Virtual Tour: Christmas Markets of Europe with Georgiana — brought to you by Girl Travel Tours

Again, my name is Marah Walsh.

I'm in the United States, and specifically

between Philadelphia and New York.

I say this because it's

in the Eastern time zone.

And if you are trying to convert your time

when you see the postings,

please know that we're using

New York time, Eastern time.

So, you'll want to put,

what time is it in London when

it is five o'clock in New York?

And then you'll get your time for London.

When we're not traveling virtually,

I host group tours on physical tours,

as well as help others plan their

own family and group vacations.

Don't let the name

Girl Travel Tours fool you.

We welcome everyone on our

tours, not just girls.

The name came about because I started

leading my physical tours

with EF Tours as a Girl Scout leader.

But now I lead tours for ages,

teens through senior citizens

using many tour operators.

I have adult-only tours as

well as multiple age tours.

But when COVID struck,

we were unable to travel physically.

So, I started traveling with my tour guide

friends virtually

because I really wanted to support

the tour director community during this

time of travel restrictions where

they have been unable to work.

And I really wanted to keep the excitement

of travel alive for my travel group

and also extend that opportunity to those

of you who've learned about us through

Facebook, your family, your friends.

I really appreciate hearing the feedback

and how much of you have enjoyed

these tours during the last two years.

And thankfully,

these virtual tour presentations

have served both purposes very well.

We've done about 70 tours

since COVID started.

If you want to access any

of the recordings, they are all available

on my website and my YouTube

channel, girltraveltours.com,

and also the Facebook page.

We have several more tours

planned for this coming year.

Many of them are listed on my website,

and you're able to sign up for them

at this time, and we are adding

more and more as we go along.

Right now, I have a few

that are ready for registration.

Shanghai is next week's tour.

Stonehenge will be back

with George for that one.

We're going to do a Scottish tour that

focuses on the regions

with the distilleries, which is

pretty much all over Scotland.

That will be Austin.

We will be back with Vlad for Bucharest,

Romania, on the 25th of January.

Then, we're going to head over to Italy

for Piedmont, back to the United States,

where we're going to explore

the canyon country

with the U.S. National Parks.

We're going to do Lake Cuomo,

which I believe I spelled wrong

on the slide, and I apologize.

It does not have a "U."

Madrid and then Slovenia.

And I am talking to guides all over

the world, so we will continue to add

more destinations as they come up.

As long as you're interested in viewing

these virtual tour presentations,

we will continue to produce them.

Just a quick heads-up regarding

the Facebook scammers that are charging

people for a link to join the tours.

If you paid for a link to join this

virtual tour, you should not have.

So, please know that the person that asked

you for that money is probably collecting

your credit card information to use

in some way that I can't even imagine.

But please report the person

who requested the charge.

Of course, you are here on your free will,

and if you choose to leave a tip

for the guide later on in the

presentation, that is up to you.

But you should not have paid

for access to this tour.

Okay, I want to review a few ways for you

to interact with us

during this presentation.

Feel free to ask questions about the tour,

the tour director,

or my travel program by using the Q&A link

in the Zoom toolbar or obviously

post on Facebook in the feed.

We will have a Q&A live after

the presentation session with the guide,

and we will address all the questions that

we can that come in through that module.

You can also chat with me through the chat

feature, and I'll do my best to answer

those chats after the introduction.

And as always,

I'm going to launch an interactive poll.

This gives us an opportunity to understand

what your connections are with where we

are going today, which is

the Christmas markets of Europe.

And this gives you an opportunity to tell

us that you have been and loved it.

You have a trip booked,

you plan to go in the future.

I have no set plans,

but I'm interested in the location,

or I am solely interested

in experiencing it virtually.

As many of you know, I have a trip booked.

We have a really good,

great big group of people who are going

to embark on an AmaWaterways river

cruise, and we're going to see many

of the most famous Christmas

markets next December.

If you want to join us,

please reach out and let me know

so that we can get one of those.

We only have, I think,

about six cabins left.

If you're interested, please let me know.

I think I've given enough time

for most people to answer the poll.

It looks like

most people have no set plans.

That means there is not a lot of people

on this virtual tour that are

coming with me next year.

But it does look like we have a handful

of people who have a trip booked,

and we always have some people who've been

and loved it, and they're coming back

to rekindle that passion they had

when they were there themselves.

I'm going to end the poll and share

the results with you so that you can see.

Looks like about 40% have no set plans

but are interested in the location.

We have about 16% that have been.

I will guarantee you that those odds,

we should always do the poll at the end

again and then compare the two,

because it always seems like we have

people who say, "I'm just interested in the

location, but I really don't want to go."

But then after the tour that we do,

the virtual tour,

they're like, "Oh, never mind.

It's on my bucket list.

I need to go there now."

Let us move forward.

If the poll does not go away

for you, if it's still up,

just hit the top

red dot so that it disappears

and you're not seeing the poll anymore.

Today's tour, like all of our tours,

are scheduled for 90 minutes plus a Q&A.

I hope you're ready with a little mulled

cider, not a drink this time or a snack,

but how about a little cup of hot

chocolate or mulled cider to go through

our journey of the Christmas

markets of Europe.

And as you know, a tour would not be

complete without

a fantastic tour director.

We are lucky to have back Georgiana today

with us, who also has led us on several

virtual tours in the past 18 months.

So, feel free to go back and visit

one of her old tours on recording.

I will share with you via chat and during

the Q&A how you can tip the tour guide.

If you appreciate this presentation

and our guide's knowledge,

there are several ways you can tip using

Venmo, PayPal, and a secure

website for credit cards.

Then if you'd like to send me a check

in the mail, you can do that as well.

I can send you an address

for you later on through chat.

Today, I want to welcome back

Georgiana on this very special day.

Welcome, Georgiana.

I hope you've had a wonderful day today,

full of celebration,

and you are ready to share with us

the Christmas markets of Europe.

If you're ready, you can come on,

take your controls, and I will

hand over the event to you.

How are you doing?

It's nice to see you again as usual.

Hi, Marah.

Hi, everyone.

I am actually trying to share

my screen, but I am not allowed.

Allowed?

Well, guess what?

I'll give you some

of the rights to do that.

How about that?

Yes.

How is everyone doing tonight?

It's so good to be back on

another virtual tour.

Let's see.

Yes, I want to continue.

Perfect.

I'm back online.

Okay.

All right.

Perfect.

Hello, again, everyone.

Good evening.

My name is Georgiana.

As you know, you might have seen

me before in Marah's virtual tours.

We have done quite a few together.

But if it's your first time ever attending

an event with Marah, let me

present myself very quickly.

So, I'm Georgiana.

I'm a Romanian tour guide.

But tonight, I want to take

you on a tour through Europe.

So not just Romania.

A little bit of Romania,

too, at the end, too.

But because it's Christmas,

because it's the holiday season,

and it's my last virtual tour for 2021,

it had to be festive.

And today is my birthday, too.

It's always a very interesting birthday

because it's between Christmas,

it's between New Year's Eve, and I'm

always celebrating for days continuously.

So tonight, I want to celebrate with you

by sharing the festive spirit

of Europe through its

Christmas markets, right?

Because I think a large part of European

attraction during wintertime

are the Christmas markets.

So, I will take you through a journey

through six of the biggest

European Christmas markets and also share

with you your beloved winter traditions

and the stories behind them,

because some of them might

be really, really surprising.

Now, the way I decided to structure

this tour is through the carol, right?

The 12 Days of Christmas,

and you should be ready for...

I mean, the 12 Days of Christmas

have already started.

This is the carol that I'm talking about.

If you've never heard of it,

we'll talk more during the 20th session

about it, but it's pretty much...

It's a repetitive song

with very interesting lyrics,

and these lyrics all have a symbolism

that I am going to talk about.

The 12 Days of Christmas.

It's actually the period between

Christmas, the Christmas Day,

and Epiphany, or the sixth of January,

or the baptism of Christ.

Some people call this period of time

the Little Year,

as it is a miniature cycle that symbolizes

the 12 months of the year to come.

The first mention of this carol

actually dates back to 1780.

Now, I did tell you that I'm going to take

you through six different Christmas

markets, and those markets

are, presentation.

Is the presentation still good?

Yes, it is for me.

Okay.

So, I'm going to take you on a journey

from France all the way to Romania.

We'll start in Strasbourg.

Do follow my arrows here on

the map, right?

