The Christmas Pickle Tradition

When one marries into a new family it is expected that there will be certain family-specific traditions that are new and unusual, however I was more than a little surprised and amused to find that a pickle plays a central role in my in-laws Christmas traditions.

It was Christmas morning and the entire family was sitting around the tree, opening presents, drinking coffee, and in general having a lovely morning. Suddenly my husband's Aunt squealed like a little girl, and launched from her seat on the couch. Christmas wrapping went flying as she hurried over to the tree with a giant grin on her face.

The room went quiet with anticipation, and not knowing that this was part of their Christmas tradition, I sat stunned into silence. Had she seen a mouse? No - a Christmas pickle.

Yes, that's right, a Christmas pickle. Every year, as part of the Christmas tradition in this house, someone hides a pickle in the Christmas tree. With a satisfied smile and little giggle she pulled the pickle from the tree and held it up for all to see. The room exploded in applause and a secret, extra Christmas present was produced for the finder of the Christmas pickle.

Now, I've done some research on this Christmas pickle business, because it just seems too strange a tradition to me. What I found is that this purportedly German tradition actually dates back to the nineteenth century. The story goes that some poor German American fellow who found himself in prison after the Civil War was starving one Christmas night and begged the guard to help him. The guard scrounged up a pickle for him, which gave him the strength and the will to carry on. Ah, the magic of a pickled cucumber.