Christmas in Germany: Dresden
One of this Road Trips Foodie’s seasonal favorites is Stollen: the traditional cake prepared only during the Christmas season in Germany. If you want to journey to where it all began, start making plans to get to Dresden on December 5, 2009, for the Stollen Festival during the annual Christmas Market. In fact, Dresden’s holiday event is called the Striezelmarkt — its name from Striezel (the original name for the Dresden Christstollen). Held on the old market square in Dresden, it’s is a tradition that dates all the way back to 1434 (said to be Germany’s oldest Christmas Market). Each year on the third Saturday before Christmas, a Stollen festival and grand festival parade are held in the honor of the original pastry. A giant Stollen weighing around four tonnes is carried in a procession from the Zwinger, via Semper Opera House, Cathedral and Frauenkirche to the Striezelmarkt. It is accompanied along its path by historical figures and the bakers of the local Stollen Association. Having arrived on the Striezelmarkt, it is cut under the auspices of the reigning Stollen Girl with the traditional Dresden Stollen knife. The individual pieces are then sold to the festival visitors.
There are many other attractions that make a trip to this market in eastern Germany worthwhile, such as what’s said to be the tallest Erzgebirge Christmas pyramid in the world plus a chance to see (and buy) traditional hand-crafted goods from Dresden and the surrounding region including pyramids, incense burners, decorative arches, pottery and hanging stars. The Christmas Market in Dresden, Germany, is open November 26 through December 24, 2009. For more information, go online.
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