标签 圣诞 下的文章

老佛爷百货公司的圣诞树, 法国巴黎 Christmas tree of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, France (© Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images)

光之城的光之季 Season of light in the City of Light

巴黎老佛爷百货公司

巴黎的老佛爷百货无疑是任何一个城市中最宏伟的商店之一。它不仅是一个购物的地方，也是光之城最受欢迎的目的地。在百货公司日渐衰落，整个零售业也在发生变化的时候，Galerie依然坚守着。它在金融危机、战争和现在的互联网中幸存了下来，仍然是巴黎生活中值得庆祝的一部分。像纽约的梅西百货或洛克菲勒中心一样，老佛爷百货是假日的代名词。每逢假日，商店的招牌彩色玻璃圆顶下都会装饰一棵巨大的杉树，这是巴黎人世代以来一直信奉的圣诞庆祝仪式。

Galeries Lafayette, Paris

Surely one of the grandest stores found in any city is the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. It's not just a place to shop but a destination as popular as any in the City of Light. At a time when department stores are fading and the entire retail industry is shifting, the Galerie holds fast. It has survived financial crises, wars, and now the internet, remaining a celebrated part of life in Paris. Like Macy's or Rockefeller Center in New York, the Galeries Lafayette is synonymous with the holidays. A giant fir is decorated every holiday season under the store's signature stained glass dome—a ritual of Christmas cheer that Parisians have embraced for generations.

维也纳美景宫的圣诞市场，奥地利 Christmas market at Belvedere in Vienna, Austria (© Diyana Dimitrova/Alamy)

圣诞节的倒影 Reflecting on Christmas

维也纳Belvedere的圣诞集市

圣诞集市赢得了节日的三重大奖：你可以买到有趣的、通常是手工制作的礼物，它们位于欧洲风景如画、浪漫的城镇和村庄，它们用热葡萄酒和当地美食吸引你。有什么不喜欢的？圣诞集市，或称为“维纳赫斯多夫”，是欧洲最古老的降临节之一。

我们的照片显示了奥地利的Belevedere圣诞市场，位于多瑙河对岸，上贝尔维代尔（Upper Belvedere）郊外，是该酒店的两座宫殿之一。如果你去逛圣诞集市，花点时间逛一逛，看看这个季节的所有景色和气味。在维也纳，这座建筑令人印象深刻的城市在节日期间全力以赴，灯光、装饰和音乐一应俱全，而丽城宫则是一个颇具戏剧性的背景。

Christmas market at Belvedere in Vienna

Christmas markets win the holiday trifecta: You can buy interesting, often hand-crafted gifts, they are set in picturesque, romantic towns and villages in Europe, and they tempt you with mulled wine and local delicacies. What's not to like? Christmas markets, or 'Weihnachtsdorf,' are one of Europe's oldest Advent events.

Our photo shows Austria's Belevedere Christmas market from across the Danube River, outside Upper Belvedere, one of two palaces on the property. If you visit a Christmas market, make the time to stroll, taking in all the sights and smells of the season. In Vienna, the architecturally impressive city goes all out for the holidays, with lights, decorations, and music, and the Belvedere Palace is a suitably dramatic backdrop.

宛如圣诞精灵的树干，乌克兰喀尔巴阡山脉 Trees on the northern slope of Mount Khomyak in the Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine (© panaramka/Getty Images)

Merry Christmas

For Christmas Day, we're taking in the winter views on Mount Khomyak in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains. The bright green moss and the red of the fallen leaves pop against the snowy white, as though the forest were transforming into a magical band of Christmas elves. While much of the Christian world celebrates Christmas on December 25, for those who follow Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions—including many Ukrainians—Christmas is still a couple weeks away. Eastern Orthodox Christmas celebrations are tied to the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the more universal Gregorian calendar, so Christmas Day in Ukraine will be celebrated on January 7.

In many Eastern European cultures, a traditional Christmas Eve dinner consists of 12 meat-free courses meant to symbolize the 12 disciples of Christ. For the Ukrainian feast, kutia, a sweet wheat grain pudding, is a star of the meal—other dishes may include braided bread, fish, and soup. The meal begins when children spot the first star that appears in the night sky. Christmas Day is typically spent in church services and with family.

If you're celebrating Christmas—either today or in 13 days—we wish you a merry one.

