Noël, Christmas, Weihnacht, Kersfees. Whatever you call it, this is a festive time of year, colorful, with a great feeling of anticipation. The commercial element is, unfortunately, very strong, as evidenced by all the ads prodding one to buy bigger, better, more. But, a warmth, a camaraderie, a feeling of goodwill, also exist and you find this at the “Marchés de Noël”, the Christmas markets. Some of these markets are small, with limited goods, some don’t run the whole month of December, but all are fun with a bright array of interesting holiday-related “goodies”.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit a few so far, all different, but all a lovely experience.
In Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne (central France), we watched the setting up of the Marché on the Place de la Victoire, with its statue of Vercingetorix (by Bertoldi, of Statue of Liberty fame), next to the great black-stoned Gothic cathedral. Banging, hammering, arranging of trailing wires, bringing in of about 60 wooden chalet-stalls. Opened the following day—December 1st—it was instantly popular and crowded. The theme this year is “Village du Monde” (village of the world), so many of the stalls are selling non-French items, from countries such as Togo, Mexico, Russia. “Vin chaud” (hot mulled wine) is popular, as is “Barbe de Papa” (beard of papa, or candy floss) for the kids. It’s a special setting, and especially magical at night when the cathedral spire is silhouetted behind sparkling lights.
A much smaller market at Paris’s Gare de l’Est (east station) only runs until December 16th. Set on the “parvis” (square) in front of the station, 2 aisles of stalls under a heavy clear plastic ‘tent’ feature goods from Alsace in the far east part of France. Taste the wines, buy sausages and cheese, collect different wooden Christmas ornaments.
Many of these markets are also wonderful social events—mingle and meet your friends and neighbors as you browse the stalls and sample the offerings. Such was the case in Ladenburg, a small town in Germany, close to Heidelberg, where we were visiting our friends, Uschi and Dietmar, last weekend. The oldest Roman town north of the Alps on the right bank of the Rhine River, Ladenburg has a long history. Most of the Roman remains are underground and unexcavated, but there is a Roman Museum in the medieval Bishops Palace. Much of the old town today dates from the 16th century and the main square is very pretty with half-timbered buildings all around and narrow streets leading off.
(Rod with Uschi and Dietmar)
The market is on the square and our friends wanted to take us there. It’s a neighborhood event and the spirit of warmth and goodwill that night was palpable—people greet each other and chat, even with strangers. It was really cold, but everyone was bundled up and in that frosty setting the ‘Gluhwein’ (hot spiced wine) was perfect, to warm your hands around the mug, and making a glow inside. And a local brass band playing Christmas music, ‘oompah’ style, warmed the heart. The stalls, decorated simply with sprigs of greenery and red bows, and selling quick food (sausages, flammenkuchen), local ornaments, local soaps, and local produce such as honey, cluster in the square. It has a couple of tall trees, dressed only in strings of white lights, and all is set off by the spotlighted old buildings.
We loved it.
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