The Bergmannsfigur is a traditional Christmas decoration in the Erzgebirge area of Germany. They are wooden figures what hold a candle in each hand.

On become a father it was the duty of each man to make one of these figures, in the shape of a miner for a boy or an angel for a girl. These were placed in the windows of the houses and provided candlelight for the streets during the winter months when the miners would be going to and from their shift in darkness.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Tags: Bergmann, Christmas, Engel, Erzgebirge, Weihnachten

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Räucherkerzen
• Schwibbogen
• Lametta

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Christmas, German Words Explained, Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.