Christmas Market Trier

Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany close to one of the smallest countries of the world - The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, which Christmas Market we already have visited. The Christmas Market in Trier in its present form has been held for 40 years and is a romantic experience in a Roman and Medieval setting. It is often visited together with the Christmas Market in the picturesque village of Bernkastel-Kues. The Christmas Market appears to have started in the late Middle Ages in Germany. The Middle Ages is a long historic period in Europe starting abt 500 AD with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and lasting to abt 1500 AD when the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery took over. It started as the Welcoming of Christ the Child - "Christ Kind" in German - at the beginning of the four Sundays of Advent that ends with Christmas Day, which is the 25 December. The Christmas market is a fair connected with the seasonal period and infused with our religion, which very much organized everybody's lives back then. In Medieval times, rights to hold fairs were often granted by the feudal lords to convents and bishoprics both as income generation for the religious work and as a city development tool. Many towns trace their prosperity to the market rights. The close association between the local cathedral and the Christmas market is still evident although the taxes now go elsewhere.