So, Strasbourg is in Eastern France.

Then we are going to go to Nuremberg.

From Nuremberg, we are here in Prague

and Czech Republic, Salzberg, and then

Vienna, to Austrian Christmas markets.

Very beautiful.

And then all the way to Bucharest,

the capital of Romania,

where we'll finish off our tour.

So, I did tell you that it's going

to be structured for each day.

So then we are going to start

with the 25th of December, Christmas Day.

We'll visit the Strasbourg Christmas Market

on the 26th of December,

I will tell you a little bit about the

Christmas tree that everyone has in their

living room and how it started,

its tradition started.

On the 27th of December, Of course,

we are talking about a virtual itinerary.

Imagine that you are

through Europe, right?

And you're visiting this

Christmas markets yourself.

So yesterday, you should have been

in Nuremberg Christmas market.

On the 20th of December, we'll talk

about mysterious Christmas characters.

29th of December, Prague Christmas market.

30th of December, my favorite bar,

we'll talk about food and drinks and

special treats for Christmas and holidays.

On the 31st of December,

we'll visit South for Christmas Market.

First of January, the first day of 2022,

we'll speak about New Year's predictions.

These are traditions,

customs on how you can predict the future

or how your new year is going to be.

The second of January,

we'll visit Vienna Christmas Market.

On the third of January, we'll talk about

weird, masked animals’ dances and their

symbolism, especially in Eastern Europe.

On the fourth of January,

we'll visit our last Christmas market,

and that's Bucharest Christmas Market.

And on the fifth of January,

we'll speak about the baptism of Christ

and some interesting customs related

to this very big celebration.

But first, as Marah said,

if you have the opportunity,

do get a mulled cider, or more preferred

in Europe is the mulled wine, right?

This is a photo taken

from a Christmas market.

They normally prepare the mulled

wine in really large cauldrons.

They'll add some sliced apples to it,

maybe sliced oranges, aniseed,

whatever condiments they want to use.

If you cannot have wine, then hot tea

works with the same condiments as well.

If you haven't had the chance to get

a drink in your hand,

I decided to share a recipe with you

to help you in the future, or maybe if you

want to watch this tour again next year.

It's just a small recipe.

If you get the chance to print,

screen this slide.

If not, I'll share it

again during the Q&A.

But as you can see,

the ingredients can differ.

You can add the black peppercorns into the

wine or into the tea, honey, sugar,

bay leaves, cinnamon,

apple, whatever you like.

It's according to your taste.

I think the main thing

is to be hot and tasty.

Of course, if you've ever attended one of

my tour, you do know that I like quizzes.

I will share at the end of the tour a quiz

where you get the chance to test

your knowledge and see if you've

learned something new on this tour.

And also you get the chance

to win a postcard.

Send directly from me

a Christmas postcard.

Three of the people that will get

the highest score on this quiz

will receive a written postcard.

All right.

So you have the wine,

you have the itinerary.

Let's get right into it.

Now, we've been through a pandemic,

and Christmas markets, unfortunately,

have been one of the most,

I don't want to say attacked,

but most of them got canceled.

So, I do have a top here of best

Christmas markets in Europe from 2019.

That is considered the last normal year,

so to say, as far as tourism goes.

So, you will see that the places,

the Christmas markets that we

to visit tonight are in this top.

Germany and France, of course, they have

some of the best Christmas markets.

They appear twice.

And then we also have Romania.

This is a new entry.

Sibiu is a smaller town

in Transylvania. Austria,

Denmark, Sweden, and so on.

But before we start with the 12 days

of Christmas, I want to talk a little bit

about the history of the Christmas

markets, the origins

of the Christmas markets.

And you have here a photo

of Striezelmarkt,

the Christmas market in Dresden.

The Christmas market is

actually a street market, right?

It's associated with the celebration of

Christmas during the four weeks of advent.

We'll talk about that,

about what advent is a little bit later.

These markets originated in Germany,

but are now held, of course,

in many other countries.

A lot of people adopted

the tradition of Christmas.

Now, their history goes back

to the Middle Ages and in many parts

of the former Holy Roman Empire.

This includes many regions in France,

too, even though the first

one started in Germany.

Now, this Christmas market,

it is said to have started in 1434,

and it is considered the first genuine

Christmas market, organized specifically

to honor the Christmas traditions,

because there are earlier mentions of such

markets in places like

Vienna, for example.

The mention dates back to 1298 or Munich

or in Frankfurt earlier

than the 15th century.

However, these were only markets that sold

meat and that evolved into selling

seasonal treats, decorations, and crafts.

Eventually, when they started being

accompanied by dancing and singing,

they have also started being

associated with Christmas.

Now, I did talk about the advent.

The advent is actually the last four

weeks that lead up to Christmas.

It was spent in preparation for the coming

of Christ child, of the baby Jesus Christ.

It starts on St Andrew's Day,

which is the 30th of November,

and it finishes on the 24th of December,

or the Christmas Eve.

That's when we're getting ready

for the little year, so to say,

or the 12 days of Christmas.

The advent also has a symbol.

We have the Advent wreath

or the Advent crown.

It's actually a Christian tradition.

It symbolizes the passage of the four

weeks leading up to Christmas Day.

It is a Lutheran practice.

Now it's spread out

to many other Christian denominations.

It is an evergreen crown.

It has four candles, sometimes fifth.

The four candles symbolize

the four weeks, right?

And you light a candle every Sunday

on each Sunday of one of those four weeks.

And the fifth candle in the middle

represents Jesus Christ.

Of course, lighting up the candle,

of course, is accompanied by saying

a prayer or going to church.

Now, I don't know if you knew this,

but this is a very interesting story.

The Advent crown has actually been invented

by a German guy by his

name, Johann Wichern.

Now, it is generally accepted to have

been invented by him in 1830s.

He was the director of a protestant

institution. So, he wasn't necessarily

being part of the church

or a religious institution.

No, he cared for underprivileged children,

and he had this idea of restraining

the children's free Christmas in patience

by lighting a new candle each day

from the first to the 23rd of December

with a larger candle,

the white ones here, for each Sunday.

And this is what helped the kids to wait

patiently for Santa Claus' coming.

It was around

1860s that it actually began to take

the form of the wreath that I showed you,

the smaller one with just

four or five candles.

And it does proclaim the victory of light

over darkness,

the defeat of winter by spring.

It is this symbolism of light gaining

victory over the darkness comes back with

us all the time in Christmas traditions.

Now, biblical symbols have also suggested

that these four candles represent,

for example, the 4,000

years of waiting time.

In fact, other historians have said that

the wreath actually goes back

to the Hanukkah lamps.

Now, also in celebration of the advent,

we do have the advent calendar,

which is quite popular today, but it does

not have its origins into the Middle Ages.

The first Advent calendar appeared

in the 1850s, and they were homemade.

They appeared in different shapes and

forms, mainly with the 24,

the varying from 24 lines,

they were put up on a wall, and you

would have to plaster a cardboard, right?

So they didn't have the window shape

that we are accustomed to today.

This is, you're looking at the very first commercial

Advent calendar that was

published in Munich in 1903.

It was only from the 1920s that it started

coming in the form with the little

windows that revealed an image every day.

And it was at the end of the

1950s that chocolates were actually added

to these windows for children to discover.

Now, you might be thinking,

how did the Christmas markets gain so much

popularity. And it was actually

with the help of this guy

on the left, Martin Luther.

He was the monk who started

the Reformation.

He suggested that the birth of Christ was

actually a more appropriate

gift-giving day than other saints' day.

Now, if you don't know, when

the protestants decided to separate

from the Catholic Church,

they considered all saints 'idols.'

And that's why they took Jesus Christ as

a representative instead of any other

saint, because before this,

all of the markets that we've talked

about, like the precursors

of the Christmas markets that we know

today, were called St. Nicholas markets.

We'll see why in just a few

moments in the next slide.

Now, the practice of gift giving was also

started back in the 12th century, and

it evolved into being represented

during the Christmas Day

because of the Reformation.

Nativity scenes are also

very popular and very common.

I would say that they are more common

in Catholic and Protestant countries than

in Orthodox countries, even though

Orthodox do celebrate Christmas, too.

But there are much fewer Orthodox

countries in Europe than

Protestant or Catholic.

Initially, the nativity scene was started

as a liturgical drama with living beings.

It was started in Italy.

After this, the scenes were composed of

movable figurines

that appeared in churches.

