CHRISTKINDL
Even as it approaches its 20th year in Kitchener, this ancient German festival continues to grow and have cross-cultural appeal
WHEN TONY BERGMEIER was a young lad growing up in Munich, Germany, one of his fondest childhood memories was celebrating Christmas in the city square with his family and friends.
It was an Old World wonderland, with everything from dazzling live entertainment to mouth-watering seasonal treats.
In 1996, the City of Kitchener was looking for ways to enliven a struggling downtown core. Bergmeier approached council with a Canadian vision of his idyllic childhood Christmas. And as Kitchener, formerly Berlin, possessed a strong German heritage, collaborations began for the creation of a new city centre festival.
Bergmeier visited many markets throughout Waterloo Region to find vendor pals. He asked them if they would come to support him at the first Christkindl. He also invited several musical friends to provide live entertainment, eventually recruiting 45 vendors and several regional performers.
“Kitchener was such a great fit,” says Astrid Braun, president of Christkindl Market. “The reason for this German market is for the vendors to share, exchange things and sell food. And we are known for our markets,” she says.
So people came to Kitchener City Hall curious to experience their first “Christkindlmarkt,” originally called “Nikolausdult,” which dates back to the Middle Ages.
Now Christkindl (pronounced “krisskindle”) sits on the list of the Top 50 Festivals and Events in Ontario, with thousands attending each year. From Dec. 3 to 6, people from around the region, visitors from the United States and Europe, and others experience this four-day event to signal the beginning of Advent.
For the opening ceremonies, people gather at Victoria Park’s Clock Tower for a singalong and the illumination of the trees in the park during the Festival of Lights.
Led by Mary, Joseph and their donkeys, the crowd — carrying candles and lanterns — leaves the clock tower to the sound of church bells and trumpet fanfare, in honour of the holy couple looking for the inn and the birth of the Christ child.
Christmas carols ring out as everyone parades along Gaukel Street to Carl Zehr Square and the Live Nativity, where German “gift bringer” Christkindl, her two angels and St. Nick’s folkloric companion Knecht OPPOSITE: German folk dancers are a staple at Christkindl, a four-day festival of cultural glitz. TOP: Crowds parade from Victoria Park to Kitchener City Hall DURING Christkindl. ABOVE: Christkindl, third from left, is the Christ child, and is usually a teenage girl. Here, she’s with her two angels and Knecht Ruprecht, St. Nick’s folkloric companion.
Ruprecht await.
“Christkindl is the Christ child, basically. She is usually a teenage girl and she walks with two angels,” says Monica Reid, marketing chair for Christkindl Market.
Adds Braun, with a laugh: “My son says ‘Mum, if I try to explain that whole concept to anybody else they think I am crazy because how does the Baby Jesus translate all of sudden into a beautiful young woman?’”
Braun admits the image does get a bit lost in translation.
Traditional welcomes trill from the balcony, followed by an opening prologue by Christkindl and her angels.
“Christkindl declares her market open with the wave of her hand and says: ‘Let there be light,’ which then turns on the tree lights in the square,” says Braun.
As the towering Tannenbaum sparkles, the Grand Philharmonic Choir sings a rousing Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.”
These festive German markets are mostly outdoors, says Braun, but due to Canadian weather, this market is also indoors. Vendors and children’s workshops and other activities take over city hall’s rotunda and other floors.
Indoors, wide-eyed little ones delight at multi-track miniature trains and model steam engines. Craft workshops include Kinderecke, where younger children and parents learn to make their own Christmas crafts. Outdoors, children marvel at antique organ grinder/concertina player, Klaus Wehrenberg, who has been performing at the market since 2000 with monkey puppet Ovambo. Wehrenberg is preserving the legacy of live street entertainment long associated with the festival.
Blacksmiths show off their work and warm up the square with their coal-fuelled forges, as onlookers gather at their booths to ask questions about one of yesteryear’s noble trades.
Entertainment abounds in four days of cultural glitz that include German folk dancers, choirs, puppet shows and brass bands.
The festival’s signature wooden huts and booths have displays from vendors far and wide. Their seasonal offerings include traditional clothing, glass-blown ornaments, handcrafted jewelry, toys, dolls, German specialty foods and custom-made crafts.
“We have them coming in from all over Ontario, including Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario and also B.C.,” says Braun. “We use social media for the vendor applications. It is a juried program, so we have maybe 150 applications. We now have over 70 vendors….”
Christkindl celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. The festival enjoys continuing support from the Kitchener Downtown Business Association, corporate sponsors and a growing, culturally diverse community.
“We had one family that came one year and they wanted all kinds of info before they came,” says Reid. “The next year they brought their immediate family. The following year they brought all of their friends. They come, stay in a bed and breakfast, and spend the entire weekend.”
Reid estimates about 40,000 people attend each year, and they expect more American visitors this year because of the low Canadian loonie.
Christkindl has been partnering with Children’s Wish Foundation from its first year, and has raised $70,000 to date.
Both Reid and Braun have noticed more university and college students at the event because of social media. They’ve also witnessed many random acts of kindness, including a woman buying a present for a child whose mother was short on funds. “Santa does not always wear a red suit,” muses Reid softly, adding that festival giveaway baskets often go to those who need them most.
Braun enjoys the busy atmosphere, which generates “electricity” for customers and vendors.
“If they are financially successful, they are happy, we are happy,” she says.
From opening procession to closing ceremonies, Christkindl has fine traditions, but a new one has emerged in recent years. The Christmas Pickle stems from ye olde German Christmas Eve gift exchange.
“Whoever finds the (hidden) pickle ornament on the tree gets an extra gift,” explains Reid.
“Oh Tannenbaum. Oh Tannenbaum. Wie grün sind deine gurken,” meaning “Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas Tree. How green are your pickles!” Braun says, laughing.