Children also put up nativity plays. People stop working from the Christmas Eve afternoon. With the ringing of church bells in the evening...giving out gifts to children that were kept under the Christmas tree...the Christmas celebration in Germany begins... “Bescherung”, meaning giving out gifts is an important custom in Christmas Celebrations in Germany. The Christmas preparation begins from 23rd or 24th of December. People start decorating Christmas trees and gifts are placed under the tree. All kinds of Christmas preparations are taken in the living room and as the living room is ready, it is locked up. Children wait anxiously outside the living room for Christkind or Weihnachtsmann who is expected to leave gifts for them. As they hear the bell ringing they believe that Christkind is now leaving the room through the open window. Children ran into the room to collect their gifts. It is still not known why German children receive their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.
Christmas carols are very popular in Christmas Celebrations in Germany and some families follow the custom of singing Christmas carols before opening the gifts. Reading Bible, reciting Christmas poems and putting up nativity scenes as plays are some of the common customs in Christmas Celebrations in Germany. After “Bescherung” Germans bake special Christmas cookies for their guests and Christmas Day begins with the custom of wishing “fröhliche Weihnachten” to all. “Karpfen”, the carp, apples and pears with spices, goose are some of the special traditional Christmas meal and Christmas celebration in Germany is indeed incomplete without these. In order to collect more information on Christmas celebrations around the world, log on to christmas.dgreetings.com.