And slowly but surely,

they started to increase in popularity,

starting with the 19th century and have

been adopted by protestants

from the 20th century onward.

Much more common in Orthodox countries

this time is the Nativity fast.

This is a period of abstinence and penance

practiced by the Orthodox

and the Catholic Church.

But I would say that the Orthodox

fast is a little bit more severe.

If you want to speak more about this,

we can do so during the Q&A.

But just to summarize, a fast,

for example, means that you are not eating

red meat, poultry,

meat products of any kind, eggs,

dairy products, fish, oil, and wine.

There are certain days when you are

allowed to eat either fish, wine, or oil.

But for the majority of the time

that leads all the way

to the Christmas Day,

most of the Christians

will practice the fasting.

Now, on the 24th of December,

which is the Christmas Eve,

it's the night when Jesus Christ was born.

This marks the high point

of the Christmas cycle.

Now, the Christmas gathering combines

an especially friendly atmosphere

with a strong spiritual side,

although nowadays is less

purely religious, I would say.

An essential feature

of the Christmas Eve is singing.

In the Middle Ages,

the celebrations for Christmas didn't take

place until well after midnight

because you would have to go to church.

Nowadays, not a lot of people still go

to church on Christmas Eve, so the

celebration will start around 6:00 PM.

Christmas Eve is the moment when

the fasting and dependence that we talked

about earlier stops,

and that's when you're allowed to eat all

of the food and all of the treats

that you've carefully prepared,

especially for this celebration.

Another thing, another story related

to the Christmas Eve is the fact

that animals acquire the gift of speech,

and they use that sometimes,

or most often, to complain about humans.

Another very friendly habit

or tradition is caroling.

I have here a photo of Christmas

caroling in Maramures.

Maramures is a very

traditional region of Romania.

I have chosen it because they do have very

interesting and very cute

traditional costumes.

And this practice is still kept alive

in this region much more

than in other places.

Now, Caroline, of course, today,

if you're in a city,

you'll see not just children, but of

course, teenagers or younger people, too.

Traditionally, they would receive goods,

like fruits or maybe pretzels or cheese,

or if you're of age,

maybe glasses of wine.

But nowadays, it's easier

to just settle for money.

Another very interesting character

associated with Christmas Eve with the

24th of December is,

of course, Santa Claus.

Now, Santa Claus is probably

the most popular symbol of Christmas,

but let's see how he started,

where did his story originate?

We have on the left here

a picture of St. Nicholas.

Now, St. Nicholas is actually the person

that inspired the figure of Santa Claus.

St. Nicholas came from a very wealthy

family that died during an epidemic

when he was young. He ended up using his

inheritance and traveled through

the countryside to help

poor and sick children.

His popularity started growing,

and he quickly became known for his piety

and kindness,

with many legends tied to his story.

Now, one of the best known stories

of Nicholas mentions him helping three

poor sisters for being sold into slavery

by giving them dowries so

they could get married.

It is said that the bags filled

with riches had been tossed through

the window and they landed

in the stockings and shoes left before

the fire to dry,

which can only be the origins of today's

custom of hanging your

stockings above the fireplace.

Now St.

Nicholas became the bishop

with the joy of giving.

He is considered the protector of children

and sailors, and his day is

celebrated on the sixth of December.

It is the anniversary of his death.

He is considered one of the most

popular saints in Europe.

Now, in the 12th century, it was French

times that still kept the tradition of St.

Nicholas of giving gifts,

and they were secretly leaving presents

at the homes of four children

on the Eve of Saint Nicholas.

This practice of gift giving has quickly

spread out all throughout Europe.

And today, children will receive gifts,

as you see here on the right,

on the 6th of December, and on the 25th

of December.

And that happens because initially,

Christmas markets started off

as markets dedicated to St.

Nicholas.

And then, after the Reformation,

they evolved into being

dedicated to Jesus Christ.

So, what did the people do?

They kept both tradition

of gift giving, both for St.

Nicholas and for Jesus Christ on the 25th.

Now,

the rise of the Protestant Reformation

in the 16th century, as I said, they

included the condemnation of the saints.

St. Nicholas

was no exception.

They've condemned St. Nicholas

too, started dedicating the

markets to Jesus Christ, as you see here.

But then they had another problem.

They

couldn't really use the baby Jesus Christ

as the person to bring gifts

because he was too little.

So, they started using St.

Nicholas as Jesus Christ's helper.

So, he is the one that actually carries all

of the gifts for children

with Jesus Christ leading.

Nowadays,

fast forward to the 18th century,

this is a picture of Santa Claus

as everyone knows him to date.

It was a newspaper in New York

that reported that a group of Dutch

families gathered together

to celebrate Santa Claus.

These are the very first accounts

of Santa Claus making its

way into the United States.

And the name Santa Claus evolved

from the Dutch nickname of St. Nicholas,

which is Sinterklaas, a former,

a shorter form of Sint-Nicolaas.

He has become so popular

that very few people actually know

that Santa Claus actually

originates from St. Nicholas.

You know this guy?

I hope he was very generous and

good to you on the 25th of December.

And I am very curious to find out

in the chat,

what gifts did you receive this Christmas?

Now, we have gone through a little bit

of the history of the Christmas markets.

Of course, there's always so much more

to say, but we are ready to start

with the 12 Days of Christmas.

So, 25th of December, Christmas Day.

This is the beginning of the little year,

and the first lyrics

in My Twelve Day Carol,

which is "A partridge in a pear tree."

The symbolism of this

lyrics is Jesus Christ.

Do pay attention to the symbolisms

that I share with you all along the week.

They will help you with the quiz.

So the partridge in the pear tree

symbolizes the most important person in

Christianity, and that's Jesus Christ.

This also takes us to our very first

Christmas market, and that's Strasbourg.

Now, Strasbourg has been commonly

known as the Capital de Noël.

That means Christmas capital.

And I do have a video for you to share.

This is not a video that belongs to me.

You've just seen the company

that produced this video.

And it takes you on a tour through

the Strasbourg Christmas Market.

Now, this market has actually

been around since 1570s.

It was called Chrìstkìndelsmärik.

That is its original name in Alsatian.

You will see it written

during this video, too.

And it's one of the oldest markets

in Europe, the oldest market in France.

And it takes place from the 29th

of November until the 31st of December.

Now, nativity traditions are very

well-developed in this area because

of its proximity to Germany.

You'll see even the houses look a lot

more German than in the rest of France.

Now, Germany and Alsace,

which is this region

at the border of France and Germany,

have equally beautiful Christmas markets.

You'll find lots of local

producers, craftsmen.

All the decoration sold here are

traditional and handmade,

and it's just a joy to stroll the streets

with a glass of blue wine

or "Vin Chaud" or mulled wine.

Vin Chaud is in French,

blue wine is in German,

and just admire the wooden

beamed houses all along the city.

Now, this is the photo that Marah actually

used for the description of the score,

and it's taken in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg actually draws more than 2

million visitors

every year as an attraction, and the

place is well-booked up in advance.

In fact, Strasbourg and France have

actually kept the Christmas

markets this year.

Some European countries,

as you might know, like Germany, they

canceled all of their Christmas markets.

France decided to go on.

I have actually went to visit

the Christmas markets three weeks ago,

And, of course, the regulations

were to be vaccinated.

Your vaccine would be checked

at the entrance to the market.

Masks weren't everywhere.

As far as I know,

the number of people that were there was

about half of what it would normally be.

Drinking and eating was

done in specific areas.

We are under a pandemic.

It is COVID.

So, in a way, it does steal a little bit

from the Christmas atmosphere because you

cannot really stroll around holding

a glass of blue wine or

mulled wine in your hands.

But I was really, really happy that they

continued being organized and you could

still enjoy the beautiful decoration,

beautiful house and the streets in these

medieval cities.

Now,

France, as I said,

is home to many beautiful Christmas

markets and located very close

to Strasbourg and also in the top that I

share with you at the beginning is Colmar.

Colmar is a town located south

of Strasbourg, very, very beautiful,

known for the decoration, for the stuffed

animals hanging outside of the windows.

And people say sometimes that it's

even better than Strasbourg.

Now, in my opinion, they are similar,

only that Colmar is much smaller and much

more concentrated in a smaller area.

So, it's easier to stroll around

and admire many different decorations.

Now, they did call Strasbourg the capital

of Noel, and they called Colmar, l'Année de

Noël, which means the heart of Christmas.

