There’s no question: Alsace is the capital of Christmas. Although I’m a little sad that I will be spending Christmas away from my extended family in California, I’m so excited that my parents are coming to visit me here and that we will be spending Christmas in this region. But I don’t have to wait until then to celebrate. Noël: C’est parti.
Merchants wearing traditional Alsatian costumes at the Colmar Christmas Market
The last weekend of November, I headed to my first Christmas market of the season. I spend the weekend visiting another English teaching assistant who lives in the quaint town of Colmar. Colmar is situated between Mulhouse and Strasbourg, so about 40 minutes away by train from Altkirch, where I live. Colmar is Christmas central. It’s an adorable town with traditional architecture that has five different Christmas markets spread out across its town center, all within five to ten minutes of walking distance from one another. Colmar itself is not very large. You can walk across the entire town in about half an hour, and it has a population of 60,000 or so. It’s still much bigger than the town where I live, so I was pleased to get out to a city for the weekend. If that’s what I consider a city, then I guess I really am turning into a French country bumpkin.
In case you don’t know, Christmas markets (or in French Les Marchés du Noël) have stands with different vendors selling various things including hot food, chocolate, toys, and other trinkets that you can give as gifts. In theory, buying from a merchant at the Christmas market is cheaper than buying a gift in a regular store, but that really depends on what you’re buying and from which merchant. I personally prefer to patronize the food stands, because the food usually is delicious and cheap. The only downside is that you have to eat the food outside as you walk around. But since it’s hot, it warms you up, helping to stave off the slightly-above-freezing-temperatures common in this region in December.
Here in Alsace, you can eat some of the Alsatian specialties at the Christmas market including Bretzels (Big doughy Pretzels that can be served sweet or salty), Tarte flambée, which is bread baked with cheese, onions, and bacon on top, and Choucroute (Sauerkraut), usually served with sausage. But there are also your typical Christmas Market staples: Crêpes, Waffles, and even Churros which you can dip in Nutella.
And let’s not forget all the delicious hot drinks served at the Christmas markets: you can drink Vin Chaud (Mulled Wine) which is probably my favorite, or Hot Cider. Sometimes Hot Chocolate, Tea, and Coffee are also available.
The other assistant, whose name is Julie, and I spent the day walking around the Christmas Markets. We also checked out a medieval art museum in a former convent called Musée Unterlinden. The museum holds the incredible Isenheim Altarpiece, which is a magnificent set of paintings that are set on panels that unfold. They depict scenes from the Bible, and they are incredibly detailed and fascinating to behold. The museum provides an audioguide in whatever language you speak with the ticket, so I was able to learn a lot about the paintings as I was facing them. I also saw some incredible renditions of different scenes from the Bible painted by Martin Schongauer, a native of Colmar. I really liked his paintings, which were incredibly colorful and detailed.
I didn’t have time to visit any other museums in Colmar, but I want to go back because the town is also home to the Bartholdi Museum. Bartholdi, who created the Statue of Liberty, actually was from Colmar. Colmar is also notable because it served as the visual basis of the town in the Miyazaki film Howl’s Moving Castle, which is one of my favorite animated films ever.
Colmar is very picturesque, and the town also goes all-out for Christmas, no holds barred. There were many beautiful light displays and cute Christmas decorations. I spotted polar bears on rooftops, and I even ran into Santa, or as we call him in France, Père Noël. One of my favorite things that I saw in Colmar was the nativity scene at one of the Christmas markets. All of the characters in it moved backed and forth slightly- they could each do one thing like nod their head or raise their hand. The display continued and repeated itself over, but for some reason I couldn’t stop watching it. The longer you watch it, the more details you notice, and the more hilarious it gets. It’s one of those things you’d have to see to understand I guess.
Mulhouse Christmas Market
Atkirch lit up for the Enchanted Forest display
I have also checked out some Christmas going-ons closer to where I live in Altkirch. Last Wednesday, I went to the Christmas Market at Mulhouse in the Old Town neighborhood. It’s definitely quite a bit smaller than the markets in Colmar, but it was fun, all the same.
A frightening Alsatian witch who eats children
On Saturday, the Christmas displays in Altkirch officially opened, on the day of St. Nicolas (December 6). Every year, Altkirch has a display called La Forêt Enchantée (The Enchanted Forest). It’s kind of like a Nativity display, but instead of showing the story of Jesus’s birth, it has life-sized figures depicting legends from the Sundgau region and also depicting popular fairy tales.
