Medieval trappings

THE enveloping darkness in mid-afternoon and the loud, updated folk music filling the biting cold air are not the only surprises that await an Indian visitor to the medieval market in Dresden, Germany's distant city under reconstruction. The strong aroma of the gluhwein and the smell of the spices and herbs on display are a major attraction. The setting takes you back in time a few hundred years.

The stalls, in an ill-lighted dingy area, have everything that you never expected to find in a German market, even in a medieval market with its mysterious nomenclature. You have herbs you could identify, incence sticks that smell very Indian, figurines carved in wood and stone you are used to seeing in the streets during a village mela. The stalls have a bewildering variety of handicrafts, old world utilities and utensils, shawls and sweaters (from Nepal and perhaps Tibet), hand-blown ornaments, bracelets, strings of beads and pearls, even beautifully carved birch hair clips with the "made in Russia" sticker.

The medieval market is apparently a homage to the past, to tradition according to which the first market in Dresden opened more than 500 years ago, in 1434. Visitors to the market are mostly curio hunters, while children come to enjoy a ride on a ramshackle wooden seesaw that looks like it is about to break into pieces.

Dresden has a separate Christmas market in a large cobblestone square in front of the famous Church of Our Lady, Frauenkirche in German, devastated during World War II and now under reconstruction through mainly public contributions from around the world.

This market of course has all the trappings of the traditional December festival complete with lovely lanterns and branches of fir trees: the stalls are appropriately bedecked, there are nativity scenes in wood, candles and oil burners - one German speciality is a windmill whose sails are turned by the smoke from burning candles kept beneath - angels for the top and glittering garlands and decorations for the tree, the famous nutcrackers in the form of the erect, uniformed Prussian soldier, food stalls offering the traditional baked stollen with fillings of ginger and cardamom, gingerbread cookies (lebkuchen) with the local flavour, beer stalls, toy trains and games parlours in temporary sheds.

To be sure, among the 100 or so stalls there are at least half a dozen handing out steaming hot gluhwein, spiced with cloves and other addons, in lovely large mugs. During the cold evenings in the run up to Christmas, you can get addicted to this strong, hot red wine that peps you up and prepares you for the colder nights ahead.

In the festive atmosphere, you hardly notice that you have been out in the cold for several hours beginning in the afternoon. Certainly you can't blame the gluhwein for your high spirits: the Christmas markets in Dresden are an intoxicating experience.

K.V.KRISHNASWAMY

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