The Glückspilz (Lucky Mushroom) Tradition
My Growing Traditions offers a selection of German Christmas ornaments depicting the Amanita muscaria Mushroom with its white-spotted bright red cap. Amanita muscaria (common name fly mushroom, or fly agaric), a toadstool, is toxic - dangerously poisonous - and should NEVER be tasted.
But, it should be enjoyed on your Christmas tree.
In the German and other European cultures, the mushroom is seen as a good-luck symbol - Glückpilz (Lucky Mushroom - colloquial "Lucky Duck, Dog, Devil, etc.") - and is "The Mushroom" of Christmas and the New Year, especially as a symbol of a blessing at the turn of the New Year. It honors a reverence of nature and the beauty of the forest - if you find one it is believed to bring you good fortune. It is acknowledged to be the most recognized mushroom on earth. This famous mushroom abounds in Christmas decorations, children's story books, and fairy tales.
As a good-luck symbol and a symbol respecting the beauty of nature the Amanita muscaria mushroom is a traditional ornament on German Christmas trees.
The Christian Ulbricht Workshop from the Erzgebirge, Germany - since 1928 - brings us this dear wooden ornament with an Amanita muscaria:
And, Inge-Glas of Germany brings us several Amanita muscaria glass Christmas ornaments
Add a little Glückpilz - Lucky Mushroom to your Christmas!
Jumping-Jack (Hampelmann) Santa - a Toy with a Tradition
This year we have added a playful Santa from Spielwarenmacher (Toymaker) Günther of Seiffen to our offerings.
The jumping-jack is a toy whose origins date back thousands of years. The jointed jumping-jack figure is a cross between a puppet and a paper doll. The figures are generally made from wood and their limbs are tied to a pull string. When the string is pulled and released, the arms and legs move up and down. In Germany the jumping-jack (Hampelmann) dates back to 1832 when the Hampelmann was created by Carl Malss as a figure for the burlesque at Frankfurt. Later the jumping-jack toy was manufactured in the Erzgebirge mountain range in Germany. - from Wikipedia
Spielwarenmacher Günther is one of the older toymakers in the Erzgebirge, having been in business for 100 years - Since 1914.
They are proud to honor the tradition of Erzgebirge Folk Art and celebrate the timber from the Ore Mountains. We are proud to bring you their Hampelmann (Jumping-Jack) Santa and look forward to adding more from their collection.
Günther's Jumping-Jack Santa is 10-1/2" tall.
Share this piece of folk art with your child. A traditional playful toy that you can hang with their stocking or simply from the mantel, or as a Christmas decoration anywhere in your home.
New for 2014 - Wendt and Kühn Grünhainichen Angels
This year, 2014, Wendt and Kühn of Germany has added three new Grünhainichen Angels to their collection.
They are left to right, the Angel with the Small Trumpet, the Angel with Gifts, and the Angel with a Little Tree.
Sitting on their gold pedestal, each is 1-1/2" tall and sit perfectly beside the standing 2-1/2" Grünhainichen Angel Bearing Gifts pictured with two of them here:
Mix and match, create your own display, and enjoy the meticulous art of Wendt and Kühn Grunhainichen Angels - the Angels with the Eleven Dot Wings
treasured by collectors all over the world for nearly 100 years.
Click on the images or links above to find them in our shop.
Enjoy our Wendt and Kühn Pinterest Board.
Delightful 1998 Video of Marcel Carbonel (1911 - 2003)
We were so pleased to discover this video of Marcel Carbonel (1911-2003) filmed in 1998 that we had to share it with you. The video is in French, but we guarantee you will enjoy "visiting" with him - around Marseille and in the Carbonel Santons Atelier - Workshop. The video offers very special footage of the Carbonel creation of a Santon.
Carbonel created his first Santons in 1935. In 1942 he opened a workshop with his wife Clotilde in Marseille. In the beginning they employed one individual who specialized in creating the molds and two painters.
In 1947 he was elected the President of the Union of Santons Craftsmen (a position he held for 21 years) and in 1959, with Jean Heritier, founded the Salon International de Santonniers in Arles. In 1961 he was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France - The Best Worker of France
and in 1962 the Medal of National Merit. In 1973 the Carbonel Workshops received the award Best Workmen of France. In 1975 his grandson, Phillippe Renoux, then 15,
began an apprenticeship at the studio. Phillippe earned the gold medal at a regional exhibition of the Best Workman of France contest in 1982 and it was Phillippe who in 1993 would cement the continuity of the family Workshop.
