Wald Weinacht

So on Saturday night me and the older kids left Daddy with Baby and walked up past their school a little way to meet with the rest of our little village for Wald Weinacht.  That means ‘Most Awesome Christmas Celebration in the World’ in German.  Okay, it literally means Forest Christmas, but just look—it was totally the awesomest thing I’ve ever seen.

We bundled up and went up at met at the firehouse at 5:00 and were told to bring lanterns, so we brought along the lantern that Ethne had made in Kindergarten, and got the candle lit.  Jethro looks ornery, but really he was happy.  :)

Here’s a picture of some kids I don’t know, just to show some other lanterns, because I think a lantern parade is awesome.

 

Then we went down the road a ways, then across this field, which was marked by burning torches every little bit.

Sorry, it was dark and everyone (including me) was moving, and all of my pictures are blurry.  But here’s a shot of the first of the procession.

There were quite a lot of us.  It was a good showing for our tiny village.

As we got to the edge of the forest there was a little band playing Christmas music.

When we got into the woods, the trail was lit with plenty of candles.

After a while we came to the little area where there was a bigger band playing Christmas music and the lit tree.

Once everyone got there, we sang two Christmas songs. 

 

Talmage smiling/grimacing for me.  :)

Then they announced that they had seen Samichlaus, so all the kids had to yell to him so that he would come.  They all yelled, “Samichlaus!!  Samichlaus!  Samichlaus!”  And out from the woods in the other direction came Samichlaus, his donkeys, and two Schmutzlis.  Schmutzli is Samichlaus’ helper who wears dark clothes and has a black beard.  (Sometimes there’s only one, sometimes there are more.)

 

They walked around the circle, shaking hands and greeting the children.

Then Samichlaus stood in the middle, and let all the children gather around him while he read a story.

It was magical.

After the story, Samichlaus and the Schmutzlis went to different spots, and the children stood in line for their turn to recite a poem or song or verse to him.  Then he gave them a bag of treats (peanuts, an orange, a pear, a chocolate candy, and a little lebkuchen –a dry gingerbread cookie thing). 

Here’s Jethro and Talmage and Jethro’s friend Elias talking with Schmutzli.  Hazel said the little poem

“Advent, advent, the little light burns.

First one, then two, then three, then four.

And next, the Christ child at the door.”

And Jethro said it in German, which he learned last year at school.

And some pictures of my kids + Elias in front of the tree.

 

Talmage didn’t want to be in the picture, unfortunately.

Then, for those who wanted, there was a bonfire and they were serving hot tea.  We would have stayed if it was hot chocolate, but it was okay, because we needed to get on our way anyway, as it had started to drizzle and Talmage was ready to go home.

Back through the candle-lit trail.

Can I just say I just ADORED and LOVED everything about this???  It was sooooo wonderful in every way.  And really, it just beats the crying pants of off going and sitting on Santa Clause’s knee in the mall (and I’m totally not against sitting on Santa’s knee in the mall). 

Incidentally, I was talking to my friend Karin today, and she said that where she lives, they have something like this, but you have to RSVP and then pay 20 franks per kid.  But I’ve heard other places just ask for donations.  Ours was completely free.  We totally live in the right place.

Now, I know you all want to hear more about Samichlaus and Schmutzli.  Well, Samichlaus lives in the woods and doesn’t have reindeer, but donkeys.  He comes on Dec. 6th and fills boots that children have left outside their door with peanuts and oranges and treats.  But he doesn’t come on Christmas Eve/Day to leave presents, that’s Christkind (Christ child). 

And here’s more info about Schmutzli from this site (you should definitely check it out):

Known as Schmutzli in the German part of the country and Père Fouettard (from "whip") in French, Samichlaus's alter ego usually carries a broom of twigs for administering punishment to children whose behaviour throughout the year has not been up to scratch.

Kurt Lussi, the curator of religious folklore at Lucerne's History Museum, says that the St Nicholas custom in Switzerland became interwoven with a festival of noise and masks dating back to pre-Christian times. Schmutzli, he says, was a symbol of the evil spirits which these ancient festivals sought to drive out with a combination of noise and light. Winter processions involving loud noise and lanterns continue to this day in many parts of Switzerland.

"Schmutzli means an ugly character with a concealed face, and this figure appeared with a black face, red eyes and a black cap."  He gives the example of an illustration from 1486 that depicts a demon who abducts children. "This child-stealing motif returns again in Schmutzli," he said. "There's also the Sträggele, another child-stealing figure which I would call a native Swiss demon. Birch brooms are associated with it and that's also what Schmutzli carries."

A demon-looking guy to scare kids into being good?  AWESOME.  :)  (More info about different cultures’ Christmas demons/scary-dudes here-check it out.)

Some other pictures:

 

As a parting tidbit, my friend Karin (and her family) was at our house today for dinner, and saw all the peanuts we had from Samichlaus on the counter, and she said, “Did you know there’s a Samichlaus in every peanut?”  And we did not, so she showed us (and this picture came up when I searched for images of Samichlaus and Schmuzli, so I thought I’d share).  See in that bit of ‘sprout’ up on the top, there’s the hat on top, the nose (and face), and the beard on the bottom?  Awesome.

I hope you’re having fun doing Christmasy things and have Christmas songs in your head and Christmas tastes on your tongue!