I met up with a couple of other assistants who also live in the area, and we visited the displays, which were elaborate and almost interactive (For some reason parents let their children go up and touch the figures, even climb on them. In the U.S. parents would never let their kids do that, for fear they would break the display or injure themselves). Some of them were rather creepy since they depicted quite dark stories. One of the stories was about a witch who cooked children, almost like a local version of Hansel and Gretel. And there was another one about a man who had a herd of cows that were possessed by the devil, and he had to kill them to get rid of the bad spirits inside of them.
In the middle of visiting the displays, we heard the sound of Christmas carols coming from the main road. We went back to see that there was actually a parade for St. Nicolas including a guy dressed up as the Saint followed by children dressed up as angels (children in two straight lines, it reminded me of Madeline). We followed the parade to a small stage set up in a different part of the town. St. Nicolas welcomed the audience and then read to us a story from the Sundgau region, while the children acted it out. It was really adorable, although there were so many people and kids around that it was difficult to hear and understand the story. Nevertheless, at that moment, I really felt like I belonged in this little town because I was there to experience a genuine tradition with its community. That’s what I really love about living in Altkirch, and about Alsace in general. It’s in the countryside, and the people here, for the most part, grow up in this area and settle here. It has a small town sort of feel that is simple and authentic, and I don’t think I ever would have found that in a bigger city or a more urbanized region.
St. Nicolas at his own parade
Manalas!
After our adventure in Altkirch, the other assistants and I were invited by our French friend, Cécile, to celebrate St. Nicolas at her house. Cécile was a language assistant in England last year, teaching French, so she understands what it’s like to be in our position. She reached out to us and has invited us to hang out with her a few times. She’s super nice. At her house, in the little town of Illfurth, which is in between Altkirch and Mulhouse, we had the traditional food of St. Nicolas in Alsace: Manalas, which are little croissant-like pastries in the shape of little men. They come in several different types: plain, dipped in chocolate, and with chocolate chips. You eat them with jam, nutella, or butter, and needless to say they’re delicious. I still am not 100% sure of the origin behind the tradition, but I think it has to do with the fact that St. Nicolas saved a bunch of children from a demon who was going eat them. So in order to honor his heroic act, we consume symbolic children in the stead of real ones? Not quite sure I follow, Alsace, but whatever manalas are delicious.
Look closely… it’s a MacDonald’s in a very old building in Freiburg. It almost blends in, but not quite.
Today, I visited yet another Christmas Market, but this one was in Germany, in the city of Freiburg, which is the closest big city in Germany to Alsace. Freiburg is situated next to the Black Forest, which you can see in the distance from most parts of the city. Overall, I really like the city. It’s quite compact, so you can walk almost everywhere in its center. It has lots of old buildings, and a prestigious university so many young people live there. The Christmas Market there (or Weihnachtsmarkt in German) was very similar to the ones in Alsace- the only difference was the language and there was more German food available, such as Curry Wurst. Another specialty of the German Christmas Markets that I tried out was Lebkuchen, which is Gingerbread, but it has other spices and ingredients aside from ginger including almonds. My roommate Anne-Marie gave me some, which are more like gingerbread cookies covered in frosting. There’s even a special store in Freiburg and some other German towns that sells Gingerbread during the holiday season. Normally it’s an ice-cream store, but during the winter months, it sells all different types of Gingerbread cookies, which are delicious.
If you follow me on social media, you may think the only thing I have been doing these past few weeks is visit Christmas markets, which is basically true. However, I have sort of settled into a routine here, and I finally feel almost at home here in France. I was able to sign up for a gym class, which includes aerobics and stretching, and so I go to that a few times a week. Luckily the gym is just a five-minute walk from my apartment. I also have been trying to keep up my French by listening to French radio, watching French TV, reading French novels, and talking to my colleague’s in the teacher’s lounge. And, I’ve also been trying to teach myself German. It helps that I have a German roommate who is more than willing to help me learn the basics of her language.
In less than two weeks, I’ll be on Christmas vacation and my parents will arrive to visit me. I can’t wait until then!
By the way, I have nearly run out of space for pictures on this blog, so if you want to see some more pictures of the Christmas markets I’ve been discussing, you can follow my Instagram (hella_hapa) or my Twitter, @hapawriting.
An English Assistant in Alsace 