Christmas Pickle Myth – A German Tradition?

This is a fascinating subject as a tradition had been assigned to be German which in fact is probably not. Or is it?
It is the supposedly German Christmas tradition of the pickle. As I can recall in my childhood we never had a Christmas pickle ornament on our Christmas tree.
So some research was needed indeed to find out what is behind this “myth”, this legend of the Christmas Pickles. And after all, I really like to know if this has something to do with Germany.

Christmas Pickle Myth – Really German?

It is a Christmas ornament that looks like a pickle and will be hidden in the Christmas tree. The first child that finds that green pickle on Christmas morning will get an extra gift or it also will bring good fortune. This sounds rather like the Chinese fortune cookie story somehow… Fact Check number 1: Christmas morning is mentioned, so let me assure you, in Germany we never unpack the gifts on December 25. We get them on Christmas Eve, the evening before.

More Information on the German Christmas Pickle
The city in Michigan, Berrien Springs, is to be known as the “pickle capitol of the world”. The town decided to embrace the pickle theme because it’s unique. The parade began in 1992, inspired by a German tradition in which children search for a lone pickle on their Christmas tree. Every year they hold a pickle festival in early December and even have a pickle parade – well they have cucumber plantations and selling pickles is their business, so what does this have to with Christmas? We think it is an American tradition.

Now it gets interesting. Americans believe that this comes from Germany and some even say that the origin of the Christmas pickle may have been developed for marketing purposes in the 1890s to coincide with the importation of glass Christmas tree decorations from Germany were the first company to import these types of decorations into the United States in 1890, and glass blown decorative vegetables were imported from France from 1892 onward. That is very nice. So shouldn’t it be France the originator of this tradition?

But the best story that proves it must be a “German invention” is the following one:

One suggested origin has been that the tradition came from Camp Sumter during the American Civil War. The Bavarian-born Private John C. Lower had enlisted in the 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, but was captured in April 1864 and taken to the prison camp. As the story is told, on Christmas Eve he begged a guard for a pickle whilst starving. The guard provided the pickle, which Lower later credited for saving his life. After returning to his family, he began a tradition of hiding a pickle on their Christmas tree each year.

To make it even more clear we asked the Germans on our Facebook page of www.Mybestgermanrecipes.com about that German Christmas Pickle myth. True or False? The majority of all answers say: No, it is not German.

Check out the comments and see that the German Christmas Pickle tradition is something we Germans don’t have to be proud of. Or maybe we should! If you are into this tradition you can get some nice and decorative pickle ornaments on Amazon!