So, yeah, both of them are very charming.

If you want to see a little bit of our

experience, these are just

some photos from some street views,

some houses that we particularly enjoy.

And at the end, of course,

some traditional, I wouldn't necessarily

say Christmas treats, but I had to try the

Escargot or the French

snails in the Alsatian sauce.

They are served in every Christmas market.

They're very common alongside with

oysters, French onion soup,

and of course, a beer.

I don't know how well the beer

goes with the French onion soup.

But we did have to try because Christmas

beers are a thing in France, at least.

And every beer producer will

have its very own Christmas Brew.

What does it mean, Christmas Brew?

That the beer does have some Christmas

spices, and the recipe for these spices,

of course, differ from brewery to brewery.

One thing that I wouldn't necessarily

recommend is the mulled beer.

It's not very common.

We only found it in a single stall in one

single Christmas market,

and we were thinking, why isn't the

mulled beer more popular here.

And then we quickly found our answers when

we had our first taste of the mulled beer.

It's not as pleasant as it tastes,

a little bit like medicine.

So, skip the mulled beer.

Just go for a cold beer if you're in the

mood, and go straight for the mulled wine.

All right.

Second day of Christmas is the 26th

of December,

and we have come to the second

lyric of the carol, "Two turtle doves."

They represent the Old

and the New Testament.

The 26th of December in

Catholic religion is also St.

Stephen's Day, which is the beginning

of the working year,

especially for domestic servants.

And we need to talk because

we talked about Strasbourg.

I want to talk a little bit about

the Christmas tree and the decoration

that adorn these beautiful giants, right?

The first mention of a Christmas tree

actually dates back to 1492 in Strasbourg.

This is why I chose to talk about it here.

Now, the custom spread through

the Germanic area and then

elsewhere in the 19th century.

However, it is really due

to the North American immigrants that came

from the Alsace region or from Germany.

The decorated tree became an established

symbol of Christmas,

similar to Santa Claus, too.

Now, you have here an illustration

dating back to the 19th century.

Christmas trees were originally placed

only in public places,

but they later entered the private homes,

where due to the lack of space,

they were either

hanged from the ceiling or just placed

on tables, such as this

one that you see here.

It was at the end of the 19th century

that they made their way inside

the living room.

Now, traditionally, the fir

trees were home-decorated, right?

You would use household items such as

apples, walnuts, ribbons,

communion wafers, sweets.

Once every country started being more

and more industrialized,

you would also use figurines that were

either in wood, maybe cloth, cardboard.

With the appearance of electricity,

you would have garlands.

Initially, there were actual candles,

decorating the tree, and so on.

It was at the beginning of the

1920s that the first artificial fir tree

appeared, and in my opinion,

I think we should go back to

that artificial tree because it was

actually made, the branches were made

from goose feathers that were died green.

Very environmental friendly,

much better than the plastic

artificial trees, I would say.

We'll see if it makes its way,

if this tradition makes its way back.

And the second photo is actually

the Christmas tree from this

year's Strasbourg market.

It is traditionally of imposing height.

We make it a point to be the tallest

Christmas tree in Europe.

I do not know the exact height of this

tree right now, but it was enormous

and very, very beautifully decorated.

Another thing that I would like to share

with you that I found very interesting was

the glass decorations and their origins.

I did tell you that originally Christmas

trees were adorned with very

bright red apples and walnuts.

But there was a draft

at the beginning in the 1850s.

So people were unable

to decorate their trees.

They didn't have enough food to eat,

so they can't necessarily

waste it on decoration.

So, it was then that the glass makers came

with an idea to produce glass apples.

So,

that's how the glass decoration tradition

started, and that's why they have mostly

the round shape from the walnuts

and from the apples.

The production of glass decoration stopped

in the 1960s when they were faced

with the competition of the plastic

made ones that came from China.

However, the tradition was revived

at the beginning of the 1990s.

And now, especially in the markets

from France, Germany,

and Western countries that do have a very

strong Christmas tradition, all the

craftsmens will sell hand-made decorations.

Plastic is much as possible avoided.

Now, on the 27th of December,

we are celebrating St.

John's Day.

Now, until the 19th century, people

wished each other the blessing of St.

John and shared the glass

of wine for good luck.

The Lyric in the Carol is three French

hands, which represent faith,

hope, and charity.

These are the theological virtues.

I would like to know, by the way

at the end of this

tour, once you see the symbolism of each

lyric, if you knew the symbolisms, and if

you didn't, which one is your favorite?

On the 27th of December,

we are visiting the Nuremberg

Christmas market.

Now, this is a very, very beautiful

and traditional Christmas market.

Of course, I do have a video to share.

This is one of Germany's oldest Christmas

fairs, and it is organized

in the main square of Nuremberg.

It dates back to the mid-16th century.

This video was actually shared in 2020

by the local administration in remembrance

of the fact that they will not be

organizing the Christmas market in 2020,

but they did share

footage from the 2019 one.

Now, the Christmas market,

as you see it today, it was started

like this back in the 1933s, when

it was a very much romanticized event.

They used an actress dressed up as a Christmas angel,

just as you see in this video too.

She was accompanied by two golden

Christmas tree fairies,

a children's choir, everything.

Now, since 1969,

the tradition has been different.

Every two years, a young Nuremberg woman

between 16 or 19 is elected as Chriskin

or Chrischild for a two-year period.

Nuremberg is

known as the city with a lot of wooden

boots, the little city of wood and cloth.

You will find lots of traditional handmade

Christmas decoration sweet treats as

the gingerbread that you saw in the video,

the large gingerbread,

and Spekulatius, almond cookies.

We'll speak about Christmas

treats in just a little bit.

We have arrived to the 28th of December or

today, and we're talking

about four calling words.

That's the fourth lyric in the carol

that represents the four Gospels,

or the four evangelists.

Now, the 20th of December also marks

the Holy Innocents Day,

which was formerly a fertility feast.

It featured quite a strange costume in

which young men would touch

village girls with a stick.

It is also thought that the children

who died on this day without being

baptized would come back to haunt their

village in search of redemption.

That's why it's called

the Holy Innocents Day.

We are going to talk a little bit now

about mysterious Christmas characters,

and do let me know if you've ever

heard of either Hans Trapp or Krampus.

Now, these are very

big European characters.

They are a little bit more

aggressive than what you

would expect from a Christmas character,

but they do have their

origins in the Middle Ages.

Now, the first one is the Hans Trapp.

According to Alsatian lore,

Alsatia being the region in France

that we talked about at the beginning,

the Hans Trapp was actually a local man

renowned for his grief

and unscrupulousness.

He actually used witchcraft,

deals with the devil to become rich.

After being excommunicated

from the Catholic Church,

he lost his wealth and social standing.

He took to roaming the countryside

disguised as a scarecrow.

If you do not identify him,

he is the one here on the left.

Now, at some point, the Hans Trapp,

this is actually a photo from Strasbourg

taken this year,

with the story being projected

on a building for all the children

attending the Christmas market.

So, the Hans Trapp became consumed

with the idea when he was still alive,

with the idea of tasting human flesh.

He actually lured a shepherd boy to his

death and cooked him over the fire.

Before the Hans Trapp would take

his first bite,

God decided, the things have gone

too far, and he struck him by lightning.

Now, even though Hans Trapp died,

the legend says that he returns sometimes

on Christmas to go from door to door,

looking for young,

tasty, naughty children.

So, this is a story that French children

will hear on their Christmas Eve

when they wait for Santa.

The other character that I wanted to talk

about, and he looks quite

scary to me, is the Krampus.

Now, this tradition happens in Austria,

Slovenia, Croatia, and Northern Italy,

so it's not found all throughout Europe.

Now, in many other European countries, St.

Nicholas has also companions

that act as a negative counterpart.

St. Nich

is actually a benevolent good cop,

whereas the Krampus is the bad cop.

You do not want to meet the bad cop.

The Krampus is a particularly bad one

because it's a demonic half-goat monster

with horns and a very long tongue.

He drags chains behind him as he

walks and rattles him ominously.

He carries a birch with which he whips bad

children and sometimes

a basket to kidnap them.

It's on the Eve of St.

Nicholas, right?

So, on December 5th, at the Krampus,

hordes of Krampuses

march through Alpine towns

in the countries that I've mentioned

before in elaborate,

very sinister costumes.

In recent years,

the Krampuses do have a tendency to go

on drunken rampages, getting in fights,

destroying property, and this

has become a bit of a problem.

