The essential is invisible to the eye, at least this year here, at the Christmas Market in the city of Karlsruhe, in the north of the Black Forest, and at least now on the longest nights of the year, when the previous Advent is celebrated to Christmas. The phrase of The little Prince can describe the scene: “It's seven thirty o'clock, it's night, and everyone around me is looking up and shouting: Weihnachtsmann! —Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Santa Claus— Once, twice and even three times.”
Immediately, above the craft and traditional food stalls, a carriage with reindeer appears followed by sparks. I look around me and see with surprise that the child's light shines in the eyes of the elderly and children, students and adults as if, despite everything, this moment awakened something hidden in them. Because? Asked. Next to me, a middle-aged man explains it to me: “Last year there were hardly any lights in the markets due to the need to save electricity in response to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the previous year there were controls to prevent entry to non-Ukraine. vaccinated against covid-19. Everything stopped the year before. Three years without normal Christmas markets! In all the previous ones we thought they were over, but here they are,” says Thomas, who is over 50 years old, a family man and a computer scientist, confidently. “Maybe that's the reason why people are so excited. How can they not be!” He insists.
Ettlingen, passion for simplicity?
Maybe that's the reason. After all, that same shine also shines in the eyes of some attendees at the Christmas market in the small town of Ettlingen — 40,000 inhabitants, many immigrants or refugees from all over the world and melange of creeds. Here, at night, the first thing you see reminds you that these German markets since the first one is known – 15th century in Dresden – are, above all, popular: there is a humble little train with iron cars covered by plastic that goes around in just a few square meters and is almost full —The children love it! The ticket seller sells tickets in a little stall so tiny that, with it inside, it seems like an alternative version of Alice in Wonderland.
But we are in Germany, very close to the place where the Brothers Grimm were born and, of course, there are some gigantic posters where you can read a story that explains that a poor girl, helped by her animals, invented a cake to feed the others. poorest children. In the market of Sternlesmarkt or, in Spanish, little star market, there are old people who push their tacatá, young people with a kefia – a Palestinian scarf -, couples who speak Russian and Ukrainian and push strollers. There are entire families, gangs and single people who devour sausages, pumpkin soups in sesame bread, roasted chestnuts, spinach balls accompanied by cranberry sauce or wild boar at more than affordable prices. It rains on all of them and, here, again, sparks shine brightly in the eyes of many of them, as if they were still children. Because?
![Karlsruhe Christmas Market in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/Tr5bX861fip987aV1aB_xn4Gn24=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/5TPMKLZGQRHOXGURL4WIMQZ33Q.jpg)
Dancing on traditional and foreign memory
The answer begins to appear at the Christmas Market in the medieval city of Durlach where, under bulbs of all sizes that illuminate stalls and the stage, there are dozens of bonfires to which the public stokes and puts logs. A singer plays melodies of AC/DC, Tina Turner and Leonard Cohen that, oblivious to the Christmas season, people dance and sing with fervor. There is also a blacksmith who molds glowing iron, a woman named Valentina who weaves a cap with silk threads very close to the fire; giant pots in which fabrics are dyed over bonfires that crackle like thunderbolts. “I love this,” says a Cali woman in front of the fire. “It's beautiful,” she insists, and in her eyes, again, that spark that shines.
![The town hall of Gengenbach (Germany) decorated for Christmas.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/oMc1Ft_uIqERwhMEgK76scO3eJc=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/VRKIFUSWJNC6PN6TFIMSR3OA2U.jpg)
In Gengenbach, a small and spectacular medieval town that can be reached by train, there are buses and cars from all over the country that visit the market. Located in the square of half-timbered houses, hundreds of people stick close to each other and stand to watch the spectacle. Every day a play is staged and today the children have become elves who perform in front of the craft and food stalls. “I am a weaver and a painter, I also make traditional cookies to sell here,” says a woman nearby who sells bags of traditional cookies that everyone here eats at this time. They are cinnamon, star anise or almond.
![Food at the different stalls at the Black Forest Christmas markets.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/ujUVX6xbXvmEvMmC0lxGlg0yan8=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/3AZQER3SCFE4NAP47GTFUSTJCE.jpg)
In the Black Forest, very close to where Herman Hesse was born [escritor y poeta alemán] and Chekhov died [cuentista, dramaturgo y médico ruso], there are many more markets, hundreds and thousands throughout the country, and almost each one offers something different. In the four weeks before the Christmas party and the winter solstice, which is the longest night of the year, there are markets that, like the one in Gengenbach, turn the walls of the town hall into an Advent calendar, there are star walks like the one in Bühlertal, towns that dress up as nativity scenes like Bamlach.
In Baden-Baden, a city known for the thermal baths that treated Victor Hugo and Nietzsche and for having the casino that inspired Dostoevsky, the market attracts thousands of people. Among all the craft stalls there is one that catches my attention because of its simplicity: Bethlehem, nativity scenes made with wood from Bethlehem, the inscription on it says. The image drags Palestine and its war, Bethlehem and the child who is born for Christians as a symbol of peace and internal joy. Mimed with the environment and with the mind, in Bethlehem I close my eyes and dream, a wish: I hope that the spark that these days and here shines in the eyes of so many people lights the fire of their joy, I hope that peace is reborn again.
![Baden-Baden, a city recognized for the thermal baths that treated Victor Hugo or Nietzsche.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/iYmEIvjxGrk2gra8m8y1d48iT0E=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/R535ZG2A2NDFBN2FZYJT7N4BPY.jpg)
Subscribe here to The Traveler newsletter and find inspiration for your next trips in our accounts Facebook, x and instagram.
#Christmas #markets #Black #Forest #crafts #food #bonfires #magical #atmosphere