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

On becoming 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:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Comment in the forum

Subscribe to the podcast | Listen by telephone

Tags: Bergmann, Christmas, Engel, Erzgebirge, Weihnachten

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

• Räucherkerzen
• Schwibbogen
• Christmas Pack 2

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.