The Original Christmas Star of Hartenstein / Ore Mountains
- en roUTE
- Jan 3
- 2 min read
A story about getting hold of the rarity
In GDR era, it was time-consuming and sometimes cumbersome to acquire the original woodcarving and turning art of Ore Moountains (Erzgebirge), such as pyramids or candle arches. You always had to know someone (who knows someone….) or catch the right moment to get one of these products. This also applied to the highly demanded Hartenstein star, which was only available on allocation.
Although the company produced all year round, GDR citizens could only register for a star in Hartenstein on one day a year. This day was in the winter month of February. At that time, the Ore Mountains were usually covered in a thick blanket of snow and the cold made people quickly run back into their warm homes.
The limited numbered tickets were only handed out on site, so that anyone interested had to make the journey directly to the company. It was the case with our family, who lived 10 kilometres away. My mum's colleagues had the same goal and they decided to take the trip to Hartenstein together. It would have been too late after work as they wouldn't have got a ticket number. So they left their workplace in the morning - with the boss's silent agreement - to take the train from the town Aue to Hartenstein.
Once there, they realised that - as was so often the case - a long queue had already formed, stretching into four rows. My mum and her colleagues joined the queue and waited. The cold and the snow didn't exactly make it easy. After standing for so long, they could no longer feel their feet. So the colleagues took turns walking back and forth to warm up.
After 6 hours of waiting, my mum finally held her long-awaited ticket in her hand. Having chosen the colour of the star, there was another wait for the pick-up notice. But that was the lesser of two evils and had more to do with a feeling of excitement.
Those who don't know it might not imagine the happiness that came with possessing such a star. It was really a rarity.
Our Hartenstein star still exists today and shines at home during Advent and Christmas.
Lore:
The Hartenstein Star is one of the unique traditions of Christmas in the Ore Mountains.
The Christmas markets in the mining towns with their miners' parades, such as the Lichtlfest Schneeberg, the unique Christmas markets in Schwarzenberg, Lößnitz and Annaberg-Buchholz, as well as the toy village Seiffen and the silver city Freiberg, are definitely worth a visit.
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