| p>As legend has it, in Germany parents decorate | | | | second story being perpetuated in Berrien Springs, |
| their Tannenbaums on Christmas Eve. The last | | | | Michigan, where 24% of the population report |
| ornament hung is die Weinachtsgurke-a delicate | | | | German ancestry. Residents claim that hundreds |
| glass ornament in the shape of a pickle. This is a | | | | of years ago two young Spanish boys, when |
| significant ornament, for the next morning the | | | | traveling home from boarding school one |
| children will rush in to open their gifts from St. | | | | Christmas Eve, sought refuge for the night at an |
| Nicholas. But the festivities can not begin until one | | | | inn. Here they encountered a cantankerous |
| of the children locates the elusive gherkin. The | | | | inn-keeper who trapped them in a pickle barrel. |
| one who finds it gets to open the first gift, and | | | | When St. Nicholas stopped at the inn that evening |
| may even receive an extra treat for his or her | | | | he sensed their distress and tapped the barrel |
| effort. So the story is told here in America. Glass | | | | with his staff, magically freeing them. Whether |
| Christmas Pickles are a popular ornament, and | | | | this story is true or not, Berrien Springs calls itself |
| usually come with the curious legend tucked or | | | | The Christmas Pickle Capital of the World. |
| printed on the box. | | | | The first ornaments used by Germans to |
| The oddest part about this legend is that it is | | | | decorate Christmas Trees were fruits, particularly |
| virtually unknown in Germany. Nobody knows | | | | apples, and nuts. These, along with the evergreen |
| where it came from, or who started it. Well | | | | tree itself, represented the certainty that life |
| known is the fact that the decorating of | | | | would return in the spring. In the mid-eighteen |
| Christmas Trees with lights, ornaments, and tinsel | | | | hundreds, a few enterprising individuals living in the |
| originated in Germany, but unless the Pickle | | | | village of Lauscha (in the present-day state of |
| Tradition was practiced in a remote region of the | | | | Thuringen) began selling glass ornaments. Using |
| fatherland, it is likely that the legend was created | | | | fruit and nut molds at first, they eventually |
| at least in part by Americans, perhaps of German | | | | branched out, adding thousands of molds to their |
| descent. There are several stories floating around | | | | repertoire: angels, bells, saints, hearts, stars, and |
| about how the tradition may have started. | | | | so on. Still, there is no evidence of their having |
| One rumor tells of a Bavarian-born Union soldier | | | | made a pickle, or of the pickle tradition ever being |
| fighting in the Civil War named John Lower (or | | | | practiced in Lauscha or any other German village. |
| perhaps Hans Lauer) who was captured and sent | | | | Wherever the legend came from, the Christmas |
| to prison in Georgia. In poor health and starving, | | | | Pickle Tradition is here to stay. Several German |
| the prisoner begged for just one pickle before he | | | | glass ornament makers have capitalized on the |
| died. A merciful guard took pity and found him a | | | | story and offer a variety of gherkins, dills and |
| pickle. Miraculously, John lived, and after he | | | | cucumbers (some even donning cheery Santa |
| returned home he began the tradition of the | | | | caps!), perpetuating the myth even as their |
| Christmas Pickle, promising good fortune to the | | | | German neighbors vehemently deny having ever |
| one who found the special ornament on | | | | heard of it. Whatever the origin, the tradition is |
| Christmas Day. | | | | sure to bring a hearty dose of Christmas cheer. |
| If this story seems a bit stretched, there is a | | | | And isn't that the point? |