German Club to host Weihnachtsmarkt in the Memorial Union

Traditional fare on sale at holiday market

By John Poulin

Posted on Dec. 05, 2010, at 9:25 p.m.

To help students find the energy to finish the last two weeks of the semester, the German Club is bringing a long-standing tradition, Weihnachtsmarkt, to the University of Maine. On Dec. 8 and 9 the club will hold its second annual market by the information booth in the Memorial Union.

“A Weihnachtsmarkt, or holiday market, has been a tradition in many German cities and towns for centuries,” said German Club advisor Anette Ruppel Rodrigues. “Some other European countries have similar traditions. Perhaps in the future the Weihnachtsmarkt holiday market can become a tradition at the University of Maine that attracts many visitors to our campus from the greater Bangor-Orono Area.”

During a Weihnachtsmarkt, the streets are laden with stalls, decorations, nativity scenes and singing and dancing.

Today members of the German Club will gather in Little Hall to begin baking a variety of traditional German holiday desserts and to make traditional decorations that will be for sale.

Most of the proceeds will be donated to the Maine chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG).

“Currently the AATG is discussing how best to apply the funds,” said German Club secretary Clarissa Livingston. “Based on what we’ve heard back so far, we anticipate that the funds will help teachers improve their programs through purchases of classroom materials such as books or by helping to pay for special events such as the annual Sprachfest that give the students opportunities to apply their language skills.”

“As we’re entering the holiday season I feel students need a reason to give their minds a break and enjoy the holiday season,” said German Club member Alexandria Garcia. “Weihnachtsmarkt will also help students become more aware of German culture and tradition at our university.”

Members will be making stollen, a cake containing dried fruit and often covered with powdered sugar; zimtsterne, cinnamon star cookies; lebkuchen, gingerbread; springerle, German biscuits with an embossed design and non-alcoholic glühwein, a traditional holiday drink. This event is open to the public and the German Club encourages students to come by and learn how to make these traditional goodies.

The German Club hopes to host a larger holiday festival next year.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 5th, 2010, 9:25 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.