Now, I do have an experience with

Krampus in Austria back in 2010.

I was actually really scared of them.

It was in the evening,

it was a Christmas market.

They came out in a truck,

and they started going wild on the crowd.

So, initially I thought

it was just for the show.

But then they really started

whipping people in the crowd.

And everyone would disperse, would just

be scared, hiding behind buildings.

And the whipping was not just

for the show, like pretending to hit you.

No, they would actually

really, really hit you.

So, that left me a little bit in shock

because it was the very first time that I

have seen tradition taken this far.

But I think this was more

of the exception rather than the rule,

because even in Romania, we do have

masks such as this one used for Christmas

traditions, and they are normally out

there

said to protect you against evil spirits,

or to scare you

into becoming a better human, I guess.

The 29th of December,

we have reached our fifth lyric,

and that's "Five Golden Rings."

The Five Golden Rings represent the first

five books of the Old Testament,

the Pentateuch,

which gives the history

of man's fall from grace.

And we have also reached Czech Republic.

We've left France, we've left Germany.

We are now in Czech Republic,

and we are visiting its capital's

Christmas market, and that's in Prague.

Now, Prague is actually one of the most

fairytale cities in Europe,

and its Christmas market is one

of the most sought-after to date.

The markets consist of decorated wooden

huts that sell traditional handicrafts,

glassware, jewelry, embroidered lace,

wooden toys, ceramics, scented candles,

pretty much similar to other

European Christmas markets: hats, gloves,

scarves, Christmas tree decorations,

but what really stands out in these

Christmas market, and what is a little bit

different from Christmas market

to Christmas market, it's the food, right?

You will always taste mouthwatering local

and traditional foods, sweets,

plenty of hot spice wine to keep you warm.

And the main reason for which tourists

have started liking Prague

Christmas market more than maybe France or

German ones, was the fact

that it's not as big.

Some people will say that it has

a more authentic Christmas atmosphere

because it's smaller and not as crowded.

On the 29th of December,

we are going into the 30th of December,

closely approaching the end

of the year. "Six geese a-laying,"

which represents the 6 days of creation.

We have come to,

as I said at the beginning,

my favorite part, that's food

and drinks and Christmas treats.

I have actually found online a very

interesting map

on the website TasteAtlas.

I can share this with you at the end if

you want to look at it more closely,

but it's actually a map of the traditional

Christmas cake in each country.

We have here, for example, in Romania,

Cozonac, or we have Bûche de Noël in France,

or we have Stollen in Germany.

It's a very, very

cool map to check out where

your Christmas cookies took inspiration

from, so to say, and what other countries

are having for your Christmas meal.

Some of the most popular Christmas treat,

of course, is gingerbread.

Now this gingerbread, this delicacy,

because I do think it's delicacy,

was found in Western Europe starting

with the 13th and 14th century.

It did start in four German cities

initially, one of which was Nuremberg.

And because spices in those times came

from very, very far away,

gingerbread was reserved

for very well-to-do families.

It did, they were classed as very big

presents to give out.

It was a luxury.

It was considered a luxury gift to give

among friends for formal visits or

maybe to give it to your sweetheart.

It was only from the 16th century that it

became customary to give gingerbread

to children on Christmas Day

or on St. Nicholas Day.

These are in the shape of St. Nicholas

or Santa Claus of German inspiration.

But gingerbread takes so

many different shapes today.

As you well know, the decorating

gingerbread has become a competition.

I have chosen four different

Christmas treats in my personal top,

and that's the Berawecka.

Berawecka is a fruitcake located in France,

specifically in Alsatia.

It does consist of candy,

dried fruits, all put together.

It's not very doughy, so it's very sweet

and very concentrated and caramelized.

Then we have the Bredele.

Bredele is French Christmas cookie.

They are little shortbreads, biscuits,

but a wide variety of ingredients.

They can be either covered in powdered

almond or in powdered sugar.

They can have cinnamon, anise seed,

hazelnuts, all sorts of gems,

all sorts of...

There are so many different recipes

and variations among bakers that it's very

hard to pinpoint just certain

specific popular Bredele.

Then the other one is the Stollen.

The Stollen is a rich, dense,

and very sweet cake-like bread, so

different from the Berawecka,

the one above.

It's filled with dried fruits,

with candied citrus peels, nuts.

It has a very dense butter and sugar

coating on top of it.

And this holds all of the

different flavors together.

Lastly, we have the gingerbread.

We did speak about

the Nuremberg gingerbread.

Don't be fooled about the photo.

The gingerbread that you see here is

actually the size of my hand,

if not bigger.

They are known for their

very delicious gingerbreads.

If you've ever visited Nuremberg,

do let me know if you've

tasted this particular variety.

We've started with the sweets because,

let's be honest,

Christmas time is the time where everyone

gets a very strong sugar

rush pretty much every day.

But I do have a taste

for savory treats, too.

And this is a photo taken

from a Romanian Christmas market.

It's not from Bucharest,

but it does represent Romanian

foods that you will be served at a market,

and in particular, kidney bean soup

with pork knuckles or sausages.

Do notice the meat hanging above.

Now, you do know European countries

are meat-eating countries.

We do have the habit

of slaughtering a pig for Christmas.

This tradition has been kept very much

alive, particularly in Eastern European

countries and in the countryside.

But there are

so many different recipes of cured meats,

sausages, and smoked meats, too.

Now, this is the perfect

definition of a comfort food.

If you're in a very cold Christmas market,

the kidney bean soup will

heat you up very nicely.

"Honoring the pig" or "pig's arms" is actually

the first meal that you prepare

after slaughtering the pig.

And it's the meal that honors the pig

that will

end up feeding the family for the year

to come because that's how

the tradition developed.

You would raise that pig during spring,

summer, and autumn,

slaughter it for Christmas for the most

important celebration of the year

alongside with Easter,

and then eat from that pig

all throughout the next year.

This is pretty much just pork meat,

cooked in a cauldron in its own fat.

If you're in a mood of something cold,

like a cold appetizers,

there are so many variations

of what you could do with pork meat.

Now, a particular one is

this one in the middle.

It's kind of like a gelatin-cured meat treat.

We call it toba.

Toba actually means drum.

It's made with the pork's ears

and some parts of the animal's stomach,

maybe some other organs,

all boiled up and served with mustard.

It's absolutely delicious.

Now, another delicious pork treat.

Now, I'm really sorry.

In case you do not eat meat, I am not

trying to overstep any boundaries.

These are traditional meals served

for Christmas, and pork is huge.

As opposed to any other type of meat,

like chicken or beef, pork is the one

that's commonly consumed over Christmas.

These are crispy pork lard or jumări,

we call them in Romanian.

They are pretty much fried pieces

of pork skin with fat

and meat at the same time.

And lastly, I do want

to share a photo of big bread.

It is a braided bread from Bucovina.

Bucovina is a region

in the north and of Romania.

They are shaped to look like

the sun or maybe like the moon.

And there are so many

traditions related to it.

They'll keep it until spring,

and then they'll feed to their animals.

The animals will have a good year.

They will use this to bless

the agricultural works in the field, too.

Keep it around the house, so,

so many different beliefs.

On the 31st of December,

we have arrived the seventh Lyric,

and that's "Seven swans a-swimming,"

and that represents the seven gifts of

the Holy spirit or the seven sacraments.

Now, the 31st of December is actually

also St. Silvester's or New Year's Eve.

One thing that I want to share

here about New Year's Eve.

You do know that nowadays we celebrate it

by throwing out fireworks

or fire crackers.

This tradition started in the 19th

century, so it's not very old.

The New Year was greeted with gunshots,

which were replaced

with the fireworks and the fire crackers.

We are visiting now Austria,

and the first market that we'll see in

Austria is the Salzburg Christmas Market.

Now, Salzburg Christmas Market is

one of Austria's oldest Advent markets.

It is

at the heart of the old city in Salzburg,

which is part of the

UNESCO World Heritage.

It does have have traditional scans,

just like the one that you saw in Germany

or in France or in Czech Republic.

This market has existed the way

it looks today since 1974.

Of course, the original market was

here for much earlier than that.

And there are local folk costumes.

People go out to sing carols.

Children can attend a petting farm, right?

So, local producers or

farm workers will bring their animals

for children to play with,

the nativity

scene, lots of workshops,

the traditional Christmas cookies,

and that's the hand of a Krampus.

