A few years ago after doing some genealogy I decided I wanted to look for some family traditions that i could start with the girls. I was looking for something specific from Pomerania, since that is where the Hahn family comes from. Well I couldn't find anything specific, but I did find something that was supposed to be a German tradition, the Christmas pickle. So we bought a glass pickle to hang on the tree. It is always the very last ornament placed on the tree and is hidden deep in the boughs and the legend has it that the one who finds it on Christmas morning was supposed to receive a special gift, and the first adult to find it was supposed to receive good luck for the upcoming year. While we never gave out a gift to the girls because we didn't want them fighting over it, I thought it was a cool tradition because they could look at and appreciate ll the ornaments on the tree while looking for the pickle. Alison even used it as her family tradition in a project at school.
However, after reading some things about it online, I have come to find out that it is a total myth. If you went to Germany at Christmas time and asked about hanging a pickle on the Christmas tree, they would have no idea what you were talking about. It does appear to have some German roots though, just not in the old country. The story goes that there was a German immigrant from Bavaria who was fighting in the Civil War by the name of John Lower. He had been captured and sent to the Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. Anyone who knows anything about the civil war knows the name Andersonville. It was a terrible place to be sent and nearly 1/3 of the Union soldiers who were held there died. In poor health, and starving, John Lower begged a guard for just one pickle before he died. The guard had mercy on him and found a pickle for John Lower. According to the legend, that pickle (along with the grace of God) gave John Lower the strength to live on. Finally, once he had been released (or liberated) and reunited with his family he began the tradition of hiding a pickle in the branches of the Christmas tree and the one who found it on Christmas morning would be blessed with good fortune for the year.
Whatever the story, it is something the girls like to do, and they do look for the pickle, and admire all the other ornaments. So I am glad that we decided to pick that custom. I'd still like to find some other traditions we can do with them before they get too old, but for now at least we have the pickle.
However, after reading some things about it online, I have come to find out that it is a total myth. If you went to Germany at Christmas time and asked about hanging a pickle on the Christmas tree, they would have no idea what you were talking about. It does appear to have some German roots though, just not in the old country. The story goes that there was a German immigrant from Bavaria who was fighting in the Civil War by the name of John Lower. He had been captured and sent to the Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. Anyone who knows anything about the civil war knows the name Andersonville. It was a terrible place to be sent and nearly 1/3 of the Union soldiers who were held there died. In poor health, and starving, John Lower begged a guard for just one pickle before he died. The guard had mercy on him and found a pickle for John Lower. According to the legend, that pickle (along with the grace of God) gave John Lower the strength to live on. Finally, once he had been released (or liberated) and reunited with his family he began the tradition of hiding a pickle in the branches of the Christmas tree and the one who found it on Christmas morning would be blessed with good fortune for the year.
Whatever the story, it is something the girls like to do, and they do look for the pickle, and admire all the other ornaments. So I am glad that we decided to pick that custom. I'd still like to find some other traditions we can do with them before they get too old, but for now at least we have the pickle.
0 comments:
Post a Comment