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Christkind vs Santa: how Germans and Americans celebrate Christmas differently

Growing up in the US, Christmas for American journalist Rose-Anne Clermont was more of a religious affair. But for her atheist-leaning friends in her adopted country, Germany, Christmas is more about tradition and less about religion.

Published: 22 December 2017 17:20 CET
Christkind vs Santa: how Germans and Americans celebrate Christmas differently
Setting up the nativity scene in Hildesheim. Photo: DPA

Growing up Catholic, Christmas was a decidedly religious holiday at our house: midnight mass on Christmas Eve, guilt-ridden Advent wreaths with three purple candles representing penance and a pink one that allowed for some rejoicing. And long before my siblings and I could get excited about the approaching holiday, we went to church on December 8th to celebrate Jesus' mother Mary managing to get pregnant with the Messiah without having sinned.

But we also grew up in the United States, where the religious aspect of Christmas was quickly upstaged by kitschy Santa jingles in every store, unfortunate Christmas-themed sweaters, flurries of X-mas sales (kicked off by Black Friday stampedes) and Santas planted in every single mall to mark America's most commercial season.

But when I moved to Berlin nearly 20 years ago, I discovered that my friends – even those raised Catholic – appeared to be more relaxed about religion. There was no obligation to go to church on Sundays, even though shops were closed. And despite the existence of a Christian Democratic Party, I rarely saw open displays of religion north of Bavaria. A laid back kind of atheism seemed the norm amongst my acquaintances.

So I was surprised when even my atheist-leaning German friends had Advent wreaths adorning their tables and they told their children that the Christkind (Christ child) brings the presents, as opposed to the rotund guy in red who squeezes down the chimney.

SEE ALSO: Why there is one thing about German Christmas that sends a chill down my spine

“Even for people who don't consider themselves religious, going to church belongs to the Christmas tradition in Germany,” Sandra Baron, a German who has lived in the US and includes herself amongst this crowd, told The Local.

German Christmas songs, I discovered, were not simple nursery-like songs about Santa's reindeer but four- to five-versed religious Lieder (songs) that actually require some musical ability.

“Germany is a much more tradition-based culture,” adds American Kim Preiss, originally from Wisconsin.

“In America it is far more commercial. With Black Friday and Amazon Christmas, it's all about making money,” says Preiss, who has lived in Germany for 15 years.

READ ALSO: How Christmas Eve in Germany this year clashes with commercialism

German Christmas markets generate billions of euros annually, according to German industry groups and analysts. But the outdoor stands selling beeswax candles, knit gloves and ceramic vases at Christmas markets in Germany feel less commercial than seeing flat screen TVs propped up next to artificial Christmas trees in the US (which may or may not be green).

“Maybe in an attempt to be religiously tolerant, people say 'Happy Holidays' as opposed to 'Merry Christmas,'” Mandi Althoff, a half-German, half-American who just returned to Germany from a seven-year stint in California, told The Local.

“In Germany you know that Christmas means that Jesus was born.”

CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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