Germany's Christmas gender quandary

By Christoph Driessen Dec 22, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - Every year around Christmas many children have a question that puts their parents on the spot: Is there really a Santa Claus? But German children have a different query that grownups often have trouble answering: Is the Christkind a boy or a girl?

The Christkind, or 'Christ Child,' is the traditional bringer of gifts on Christmas Eve in German-speaking areas of Europe.

It has counterparts in other parts of the world and a complex history. In Germany it is usually depicted as a sprite-like child with blond hair and angelic wings. But is it a he or a she - or an it?

'The Christkind is neuter, of course,' says Thomas Meiler, spokesman for the Christkindlesmarkt ('Kindle' is a diminutive of 'Kind') in Nuremburg, Germany's most famous Christmas market.

But wait - the Christkind in Nuremberg is represented every year by a flesh-and-blood young woman.

'In terms of the impression - with the golden blond curls and so forth - it was always meant to be more of a female role,' Meiler explains. OK. In theory neuter but in practice a girl. So the gender quandary is solved.

Not so fast.

Britta Toellner, spokeswoman for the Christkind Post Office in the small German town of Engelskirchen (which translates as 'Angels' Church'), where children's letters addressed to the Christkind go, begs to differ.

Although depictions of the Christkind have feminine features in Engelskirchen, too, she notes, 'History says it's actually supposed to represent the Christ child.'

Surely the Roman Catholic Church must know. In Germany, after all, the Christkind is found almost exclusively in predominantly Catholic regions.

Alexander Saberschinsky, a doctor of theology at the Archdiocese of Cologne's Department of Spirituality and Worship, would not mind at all if the Christkind were indeed a representation of the Christ child. But this, alas, is not the case, he says.

'The figure of the Christkind has taken on a life of its own and is more of a mythological, imaginary character, half infant Jesus, half little angel - an androgynous creature,' Saberschinsky asserts.

So the Christkind is a hermaphrodite of sorts. Is there scholarly corroboration of this? As so often happens in matters involving God and the world, scholarship has no clear answer.

'The Christkind is sexless,' says Manfred Becker-Huberti, a German professor of theology, an author and a Christmas expert.

His reasoning is simple: Since nobody has ever seen the Christkind, nobody can know whether it is a boy or a girl. According to tradition, it acts unseen. What is certain, Becker-Huberti adds, is that the Christkind is not Jesus, who was, after all, a newborn at Christmas.

As to the complex history of the Christkind, it is thought to go back to Martin Luther, the German theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation.

In Luther's day, the figure of St Nicholas was the bringer of gifts. Luther rejected the Roman Catholic veneration of saints as idolatry, however, and sought a substitute for ol' St Nick. So in 1535 he borrowed the Christkind figure from Alsace, a region which today is in north-eastern France.

After that, it was the Christkind who brought Christmas gifts to Protestants - until about 100 years ago, that is, when they imported the American Santa Claus (also known in German as the 'Weihnachtsmann,' literally the 'Christmas Man'), a figure that had been derived from the gift-bringer St Nicholas.

Meanwhile, the Christkind figure was adopted in Catholic regions. So Protestants and Catholics basically exchanged their Christmas gift-bringers.

To sum up, it is unknown whether the Christkind is a boy or a girl. Or to put it another way, take your choice.