The Most visited Christmas Market:Strasbourg

By Namtip AKSORNKOOL

IT’S early December. The morning temperature is 6 degrees. The sky remains grey for most of the day. Yet the hotels in and around Strasbourg are packed with travelers who, added to the locals, will make up the two million people intent on experiencing the magic of Christmas that only Strasburg- the Capital of Christmas- can provide.

Towards the last month of each year, Strasburg transforms itself completely. The dark skied city, architecturally beautiful and historically complex, turns into a huge and brilliant market place.

More and more Christmas trees spring up daily in all its corners. It is here where the use pines for Christmas rituals began. As far back as in 1521, town records of Selestat, south of Strasburg, indicate that a pine tree was used as part of Christmas celebration. The gigantic tree in Strasbourg’s Place Kleber is carefully chosen from the region’s own natural park. It seems taller than the nearby five-storied timber framed townhouses.

Christmas markets are central to the holiday season here. Stroll along the aisles of Christmas market stalls around the Cathedral, and you will reach the same conclusion. Orderly rows of pine wood chalets decked up with lights and candles, pine cones and branches, display classic Christmas related goods like Santa Claus, reindeer, uniquely local flavour of red cranes, the emblem of Strasburg.

The best part of the Christmas market is the local and traditional items . Christmas tree decorations made from nutshells, cloth, ribbons, straws and wood, stir up a longing for a Christmas of long ago. Humourous items like little hand-made figurines of Santa Claus only whose legs are visible above the chimney as he descends head first into it.

Then there are delightful gift items like the gold filigree decorated glass from which a pole of tiny and delicate reindeer, Christmas bells, or angels hang and that moves around in circle with its own lights and shadows when the heat rises from the candle in the glass.

Little straw figures, men with big round tummy, in red or green sweaters, hats and scarves and other hand made and painted tree decorations from nutshells and wood give that authentic German folk. Wood decorated lighting units mechanised by lit candles and music boxes playing well known German folk music were also on offer. Miniature scenes depicting Christmas and snowy seasonal joy of children ice skating on frozen lakes, pine forests, or a snow covered courtyard featuring a moving element, also evoke another dream of once upon a Christmas.

Gluwein or hot spiced wine, the typical drink of the season, fills the freezing air with its vapour and aroma of the mixture of cinnamon, cloves and honey. It mingles with the sweet smell of freshly cooked caramelized almonds to produce a distinctly tempting and delicious welcome to the festive season.

A couple of Russian tourists struggled with their French to order two glasses. Traditionally, hot wine has been red. Now, there are at least four flavours catering to different tastes including one made with apple and orange juice and another with white wine. The spices give the hot wine the winter picker-upper magic. The hot wine has become a sine-qua-non of Christmas markets- anywhere. It warms the hands, the heart and it enhances the mood.

Visitors can also enjoy the exceptionally good pain d’épice or honey-based spiced cake or bredels, or assorted Christmas biscuits. Hungrier American exchange students strolled around with their hot bretzels, plain or stuffed with cheese and bacons, of a strasburgeois, a sandwich on French bread with cheese and bacons. Then of course, the sausages on buns. Everywhere, adults and children admire and buy ginger bread in the forms of stars, girls, boys, houses, canes and Christmas trees decorated with colourful icing.

Then there is the chestnut merchant. Standing behind a mock steam engine train with his cart of charcoal fired chestnuts, adding to the warm and delicious air. Above him, lighted silhouettes of angels playing the horn decorated the sky. A group of bubbly tall and blonde teenage Strasburgers bought some and then ran after one another with their paper cones of chestnuts, shrieking with laughter while others singing “Jingle Bells, Jingle bells…”

An elaborate merry-go round rotates to its own music. The merry-go-round in Strasburg looks distinctly elegant with giraffes, swans and princes and princesses, coaches and old fashioned steam engine trains. Children, grinning and posing for their equally excited parents, hold on tight to their chosen animals as they go around and around. The unmistakably carousel music dominates the place and gives it a feel of festivity. Not too far from it, a lone bard, sings a ballad to his own tune on the guitar while also hitting the drum on his back. Some Japanese and German visitors filmed or photographed him then gave him a thumb-up. Dressed between a clown and a cool musician, the bard attracts many and won much sympathy and a small pile of coins lying collectively in a hat at his feet.

Around the corner from the cathedral one stumbles on to the magnificent Palais Rohan. This is the 18^th century stately residence of four generations of Rohan men who held high posts in the Catholic Church. The square, only a few steps from the buzzing and fun-filled market, offers a stark contrast of absolute calm. A couple stood still taking in the sight of the Palais bathed in the soft light and its own shadows in the lonely square. Peace fell upon the place. A lone passerby strode to his own soft, almost inaudible humming of Silent Night, Holy Night.

And that’s the magic of Strasburg, Capital of Christmas.

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