21. Dezember • Nutcrackers | Nussknacker

Advent Calendar > 21 December

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The Erzgebirge, or Ore Mountains region of Germany, is considered the home of the wooden nutcracker (Nussknacker). These German “nutcrackers” are not really functional for cracking nuts, but are intended as decorative toys. (Photo: webshop-erzgebirge.de)

Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner from the town of Seiffen is considered the creator of the first mass-produced, lathe-crafted nutcrackers. He based his nutcracker on an 1851 illustrated children's book entitled König Nussknacker und der arme Reinhold by Heinrich Hoffmann (who also wrote Struwwelpeter). An earlier book, Nussknacker und Mausekönig by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1814, later revised by Alexander Dumas as a children’s tale) was the first to make the connection between nutcrackers and Christmas. If you’ve seen Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” ballet (1891), based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale, you know the story.

Lied des Nussknacker (excerpt, English below)
König Nussknacker, so heiß ich.
Harte Nüsse, die zerbeiß ich.
Süße Kerne schluck ich fleißig;
Doch die Schalen, ei, die schmeiß ich
Lieber andern hin,
weil ich König bin.
  - Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894)
King Nutcracker, that’s my name.
Hard nuts, I chew them up.
Sweet kernels I swallow enthusiastically,
but the shells, ay, those I
prefer at others to fling,
because I’m the king.

WEB > Webshop Erzgebirge - Nussknacker
WEB > Eine Sage aus dem Erzgebirge vom Nussknacker-Museum
WEB > History of Nutcrackers - Nutcracker Museum

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