Now you'll get to see a little bit

of their tradition, what we talked about.

They're coming out,

whipping their wooden branches,

always coming out at night, right?

So, not necessarily during the day,

to scare the children right before they go

to bed and pray for better

deeds in the new year.

So, yes, Salzburg is a very charming,

very unique atmosphere.

The Krampus tradition,

even though a little bit scary

is very interesting to see and to witness.

And I would say Austria is the country

to go and see this happening.

The first of January,

the first day of the year,

our lyric is "8 Maids a-milking,"

which represents the eighth Beatitudes.

Now, the Beatitudes are eight blessings

which were recounted by Jesus in the sermon

on the mount in the gospel of Matthew.

There is a lot more that I

could talk about this here.

But if you're interested

in specifically finding out which are

the eight Beatitudes,

do ask me at the end in the Q&A.

Now, the New Year will also come

with the people's desire to find out

what's going to happen

to them in the New Year.

How is the future going to look like.

People have been trying to predict

the weather

ever since the beginning of times, right?

On the 1st of January,

we also celebrate St. Basil or Vasile,

which is the Romanian name

that derives from the word "basil."

It is a very important tradition

in Romanian culture,

not just in Romanian culture,

in other European cultures, too,

because the amount of wine

that you drink during this day will tell

you how much bigger you'll actually

have for the rest of the year.

I'm not really sure

who came up with this,

but it must have been a very cold winter

that pushed them to adopt this tradition

to drink lots of wine on the first

of January because you'll have

a very healthy year ahead.

Now, it is said that on the night between

the years, the sky opens up

and God can receive your prayer.

St. Basil actually took a bell,

it tied it to a basil twig, and then

used it to direct your wishes to God.

Now, of course, hearing of this,

all of the Romanians tried to follow suit.

And now we do use a lot of basil

in a lot of religious celebrations.

You'll see why later.

That's a representation of the tradition

I told you about earlier.

Now, custom also has it that on the New

Year's, you also have to wear new clothes.

If you want to have a prosperous new year,

you have to be all dressed up. Now, the

clothes that you see here are

traditional clothes, handmade.

I have a feeling that this tradition

actually helped a lot of fashion

retail stores over the year.

It's also very wise on this day to have

as much money on you as possible.

It's bad luck to borrow or lend money

in the days around New Year's, so you

don't end up without them.

In some areas, women will actually bake

a bread in which they hide coins,

and the person who finds the coins in this

piece of bread will have luck

for the rest of the year.

And, of course, you do know this tradition,

red is the color of cheer and love,

and it is a tradition to wear something

red on you on the night between the years.

Now, green can complement red as it

symbolizes rebirth and a new beginning,

as you can see from here, right?

Red and green.

All the decorations

revolve around these two colors.

Another popular tradition,

although it's a little bit more

macabre, is charcoal prediction.

Before going to bed,

you would take as many pieces of charcoal

from the stove as your family members,

and you would name them.

It is said that whichever charcoal burns

out first will be the first one to die.

And because I told you about our need to

predict the weather, this is a calendar.

We call it the "onion calendar,"

and the way it works is like

You take out a peel, like a

piece of the onion, put some salt,

attribute

one piece of the onion to each month,

put salt inside,

and you see on some months it'll be

more wet, on others it will be more dry.

So, that's how you know if you're going

to face a drought or not during

the agricultural year

or how much rainfall you will have.

On the second day of the year,

we are talking about the nine ladies

dancing, which represents the nine

fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit

are actually considered to be "love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness,

and self-control."

Now, all of these words do originate from

Greek traditions.

From Salzburg, we are traveling to Vienna.

We're still in Austria.

Vienna is the capital of Austria,

and we are visiting its Christmas market.

Now, today, the Vienna Christmas market is

one of the most beautiful ones in Europe.

There are some mentions, as I said,

that Vienna would be one of the oldest

markets in Europe dating back

to the 13th century, but those are false.

Those were just producers' markets, but not

necessarily Christmas markets, right?

It was started much,

much later in the 16th century

as a specific Christmas market,

and it continued to be moved around town

until it found the place where it is

traditionally held today,

which is in front of the city hall.

It's a very nice song, so I'll

let you enjoy it for a little bit.

[BACKGROUND SONG] (Whatever we do, we will be all right.

These holiday wonders will open your mind.

May all your wishes tonight come true.

The love I live, the dream

I know.

This Christmas, I only

want to be close to you).

The

Vienna Christmas Market actually has

amazing food stalls, amazing hot drinks,

and awesome, very awesome

holiday atmosphere.

Lots of activities dedicated to children,

where they can make their very own

Christmas treats, as you see

from the ending of this video.

So, here we'll talk on the 3rd of January

about the "Ten Lords A-Leaping" or

the "Ten Commandments," which I'm

very sure you all already know.

But we are also going to talk about animal

masks and dances because these are some

of the most archaic traditions

that celebrate New Years, not just

in Romania, but in all European countries.

For each European country,

there is a mast animal or a mast

dance specific to their culture.

I have decided to share

with you the bear dance.

This is found only in Moldova,

which is the eastern region of Romania.

And I wanted to share it with you because

it's also one of the more spectacular

dances that I have ever seen.

Because we do have a large population

of wild bears in these areas,

the bear is one of the most

worshiped animals in the world.

This worship dates back

to ancient and prehistoric times.

And in the Romanian territories,

we know that our ancestors, the Dacians,

they regarded this as a very sacred

animal, and their central deity

also translates as bear skins.

Now,

this ancient people also believe

that the bears formed the pillars

of the Earth and have connected the myth

to the two well-known constellations,

Ursa Major or Ursa Minor,

or Big Dipper and the Small Dipper.

We have different names for it.

Now, the bear is perceived as

the one that regulates the season.

This is a video.

It's a very, very loud video.

The song is very striking.

It does have ritualic powers.

And do notice the dance, because

the bear is the one that regulates

the season through its hibernating habit. [DRUMMING SOUNDS]

So, let's see.

The bear dance symbolizes

the death and rebirth of nature.

The show starts with the bears rolling

in a circle, they are being beaten,

eventually dying, which

is this ritual right here.

And then they are brought back to life

using the wooden stick that you see

the center person carrying, and they are

lifted to the sky with this wooden stick.

This metaphor, actually, as I said,

represents the successions of the season,

closely tied to this animal because he

is capable of defeating winter, right?

Going into hibernation,

and coming back alive during spring.

You see them holding up their pause

to represent their ascension to the sky.

These are actually bear skins.

They are real, but they have been

passed down for four generations.

Today,

of course, hunting bears is prohibited,

and you cannot get new skins unless you

make them out of a different material.

Now, the bear dance is almost a shamanic

ritual, as I've said,

and the dancers have this in their blood,

especially the ones from these areas.

The dances do offer a little bit

of fascination and a little

bit of fear on the onlooker.

The purpose of it was

to scare evil spirits.

So, I guess you're doing a great job.

Now, another masked animal

dance is the goat dance.

Now, opposed to the bear dance,

which is a little bit more aggressive, the

goat dance is a little bit more lively.

The goat dance is considered to be

the one that holds up all of the other

animal traditions, and it is

practiced all over the country.

Now, I have a different video for you

from the countryside. [MUSIC & DRUMMING SOUNDS]

The dances can take longer.

This is a very short video, but in large,

just so you get an idea, the

goat dance is a little bit more structured

in the sense that the goat

talks to its owner.

She falls ill in a way.

She talks because the lower part

of the jaw is mobile, right?

So, the person inside the costume

will manage it.

So yeah, she falls ill.

That creates panic for the shepherd,

the one that takes care of the goats.

And after speaking with the animal,

the goat comes back to life.

And the livestock was a very important

part of livelihood of shepherds

and people living in the countryside.

So, that's what it represents.

And the third dance that I wanted

to share is the horse dance.

Now, this is a very popular dance also in

the Bukowina, similar to the bear dance.

And it represents a cavalry formation.

These traditions, unfortunately,

they are not as common anymore.

You do have to travel deep in the

countryside to still see them in practice. [MUSIC]

The very lively rhythm of the music is

also specific to the Eastern

part of Romania. [MUSIC]

I guess you get a general idea.

But from this part of Romania,

we are going to travel to its capital.

We are on the 4th of January.

We're on our 11th Lyric already,

"11 Pipers Piping," which represents the

11 faithful apostles of Jesus.