圣诞快乐

圣诞节，我们将在乌克兰喀尔巴阡山脉的霍米亚克山上欣赏冬季美景。明亮的绿色苔藓和红色的落叶映衬着雪白的天空，仿佛森林正在变成一队神奇的圣诞精灵。虽然大部分基督教世界在12月25日庆祝圣诞节，但对于那些遵循东正教基督教传统的人，包括许多乌克兰人来说，圣诞节还有几个星期。东正教的圣诞节庆祝活动与儒略历（Julian calendar）有关，儒略历比更普遍的公历晚13天，因此乌克兰的圣诞节将在1月7日庆祝。

在许多东欧文化中，传统的平安夜晚餐包括12道无肉菜，象征着基督的12个门徒。在乌克兰的宴会上，一种甜的小麦布丁kutia是这顿饭的明星。其他菜肴可能包括编织面包、鱼和汤。当孩子们看到夜空中出现的第一颗星星时，这顿饭就开始了。圣诞节通常是在教堂里和家人一起度过的。

如果你今天或13天后要庆祝圣诞节，我们祝你圣诞快乐。

湖畔的一棵小圣诞树，奥地利魏森湖 Holiday tree at Weissensee, a small lake near Ehrwald in Tyrol, Austria (© nagelestock/Alamy)

'Smoking nights' in Austria

Behold the lovely Tannenbaum ('fir tree' for you non-German speakers). Here in Tyrol, Austria, Christmas Eve marks the first of three Rauchnächte, or 'smoking nights.' A long-standing Tyrolean tradition, people in this Alpine region burn frankincense and herbs in homes, barns, and stables to avert bad fortune. The custom is then repeated on the other two 'smoking nights,' New Year's Eve and the night before Epiphany.

It's said that everything that happens on these nights is of great significance, including one's dreams. Whatever you dream on smoking nights is thought to be a message from above foretelling what the next year may bring. Pardon us while we drift off to the holiday carol 'O Tannenbaum,' currently playing in our heads. Sweet dreams!

奥地利的“吸烟之夜”

看看可爱的坦嫩鲍姆（“冷杉树”适合非德语人士）。在奥地利的蒂罗尔，平安夜是三个“吸烟之夜”中的第一个这个阿尔卑斯地区的人们在家里、谷仓和马厩里燃烧乳香和草药以避免厄运，这是一个由来已久的蒂罗尔传统。这一习俗随后在另外两个“吸烟之夜”——除夕夜和主显节前一晚重复。

据说，在这些夜晚发生的一切都具有重大意义，包括一个人的梦想。无论你在吸烟之夜做什么梦，都被认为是来自上面的信息，预示着明年会发生什么。请原谅，当我们去度假的时候，卡罗尔·奥·塔南鲍姆正在我们的脑海中演奏。甜美的梦！

韦尼格罗德的圣诞市场，德国萨克森-安哈尔特州 (© Krzysztof Baranowski/Moment/Getty Images)

华沙的圣诞节日装饰，波兰 Holiday decorations in Warsaw, Poland, for Christmas (© David Milsen/Alamy)

Merry and bright

Germans began decorating Christmas trees with candles as far back as the 1700s, but people wouldn't begin stringing trees with electric lights until the late 1800s. Thomas Edison created the first practical incandescent lights and used them to decorate his Menlo Park Laboratory in 1880. Then three years later, the vice president of Edison's company, Edward H. Johnson, had Christmas tree bulbs especially made for him and he used them to decorate the Christmas tree in his New York City home. But they weren't popularized as a holiday decoration until President Grover Cleveland used them on the White House Christmas tree in 1894. Today, bright scenes like this one in Warsaw, Poland, wouldn't be complete without holiday lights.

If you're celebrating Christmas today, we wish you a merry one.

一年一度的施瓦本哈尔圣诞市集，德国巴登-符腾堡州 Annual Schwäbisch Hall Weihnachtsmarkt in the market square, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (© sack/Getty Images Plus)

It's Weihnachtsmarkt time!

The streets of this market square are all decked out in a tradition born nearly 700 years ago. Weihnachtsmarkts or Christkindlmarkts (Christmas markets, if you prefer less of a mouthful), take place around the world, but they originated in Germany as a celebratory way to observe Advent, the Christian season leading up to Christmas Eve. These markets are generally open-air affairs where everything is decorated, including the trees (called Tannenbaums in German if they're firs). People shop from local artisans who sell their handmade wares in small wooden chalets. Then it's off to eat traditional foods—roasted almonds, pastries, and biscuits—and sip on warm mulled wine. Today we're walking through Schwäbisch Hall, a German town that came into prominence during medieval times for its salt production, or 'white gold.' After holiday revelers tire of shopping and dancing in the streets, they can ease into one of the town's many healing spas to end the day.