Strange Christmas Traditions: The Christmas Pickle

Is there a Christmas pickle on your Christmas tree?

So, why would anyone put a pickle—note: it is the Christmas pickle, not pickles—on their Christmas tree? The pickle isn’t one that a person could bite into and crunch. It is an ornament that looks like a pickle. But why?

According to legend, this tradition began in Germany although the Christmas pickle is as much a mystery to them as it is to me. It is said that when Santa visited a house, once he ate his milk and cookies and placed the presents beneath the tree, he left two more things. He hid a pickle amongst the ornaments and branches of the tree as well as a special present for the lucky child that found this pickle. The child who found the pickle would also have good fortune during the following year.

Since the Christmas pickle capital of the world is Berrien Springs, Michigan, I doubt the Germans had anything to do with this tradition. Woolworths was the first one in the United States to offer a Christmas pickle ornament for sale in 1890. These glass pickle ornaments did come from Germany, so maybe that is why this custom is rumored to have begun in Germany. Then again, why was Germany making glass pickle ornaments?

The Evil Shopkeeper & the Pickle Boys

Another legend about how this tradition began is a bit graphic and reminds me of the legend of the butcher Le Père Fouettard, who is said to have invited three boys inside his butcher shop and then killed them, cut them up, and put them into a stew. This legend about the Christmas pickle takes place in what is now Myra, Turkey where St. Nicholas was a bishop. In this town, there also lived an evil shopkeeper that hated children. He hated them so much that one day he kidnapped three small boys, cut them up into tiny pieces, and then placed their pieces in a pickle barrel.

When St. Nicholas heard about this horrible thing, he prayed for help for these poor boys. Because of his strong and pure faith, God heard his plea and told him to go open that pickle barrel. When St. Nicholas popped off the top of the pickle barrel, those three boys were found alive and well.

The Bavarian Soldier Saved by a Pickle

Where else does this tradition possibly have its beginning? Its origins could possibly have been during the Civil War. A Bavarian soldier fighting for the Union is said to have been captured by the Confederates. After being held captive for a while, he was starving because of the few rations that had been given him. On Christmas Eve (of course), he was so desperately hungry that he begged the guard keeping watch over him for anything to eat, even if it was only a pickle. His guard, perhaps because of the Christmas spirit, took pity on the prisoner and gave him a pickle.

Later when he was no longer a prisoner, this Bavarian soldier said that the pickle had saved his life. Every year, as a reminder that the simple pickle saved his life, his family hung a pickle on their Christmas tree.

Warning: There is a pickle death in the below video.

Writing Prompts

Since the beginnings of the Christmas pickle are in doubt, write a tale that lets it be known how you believe this tradition. Who knows? Maybe the story that you write will finally solve the mystery of where this weird tradition came from.