The Marcel Carbonel Workshops holds more than 700 different Santons molds - the largest collection of Santons in Provence. In 2000 the Workshop was selected by the French Embassy to the Vatican, Rome to represent France in a contest of the "100 Most Beautiful Cribs in the World." The Carbonel Workshops was awarded the Silver Medal. In 2003 Marcel Carbonel was named Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. In 2007 the Workshops was named an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (a French Living Heritage Establishment) for the excellence of their traditional skills.
Simply stated the Marcel Carbonel Workshop is a living heritage and they are the Premier creator of Santons.
You may enjoy following our Marcel Carbonel Santons board on Pinterest.
Nativity Sets - Emil Helbig Workshop - The Classic plus New for 2014
Inge-Glas Santas Nestled in a Christmas Wreath - a DIY Project
When we found this photograph of a Christmas Wreath covered in Inge-Glas Santas we were charmed. We might not own the mirror/picture frame that it adorns, nor begin to ever conceive of placing it outside on a front door, but we could definitely envision our own creation in a special spot, on the mantel, in the entryway, or even in the kitchen.
Clipped neatly, front and center, is Vintage Nicholas
We could envision these Inge-Glas ornaments as being especially delightful for a wreath...
left to right above: Whoo's Ready for Christmas, Marching Toys, Mini-Me Santa
left to right above: Toy Nikolaus, Christmas Candies, and the sweetest little Christmas Mouse
Create your own: perhaps a Santa Wreath, a Holiday Wreath, a Bird Wreath, a Forest Wreath, an Angel Wreath, or just add one memorable ornament to a special wreath you plan for inside your home.
Dala Horses from Renown Nils Olsson Hemslöjd (Handicraft) ab Workshop, Nusnäs, Sweden
My Growing Traditions is pleased to now carry the Scandinavian Folk Art symbol - the Dala Horse (Dalahäst). We have chosen the very best - the art of the Nils Olsson Hemslöjd (Handicraft) ab workshop founded on 28 June 1928 in Nusnäs, Sweden. And, we carry multiple sizes (1-1/2" to 6" tall). The most famous design, the essential Dala Horse
is available in red, blue, black and pink.
The Antique, more traditional, Horse is available in red and black
and we even have an irresistible Dala Pig
In Nordic mythology the horse belonged to the Gods. Horses arrived in Sweden 4000 years ago when they were tamed and domesticated by the Stridsyxe people. It is known that the precursor to the Dala Horse, carved wooden horses, have existed in Sweden since at least the 1600s. In the 1700s forestry workers of Dalarna sat by the fire after a hard day’s work of timbering and carved toys for their children - to carve a horse was only natural, the horse being essential to their trade and a symbol of strength, courage, faithfulness, wisdom, and dignity.
In the 1800s it became common to paint the carved horses, using the kurbits style of decorative painting of the Dalarna province used to paint furniture and other decorative items in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the 1830s Swedish artist Stika Erik Hansson painted Dala horses with a unique two-color (red and green) simplified form of kurbits decoration and his Dala horse pattern became the tradition for Dala horse making in Sweden. Peddlers traveled throughout Sweden selling their household wares and Dala Horses (which they often used to barter for their food and shelter). Production of the horses became centered in Dalarna, especially in Nusnäs, and remains there today. The name “Dala Horse” (Dalahäst) is a diminutive derived from the word “Dalecarlian,” the language/dialect spoken in Dalarna.
The Olson family brothers Nils and Jannes, 13 and 15 years of age, of Nusnäs, began by carving horses in their home after school as a cottage industry. In 1928 they borrowed 400 dollars to start up a workshop. Dala Horses became world famous when they were presented as traditional Swedish Folk Art at the World’s Expo in Paris (1937) and at the World’s Fair in New York (1939). Today, the Dala Horse is a national symbol of Sweden.
Nils Olsson Hemslöjd (Handicraft) ab is renown for creating the most refined, artistic, and thus collectible Dala Horses, and we are proud to now offer them to you.
