A few years back, I made pickle ornaments out of polymer clay for myself and my best friend. Yes, I said pickle. As in, a little dill pickle - gherkin style. Shiny and green. I had read about it, and it sounded like a really fun Christmas tradition of German origin. Once the tree is decorated, you hide the pickle ornament on the tree, then let the kids search for it. The first one to find it gets a special small present. Fun! My friend's kids LOVED it, and now look forward to the pickle decoation every year!Once I heard about it, I found several references to it on Nova Scotia websites as part of Christmas festivities - a large percentage of our population on the South Shore are of German ancestry (as am I), so it seemed like a great way to get in touch with my roots.
But, just when I had settled in nicely with this new-to-me tradition (seeing a pickle hanging on a tree is really quite hilarious, I get a real kick out of it every time my eye catches it), I found this article. It turns out that Germans don't know about this tradition!! So now, no one knows how it started!
It's still fun, and I'll still do it, but with the knowledge it's not as old a tradition as I thought! :)
Read the entire article here, it's very enlightening: German gherkin ornament puts historians in a pickle
Want your own pickle ornament? This shop has a fantastic assortment, made of glass, sure to become a treasured family tradition: Christmas Decorations and Gifts Store.
The Family
1 comment:
Thats cool my family does the tradition every year and Im always the first one to find it!! Haha Abby and Kiersten!
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