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Home  History Culture Customs, Tradition, and Memories |
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Christmas and German Russian Family
Traditions
Martha Wojtowicz, Electronic mail message to Michael M. Miller from
Lethbridge, Alberta
This made me think of what I remembered of past Christmases when my
parents were alive.
I come from a large family with four brothers, one half-brother, three
sisters and two half-sisters and I was the second youngest and so
by the time I was a teenager and when I got married a few years later
most of them had left home. So a lot of the early family traditions
seemed to have disappeared by the time I had grown up.
The one thing I did remember was that Christmas was 'special'. All
my brothers and sisters and their families came HOME on Christmas
Eve as my Dad felt that the married ones would want to be together
or celebrate with the 'other' side of the family on Christmas Day.
So on Christmas Eve my Mom roasted the turkey and the daughters and
daughters-in-law prepared and brought other foods. After the meal
then the cards would be brought out and we played "Smear".
One tradition I also remember was that a couple of hours after dinner
my Dad requested my Mom to get out the nuts that had been mixed together
- peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts and the Christmas candy (a wonderful
mix of hard candy which included twisted-shapes and sizes and a wide
range of flavours which I think is still available and called Christmas
Candy). Mom also put out oranges and apples and some baking which
included apple strudel and several varieties of cookies and of course,
there was always the Fruit Cake that had been baked in November as
we all sat around the 'big' dining table and enjoyed just being together.
As the grandchildren appeared and increased soon we spread into the
kitchen as we all could no longer sit at the 'big' table together.
After our parents died I started a very special tradition for our
own family. We have a fondue on Christmas Eve. Last year one of my
sons asked - "Why is it we only have a fondue once a year when
we enjoy it so much?" We all laughed wondering why and someone
said - "Because it's a lot of work to prepare for it!" and
another said "Because it's always been just for Christmas and
that's what makes it so very special for us!"
I would love to hear about the various traditions that our group of
German-Russians have for celebrating Christmas. Do you have special
food(s), special activities, family get-togethers, that are only unique
to what was brought from Russia (Germany)? Did your traditions change
and/or have you established your own customs now like I did? I love
to hear about things that are of German-Russian origin & their
traditions. Do any of you sing songs at Christmas time with all of
your family together and do you sing them in German! Also it would
be fun to know how many of our people speak German. I don't as German
was no longer spoken when I was growing up.
So, how about it. Do you have traditions you would like to share with
us all? I'd love to hear them!
Merry Christmas to you all and may you be blessed with Health, Happiness
and Hope in the New Year!
Martha (Gaetz) Wojtowicz |
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Permission
to use any images from the GRHC website may be requested
by contacting Michael
M. Miller |
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