And we have here a photo

of the Bucharest Christmas market

in front of the Palace of the Parliament.

Now, if you

ever find yourself in Bucharest,

this is the heaviest building in the world

and the second largest after the Pentagon.

If you want to find out more,

I do share information about it in other

tours that I have done with Marah, either

about Bucharest or Romania in general.

And this is the Christmas tree.

Now, this photo was taken in 2019.

And I do have to tell you that Christmas

markets in Romania, in general,

do not have the big traditions, the big

tradition of the other European countries.

Romania is an Orthodox country.

All of the other countries that we've

passed through today are either Catholic

or Protestant in their majority.

And Christmas traditions

have started in the Middle Ages

in Catholic or Protestant groups.

Now, the Orthodox have always been more

conservative, so to say,

with these types of traditions.

But the dance that I've shown you earlier

have their origin into pagan traditions,

dating back to Asian people,

or the Dacians, or the Romans, and so on.

So, the Christmas markets in Romania have

adopted a lot of foreign

vibe, so to say, like with the Christmas

tree, Christmas decorations, and so on.

Our regular Christmas traditions are much

more

agriculture, so to say, pagan in a way,

much more mysterious, much more,

not misunderstood, but mystical.

They are related to the movement

of the stars, to the movement of the sun,

of how light wins over

the night, and so on.

I do have a video to share with you from

the Christmas market in Bucharest in 2019.

They have,

the stalls

were reserved only by local craftsmen

and producers,

so locally crafted decorations,

foods, treats, ceramics, wooden objects,

gingerbread, of course.

It's Transylvania from all of the regions

of Romania that do keep a more Germanic...

Transylvania has a Germanic influence,

and that's where you will find

a more Germanic influence.

Sibiu, the town that made the list

of the best Christmas markets in 2019,

is from Transylvania.

The biggest market was in Bucharest,

which served a lot of traditional food,

and I said traditional decorations.

But unfortunately, this year,

they didn't organize it in the same

place again because of its larger nature.

They decided to do it in a much smaller

square so that they could control

the number of the people going inside.

And we are slowly approaching

the end of our tour.

We are on the 5th of January,

the last day of the 12 Days of Christmas,

12 drummers drumming,

which represents the 12 points

of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed.

Now,

this is also the last day of the little

year, which marks the Epiphany

on the 6th of January, or as we

call it in Romania, Boboteaza.

Boboteaza means, in direct translation,

the day when Jesus Christ was baptized,

it's the revelation of Christ, so to say.

Different cultures have it on different

dates, but have different

holidays and different dates.

But they all celebrate the Epiphany,

the day when Jesus Christ was baptized

in the water of Jordan by John

the Baptist on the same day.

So, many traditions are related to the

Epiphanies associated with the Epiphany.

Now, it is also the day when the priests

will bless the water around the country

by dipping holy basil, right?

This is basil,

and the cross in it,

purifying the water so the people can

actually use it to splash their homes

in order to get rid of evil spirits,

in order to get rid of the devil's

presence and to bring good spirit

and prosperity to the household.

Not only that, the water becoming

holy was also considered a medicine.

So, people will take water, holy water,

every day if they are ill and if

they're trying to cure themselves.

This is another photo of an older priest

doing the same thing,

getting the water holy.

Sometimes people will put the holy water

in different containers around the house.

So, be very, very careful.

One year, something bad happened.

One person did confuse his gas container.

He thought it was holy water inside,

and he ended up burning his house down.

Now, there are two different traditions

that women and men practice differently.

Women, during the baptism,

during the Epiphany,

they'll place a holy basil under their

pillow in hopes that they will

dream of their future husband.

These are the men during the Epiphany.

They'll dive in very, very cold,

freezing water to catch the cross

during the competition,

and whoever catches the cross is said

to have the best year of his life.

Now, we call this "Boboteaza," or the

Epiphany versus the Ice Bucket Challenge.

In areas where you have rivers

or you have bodies of water,

the priests will also purify those

as well because they are important

to the livelihood of the people,

so that all the evil spirits will be

trapped inside if the water is frozen.

Now, in order to have the highest rate

of success, what do the priests do?

They'll throw in the water

three wooden crosses.

One is for the Father, one is for the Son,

and one is for the Holy spirit.

As such, men will try to compete to get

these crosses out of the freezing water.

The one that catches it will have good

fortune, will win the lottery,

will have no disease or illness

for the rest of his life.

And this is how it goes.

On one of the coldest days of the years,

priests will go out with half-naked men

that get ready to throw

themselves into the water.

They are actually murmuring

the Apostles' Creed.

The last day from the 12

days of Christmas.

All of them still alive.

They will swim all the way to where the

priest has thrown the cross in the water.

There goes another one,

and they'll try to make their way back to

the shore, hopefully without hypothermia.

Sometimes these events are

very tragic, as you can see.

The cross can end up in your head.

But don't worry,

no deaths have been reported so far.

So,

this is also the day of John the Baptist,

as I've mentioned, and a lot of people

born on this day will have the name John.

Now, if you are lucky and your name is

John, maybe your neighbors or your family

will carry you to the nearest body

of water and have you take a bath

to commemorate this epiphany.

So, thank you for being with me tonight.

This is the end of our

Christmas markets in Europe tour.

We have traveled together

from France all the way to Romania.

As you can see, Eastern Europe does have

a much richer controversial folklore,

and I did want to leave you on a

funnier note, so to say.

So, yeah, I am ready for your questions.

Oh, well, thank you,

thank you very much, Georgiana.

Actually, for me, I have to say,

I don't know if I'm the only one,

but I didn't know the history

behind the 12 Days of Christmas.

So, I'm pretty interested to learn that.

And I can't wait to actually go and look

up more of that myself because I didn't

catch every single one of them as I was

answering questions

and trying to navigate that.

So, that was pretty interesting to me.

I love the different traditions

in the different markets.

I think that's one of the things I look

forward to because for us, most of us who

haven't been there, they all look similar.

Lots of lights,

lots of food, lots of goods.

But to understand the differences

of the culture is really, I think,

the benefit of experiencing the market.

For those of you, thank you

very much for attending.

We will go into a Q&A.

I did put up a slide.

For those of you who wish to leave a tip,

you can use Venmo, you can use PayPal,

and there is a link on my website

to a secure credit card.

If you are using a credit card,

there's two little buttons.

Please click on the button next

to the credit card images so

that it goes through more easily.

I know that people from outside of the

United States have an issue with that.

Sometimes you just have to click

on the credit card pictures

to make that go through,

so thank you for that.

I have a list of my upcoming tours.

I have a really good outlook for 2022,

and I really do believe that travel will

start again with some stringent

guidelines, which I think everybody

who wants to travel is okay

with complying with these guidelines.

But I do think that the tide is turning

for us, and the borders are going to open

more easily for us as long as we follow

the rules of the countries in order

to enter and to go into the restaurants

and museums and everything else.

Look on the right-hand side of the slide,

and you'll see that

we have a lot of European tours,

river cruises, all kinds

of different tours coming up.

So, if you want to join with us,

please drop me a line or

an email to [e-mail],

and I'd be happy to talk to you

about joining us on one of our tours.

And if there is not a tour on the list

that you're comfortable with,

I'm happy to plan a tour for you so

that you can get connected with another

group or go on your own to a place.

So that digression should have given

Georgiana enough time

to look at the questions.

I'm going to hand it back over to you,

Georgiana, if you want to start

at the top, and we'll go through some

of these questions and try to clarify some

of the things that people have

seen during today's presentation.

Are you ready?

Yes.

One thing that I forgot to mention,

do not forget about the quiz.

If you're interested in spicing up your

experience tonight,

your virtual experience,

you want to get more interactive with us,

do click the link that Marah is

going to share in the chat.

And yes, I am ready to

go into the questions.

So, I have here: Why is

one Advent candle pink?

No reason.

I think the candles can

have different colors.

Did those four candles still lit the whole

time or were they just

lit for each Sunday?

So, you would like one for each Sunday?

I think traditionally, yes.

Ideally, you would keep them lit,

but I'm not sure if

that's something that most of the people

are comfortable with nowadays.

I've been to some of the Easter markets.

Do the Christmas markets

tend to be bigger?

I don't know.

I guess it depends on the locations.

But yes, Christmas markets do tend to take

over most of the squares in a bigger city.

So, for example,

Strasbourg or most of the cities that I

mentioned tonight, they will not

just have one Christmas market.

