Christmas in Germany: Magdeburg

The Christmas market in Magdeburg may not be as old as the one in Dresden, or as popular as the one in Nürnberg, but it surely is tons of fun.

Plus, they can boast with a seasonal record, performing and recording the longest Christmas song in Germany: in 2012, through a common effort of the Christmas-loving and lyrically-endowed locals, a staggering number of 920 stanzas have been produced and (partially) sung live by the respective authors. Part of the performance can be watched here, but the length of the song was actually 3 hours and 44 minutes. The original 19th century carol, “Kling Glöckchen“ (Ring, little bell) only had three stanzas and went on like this.

As you could already tell, there’s plenty of music in the Magdeburg Weihnachtsmarkt, and that makes it cheerful, even on a gray winter day. There’s Christmas music flowing from everywhere, there’s a Christmas brass band in the Town Hall balcony, there’s also a little stage for live performances, there are the compulsory and ubiquitous German Schlagers from the 80s (sung in unison especially after the Glühwein spirit has descended over the present congregation), there is live music coming from the little band crammed in the Christmas pyramid and there’s also little bell music coming from the carillon (Glockenspiel) in the Old Town Hall tower (pictured below).

Unlike other traditional winter markets in Germany, where the Angel of Christmas (Christkind) brings gifts and joy to the world, in Magdeburg it’s Santa’s secular turf. Aka the ‘Weihnachtsmann’. He lives in his apartment in the market, he wakes daily after lunch, opens a new Advent calendar door and tells stories and fairy tales, a moment very much appreciated by kids, of course, along with all the other flat rides, a little tacky and loud, but contributing to the merry carnivalesque atmosphere.

Very popular among the grown-ups is the neighbouring medieval market, a little separated from the main fair. Called the Historischer Weihnachtsmarkt, it showcases crafts like glass blowing, carpenting, book printing, jewelry making, there are blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, bone and wood-carvers, candle-makers, it’s like a medieval winter market. Which is, after all, how all Christmas fairs started. There are also fire jugglers, open fires, torches, everybody is donning medieval garb, ‘nuns’ are in charge of the mulled wine and food is plentiful and fragrant, the roast chestnuts next to the cinnamony Strietzel (trdelnik aka kürtőskalács), the roast Mutzbraten pork next to the Rahmbrot oven and the melting cheese raclette.

*husband in voiceover: “And the sausages, don’t forget the sausages!”

Of course not. The main actor of any Christmas market grill zone is the sausage, usually a local one. And in Magdeburg that is the Bregenwurst, literally “brain sausage”, today containing just pork. Also, there is the local brand wurst, the Lemsdorfer Lümmel, then there’s the other ‘white meat’, the Kassler (smoked pork), served over a steaming pile of green-brown cabbage, aka curly kale. Wash down with one of the mulled wine variations and top with another local culinary tradition, the Schmalzkuchen (small diamond-shaped sugar-dusted doughnuts), which can be found in most winter markets, but I must admit that the ones from Magdeburg have been the best so far.

Not far away from the hustle and bustle of the main Weihnachtsmarkt in Magdeburg there is a tiny quiet and quirky little market around and within one of Magdeburg’s best-known attractions, Hundertwasser’s final project, the Green Citadel.

Green on top (in summertime), quite pink on the outside and really colourful on the inside, it offers a very different Christmas backdrop and we found it really enjoyable, with its organically-shaped floors which are like “melodies for the feet“, its wacky birdhouses and its closeness to nature (it has tree tenants who live in balconies and on the roof).