanize the Christmas story by shifting the focus away from the saints and back onto the “birthday boy，” Jesus. Rather than “11)jolly old St. Nick” bringing the goodies on December 6th， Luther established the idea that gifts would be given on the 25th by the Christ Child， or， in German， “Christkind.” But for kids it was hard to imagine the little baby in the manger delivering gifts， so an angel served as the gift-giving Christ Child， and， somehow， the angel came to be represented by a young girl. She spends her reign spreading the joy of the season. The “Christkind” concludes by telling the 12)enthralled children， “If you’re very， very gentle， you can touch my wings.” Nürnberg’s favorite angel then leads her fans into the children’s section of the market， where expertly bundled kids enjoy a Christmas wonderland.

The Christmas season in Europe stretches for well over a month， not to maximize shopping days but to fit in the season’s many holy days. 13)Advent starts four Sundays before Christmas Eve. Then comes the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. Santa Lucia day is on the 13th， and Europeans don’t 14)wrap things up on the 25th. The twelve days of Christmas stretch from the 25th through January 6th; that’s15)Epiphany， the day the three kings finally delivered the gifts.

Happy Christmas! Joyeux Noeuml;l! (French) Buon Natalé a Tutti! (Italian) God Jul!(Norwegian) Merry Christmas! Froehliche Weihnachten! (German) O-yeh， O-yeh. I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

From our family to yours; peace on earth and goodwill to all. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

當(dāng)論及各種傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日形象，德國(guó)的巴伐利亞是它們的集中地。

此地作為德國(guó)玩具制造中心的歷史由來(lái)已久，這里有濃厚的傳統(tǒng)木制品氛圍。胡桃?jiàn)A子是以經(jīng)典芭蕾劇中的角色為造型，身穿制服的小人兒有著強(qiáng)健的牙頜可以軋碎堅(jiān)果。芳香四溢的薰香木偶勾勒出像這個(gè)鄉(xiāng)村玩具匠般模樣的一般人。洋李干小人，用無(wú)花果制成的小小身軀，胡桃木腦袋和洋李干串成的四肢，以巴伐利亞民族服飾盛裝打扮。盤(pán)旋在它們上方的是金燦燦的翼風(fēng)天使(rausch angel)，這是紐倫堡的圣誕標(biāo)志。“Rausch”意指穿過(guò)羽翼的風(fēng)聲。人們喜歡把翼風(fēng)天使置于圣誕樹(shù)頂上。

面包店沿用十七世紀(jì)原配方制作出傳統(tǒng)姜餅“紐倫堡蜜餞果餅”。在那個(gè)年代，紐倫堡曾是世界姜餅之都，而如今這個(gè)城市對(duì)姜餅的熱情仍不減絲毫。購(gòu)物者還可以大嚼纖細(xì)如小指的著名的紐倫堡德式小香腸，再呷一口溫?zé)岬牧揖啤?/p>

在不同的文化中，孩子們喜歡的是當(dāng)?shù)匕姹镜氖フQ老人。圣誕老人這個(gè)傳說(shuō)，其人物原型為圣尼古拉—— 一位確實(shí)生活在四世紀(jì)土耳其，和善慷慨的主教。……