Make the season bright with Reindeer Knoll - a joyful guide to Christmas traditions, history, activities, and songs. Discover the origins of beloved Christmas customs like decorating trees, Santa Claus, and gift-giving. Learn fun holiday activities like baking cookies, building snowmen, and Christmas crafts. Sing along to classic Christmas carols and songs the whole family will love.
The Christmas pickle is an American Christmas tradition. A decoration in the shape of a pickle is hidden on a Christmas tree, with the finder receiving either a reward or good fortune for the next year.
There are numerous origin stories on the tradition, with one originating in Germany. It has since been deemed false, as In fact, the New York Times reported that out of 2,057 Germans polled, YouGov determined 91% did not know of the legend.
Another such far-fetched account is a American Civil War soldier, born in Bavaria was a prisoner, and starving, he begged a guard for one last pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and gave a pickle to him. The pickle allowed him the will to live on.
Yet another theory is attributed St. Nicholas about two Spanish boys traveling home from a boarding school for the holidays. When they stopped at an inn for the night, the evil innkeeper, killed the boys and put them in a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, and found the boys in the barrel and miraculously bought them back to life.
A more plausible notion is that an ornament salesman, with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented the legend of the Christmas Pickle!