- Title: GERMANY: Country's oldest Christmas market in Dresden opens for the 572nd time.
- Date: 3rd December 2006
- Summary: (L!2) DRESDEN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 29, 2006) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO 572ND ANNUAL DRESDEN CHRISTMAS MARKET KNOWN AS "STRIEZELMARKT" (PRON.: shrEETsel markt) WIDE OF STAGE ACTOR DRESSED AS MINER MAKING OPENING REMARKS WIDE OF STAGE LIT STAR DANGLING FROM ROPE CHOIR SINGING ON STAGE SPECTATORS WATCHING LIGHTS ON 130-YEAR-OLD CHRISTMAS TREE BEING TURNED ON ORCHESTRA OF "MINERS
- Embargoed: 18th December 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA6MDTLTQ1FLBNNUFCW60ZOGF6Y
- Story Text: Thousands of people packed this eastern German city's central Altmarkt square on Wednesday (November 29) as the 572nd "Striezelmarkt" (pron.: shtREEtsel markt) Christmas fair officially opened at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT).
Bakers and women dressed as angels handed out free slices of a gigantic 8 metre (26 feet) long "Striezel" Christmas cake whose ingredients include flour, sugar, butter, Jamaican rum and, most importantly, raisins.
With the arrival of the cold weather Christmas markets are a familiar picture all over Germany, with vendors selling everything from handicraft to grilled sausages and mulled wine known as "Gluehwein" (pron.: GLOOvine).
According to the city of Dresden, visitors this year will find 238 stalls, all arranged around a 130-year-old Christmas tree and a wooden pyramid made in the eastern German Erzgebirge region.
One visitor at Dresden's Striezelmarkt has been coming for many years.
"The Striezelmarkt is a wonderful Dresden tradition. We as Dresdeners are always happy to be a part of it," Guenter Hensche told Reuters Television, adding "we're happy to be able to attend this atmospheric opening today."
Organisers say they expect 2.4 million people to visit Dresden's Striezelmarkt this Christmas season, the same number which attended it last year.
The market is open until December 24, the day Germans traditionally celebrate Christmas.
Striezelmarkt has been held annually since 1434 and is named after an old word for the Stollen cake, first mentioned in the early fourteenth century.
Dresden bakers have in the past launched a battle in the courts to ensure that only cakes from Dresden may be called Dresden cakes - not the imitations now produced in Munich or Cologne. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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