Each city has different squares located

in the Old Town, and each square

will have its own Christmas market.

I didn't know the...

Okay, what do the Orthodoxists do during

the nativity fast, how severe is it?

So, if you want to keep the whole fast,

the Orthodox will keep

it much more strict.

So, for example, I know that Catholics,

if they do not want to eat meat, they are

allowed, say, there was meat in the soup.

They are allowed to eat the soup without

the meat, but it doesn't matter

that the meat was cooked in the soup,

even if you didn't eat the meat.

Now for Orthodox, for example,

the meat cannot be cooked in the soup.

Like the soup has...

If it touched any of the meat or egg or

whatever that came from an animal,

you're not allowed to eat it.

So, in this sense, it's stricter.

Are the markets just in one square

of a city or all over

a city in different areas?

I think I've just replied that.

Happy holidays to you too,

Lynn from Fontana.

Can we get the recipe

for mulled wine again?

Yes.

So, I will share that slide with Marah,

and I know she does a follow-up email,

so you will get it in the email.

I am a glassblower.

I live in Wisconsin.

Yes.

Well, do let me know if you

do any glass decorations, too.

What is the symbol behind

the five gold rings?

I think it is

the five books of the Old Testament.

Can you talk about the nativity scene

that are highly detailed and extensive

and sometimes include modern touches?

Sorry, I think I lost this question.

Or are these only found in Italy?

I'm not exactly sure what

I need to talk about here.

The nativity scenes will come

in different shapes and forms.

According to the producers' imagination,

I guess, and creativity.

So, yes, I don't think

they're only found in Italy.

I have seen some very detailed ones

in France, too, or in Germany,

so I think it depends.

How early do you need to book a room

in one of the hotels at most

of the Christmas markets?

Is one more economical than other?

Yes.

So, for example, in Strasbourg,

I know that people will book their hotels

one year in advance during

the Christmas market.

Now with the pandemic,

I think a lot of people will tend

to do last-minute reservations.

It's something that I cannot tell you

how is it going to be next year.

But until now, the reservations

had to done well in advance.

What was the pastry everyone

was walking around with?

I'm not sure which pastry

you might be referring.

It could be gingerbread,

it can be Christmas cookies.

In the Goat Dance video, there are

a number of ladies dressed alike.

What do they represent?

Those ladies were probably

inhabitants of the household.

They were dressed in traditional folk

costumes, and they tend to look alike.

So, those are just celebratory costumes.

Are all these dance specific

to Christmas or other occasions, too?

No, they are specific to winter holidays.

So, the time between

Christmas and New Year's.

In Romania, have some of the traditions

been influenced by the Gypsy culture?

No.

I would say the Gypsy dances have been

influenced by pagan origins

much earlier than that.

What is the name of the building

behind the skating rink?

So, the skating rink that was shown

at the end in Bucharest, the name of the

building is Palace of the Parliament.

Were Christmas markets

allowed during communism?

No,

I don't think they were very popular

because communists are atheists,

so they were not encouraged.

I'm not sure I understand this question.

How did five

days of Christmas begin?

Thank you so much, Marah and Georgiana.

Wishing you a healthy and happy New Year.

I knew none of this,

well-researched.

Thank you very much, Diana.

Are the markets good both

before and after the '25?

Yes.

So, most of the Christmas markets

will go until the 1st of January.

Why is that religion is still preserved

in East European countries than in France?

Religion is preserved both in

East European countries and France, too.

It's just a different religion.

Let's say if we compare Romania to France,

Romania is Orthodox, France is Catholic.

Would we have the food map, please?

Yes.

So, I will share the meal wine and the food

map with Marah, and she'll have

it in the follow-up email.

So, most of the markets that are more

particular square of the city?

No, not necessarily. The biggest Christmas

market will be in the biggest square

of the city, but the city

will have several Christmas markets.

Do they have markets in Poland?

Yes, they do.

They do have Christmas markets in Poland.

Thank you for the tour.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for attending.

How do we get the complete list

of the 12 days and what they mean?

I can also share that slide with Marah,

and she can share it with you.

I noticed you skipped over a lot of facts

of how Christmas began as your pagan holiday.

I suppose my question is,

why not expound on those?

I only have an hour and a half,

so I do have to be very, very short

with the information that I present.

Of course, there's so much more that you

could talk about Christmas,

about Christmas traditions, about its

origins, but the time is very short.

So, my objective was to give you

an overview of some of the best Christmas

markets, some of the most known

traditions, and a little bit behind them.

That's the time that we had available.

Happy birthday, Georgiana.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Which is your favorite

of the 12 days of Christmas?

It's the 28th of December

because it's my birthday.

No, not necessarily.

I do enjoy winter holidays,

so I do enjoy the 12 days starting

on the 25th of December,

going all the way on the 6th of January

because 6th of January

is also my mom's birthday.

So, it all comes together nicely.

Thank you so much for all your kind words.

Really, really awesome

feedback from everyone.

So, I do like Christmas.

Who doesn't like Christmas

markets, to be honest?

But I have visited enough throughout

Europe, so it was very

fun doing this tour.

How could it be to live

around the whole Europe?

Is this Christmas tour

only a river cruise tour?

I think that is something

that Marah will answer.

Does the visit of the Magi

to the Infant Jesus and their gifts

have a place in European traditions?

Yes, it does. It does have.

It is represented

smaller than other traditions.

So, I did keep my focus only on the bigger,

most important ones.

Okay, I think, Marah, you do have

a few that are addressed to you.

Some people saying something about PayPal.

Okay.

I'll answer the questions about

the Christmas markets tour that I was

discussing for 2022 while you

look through the questions.

The Christmas market tour that I'm

doing in 2022 is a River Cruise.

I'm using AmaWaterways, which is

the cruise line, and there are 100...

Oh, my gosh, my brain just stopped.

I believe it's 156 passengers

or something on the boat.

That will not only be my group,

but it will be mostly my group.

If you are interested in that tour,

please email me at [e-mail].

If you want to do another Christmas

markets tour, you don't

have to do a river cruise.

You can do a land tour, you can stay

in one city, you can go from city to city.

There are tons of options for you, and I'd

be happy to walk through them with you.

Paypal, if you're looking to do it

directly with PayPal,

the person that's having a question

with that, you can go directly to PayPal,

my email, [e-mail],

will point you to the right

place to leave that tip.

Yes, you can click on sending

it to friends and family.

That avoids any fees that would

be charged back to me.

So, I would appreciate that in the tipping.

Was that it, Georgiana,

for those questions?

Yeah, so far,

there are a lot of questions,

and there's something that I've learned

from the questions, actually, because

there was a question with the pink candle.

And the pink candle,

some people have answered,

stands for Gaudete Sunday, the joy of the

season, the third Sunday in the Advent.

That's something that I did not know.

So, thank you for getting that. I've also heard

that the pink candle represents Mary.

So, there's plenty of...

Maybe we should do some research on what

that pink candle actually represents,

because we have about

four choices, I think.

Yes.

Sorry, where was the main

picture taken again?

It was taken in Strasbourg, France.

This was my first experience with you.

Very interesting.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Happy New Year to you, too.

Let's see.

It looks like we've

gotten all the questions.

Yeah.

Okay.

I see a lot of good feedback.

I don't see that many.

Well, I know one piece of feedback from me

and from everybody else is that we are all

hungry now, whether it's morning and we

need the gingerbread with our coffee or

it's evening and we need it as a dessert.

I know that I have to detox after January

1, but for now, I think I'm going to go

and try to find some Christmas cookies to

feel as though I'm in a European market.

And I know a couple of people that are

traveling with me actually left some

comments on how are we going

to get all of this stuff home?

We obviously will have

to bring an extra bag.

I know that when I travel,

one of the tips I always leave

for my travelers is put a nylon bag

in the bottom of your suitcase empty when

you go, and then fill that up with dirty

laundry so that you can protect all your

goods that you buy in your

hard suitcase for the way home.

So, that's what I intend to do when I

visit the Christmas markets next year.

Thank you very much, Georgiana,

for weaving together the history,

the culture, the religion,

the fun Christmas facts,

and all of it together for us to get

a better understanding of what

the Christmas markets are and how

we experience them in Europe.

And please have a wonderful birthday

night for the hours that you have left.

We will back here in the New Year.

This is our last virtual tour for 2021.

So, everybody have a happy new year,

and we will see you next week.

Take care.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Thank you for joining tonight.