In Oberammergau, the Alpine Village in which I set Saving Amelie, the Thursday before Christmas is known as Klopfelsingen–when children and adults go caroling from house to house. A longstanding Alpine tradition, Klopfelsingen is a pre-Christmas parallel to Sternsingen, or Star singers, in January. The carols sung before Christmas focus on Advent as a time of preparation, and on the importance …
Christmas with the Bonhoeffers
Sabine, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s twin sister, remembered their family’s happy Christmas Seasons before her eldest brother was conscripted into WWI in 1916: “ On the Sundays of Advent we all assembled with her (their mother, Paula Bonhoeffer) round the long dinner table to sing Christmas carols; Papa joined us too and read from the fairy tales of Andersen . . . …