Christmas
In Zurich
New
Toys And Old ~ by Bonnie Burns
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Cristkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany is reputedly the best Christmas
market in Europe and has written accounts dating back to the 1400’s. Christmas
markets are clusters of outdoor wooden stalls erected in a town square
where they sell handmade ornaments and decorations, warm slippers and shawls,
local cakes and cookies, roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.
Many of the
stalls have handmade wooden toys crafted to last several generations.
Indeed, they remind me of earlier times when children had only a few simple
toys: wooden carts with wheels, carved Pinocchio dolls, or stocky farm
animals. You can also buy a child’s wooden sled; the brand new sleds
look the same as those found in antique stores.
Within minutes
of my arrival in the market square, I caught the unmistakable smell of
grilling sausages. That spicy, sizzling, gloriously greasy aroma
never fails to stop me dead in my tracks, pivots me around and leads me
to the source. Nuremberg is famous for its grilled sausages and it
was just in time for lunch. Ein mal bitte, I said, which means “one,
please.” With some spicy mustard on the side, I was in grilled sausage
heaven.
Nuremberg has
many fine museums. Despite its harsh-sounding name, the “spielzeugmuseum”,
is a toy museum. For a pittance, I gained entrance to a magical world
where I lost track of time in all possible senses. Before toys became
entertainment and diversion, they were used for occupational and homemaking
training. Not unlike art painted hundreds of years ago, toys can
provide a glimpse of historical life. I considered it cultural research. |
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Cristkindlesmarkt
in Nuremberg, Germany
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Spielzeugmuseum
in Nuremberg
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As
you enter the museum, they have little shops the size of shoe boxes gathered
in village centers. Inside the butcher shop, customers no taller
than my index finger were pointing to hanging sausages and hams.
At the bakery, they were doing a brisk business and it looked like the
loaves of bread were going fast. And of course, a shop sold nothing
but candles.
The girl’s
section is one level higher. To learn homemaker duties, they used
doll houses, although it must have been fun, too. These were not
your ordinary doll houses; no, these were miniature mansions for rich girls
who would one day run households with servants.
The floors
were made of polished, inlaid wood. Crystal chandeliers lit up with
light bulbs the size of peppercorns hung from the ceilings. The rooms
were furnished with exquisite hand carved, upholstered furniture.
Miniature oil paintings and tiny working cuckoo clocks adorned the walls.
Tick-tocking grandfather clocks graced entry foyers. Butler pantries
were stacked with tiny china plates, platters, soup tureens, and polished
silver utensils. Linen closet doors were open to reveal plump duvets
and stacks of miniature bed linens. The lady of the house was in
the parlor with friends having tea while smiling servants with Heidi-braided-hair
did the housework.
I could hardly
drag myself away from one house to go to the next and I was not alone.
The room was filled with women from Europe, Asia and North American and
judging from their expressions, we were all thinking the same thing: I
want one of these. I did not get one as a child, but it is never
too late. Now that I can afford it, where do I buy one of these? |
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| Eventually,
the houses got smaller as we moved to the shabbier side of town where I
got the impression that the woman of the house did her own cleaning.
To learn what the majority of women would have been doing back then, there
were toy flat irons, little wash tubs and washboards, tiny wooden clothespins,
and little linen undergarments to scrub and hang out to dry.
Moving on to
the kitchen area, shiny copper pots sat on little girl-sized wood stoves.
Rolling pins the length of a pencil, tiny old-fashioned crank graters,
miniature mixing bowls and spoons were all spread out on work counters.
All you had to do was put on the little apron and get to work. The
cutting boards with the toy loaves of bread, cheeses and sausages were
so realistic that I had to suppress the urge to climb under the braided
rope to play with them. When I found myself leaning over as far as
possible without falling in, I knew I had to move on or stay the night.
Although, being
locked in the toy museum overnight might not be so bad. They would
open up the next morning to find all the little underclothes drying on
the lines. The furniture would be rearranged in the doll houses and
the tables set for breakfast. With luck, I would have figured out
how to get the wood stove going after collecting fuel down in the woodworking
exhibits. |
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When a group
of boisterous school children came in, I glanced at my watch and was startled
to see how many hours had passed. When I left, I crossed through
the Christmas market and bought one more ornament and another grilled sausage
sandwich. For the rest of the day, I could not stop smiling.
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Bonnie
Burns, a native of Kansas, lives in Zurich,
Switzerland. To contact her Click
Here
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