• Objet en bois de l'Erzgebirge
Objet en bois de l'ErzgebirgeAnnual mountain parade finale in Annaberg-BuchholzChristmas Candle Arch in SaydaZwoenitzer HutzentageDresdner Christstollen Cake

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Nutcracker

Centuries-old Christmas traditions, homely atmosphere in the cities: Saxony is not known as Christmas Wonderland for nothing. Almost no other district in Saxony is as popular for its Christmas rituals as the Ore Mountains with their unique tradition of crafted wooden art and toys. In many places, you can experience these old customs from up close: the "Reifendrehen" (wood turning) in the Seiffen workshops, the making of bobbin lace in a parlour in Annaberg, the carolling Kurrende children wandering from door to door on Christmas.

For instance, history comes alive in the Seiffen toy museum, in the Saigerhütte in Olbernau, in the "Manufaktur der Träume" (manufacture of dreams) in Annaberg-Buchholz, in more than 25 exhibition mines or in a Hutz'nohmd as called in local dialect with carving men and women making bobbin lace gathered in a merry round.

Mountain Music Corps Annaberg-Buchholz

Light angels and miner figurines

Ore Mountains and Christmas, that also stands for contemplation and a blaze of light. In accordance with the miner's yearning for light, white fairy lights are shining on market places, light angels and miner figures as well as Schwibbögen are illuminating the windows. Especially touching are the mountain and miner's parades that take place every year in historic habits in the strongholds of former mining as Annaberg-Buchholz, Brand-Erbisdorf, Thum, Geyer, Marienberg, Ehrenfriedersdorf and Schneeberg. Also the historic "Mettenschicht", the last shift of the miner on Christmas Eve, revives the miner's yearning for light as the cradle of Christmas.

Ore Mountains traditional dish "Neunerlei"

Neinerlaa

The highlight of Christmas in the Ore Mountains is the traditional banquet "Neinerlaa", the traditional "Christmas Eve Dish" of the miners' families. The "Neunerlei" traditionally consists of nine different dishes. They represent memories and wishes, as for health, money or love. The dishes are defined, yet the order varies regionally. Thus, there are: Lentils or peas, bratwurst, sauerkraut, herring or fish bites with apple salad, potato salad, sausages, grout or millet porridge, rose hip soup, roast pork with dumplings, Semmelmilch (a desert made of milk and bread rolls) with chopped nuts, bread and salt, prunes. Restaurants as the "Neinerlaa" or the mountain inn Pöhliberg in Annaberg-Buchholz offer this traditional menu.