Springerle Christmas Cookies

Posting family ifo after long silence:

Friday, December 1, 2017

Dear Kalysa—

Thank you for asking about the location of your German ancestors. That request sent me on a search for information that has been very interesting and enlightening.

First, I looked up Springerle Cookies, and learned why the cookies have pictures on them. Good old Wikipedia revealed that, historically, the molds had images of animals on them. Dating back to pagan days in Bavaria (the region of southern Germany where many of your great grandmother’s lineage—Peter, Apel, etc. lived), the cookies were a substitute sacrificial offering for those who could not afford, or did not own, live animals to place on the altars. As Christians converted many pagan practices into their own religion, the pictures became holy Christian/Biblical images.

The importance of Springerle cookies in the Schmidt family’s Christmas celebrations actually came through Robert’s mother’s side of the family! As with many of our present day customs, the family is identified by the father’s surname, Schmidt, whereas Lydia Flora Peter(s) was actually the maker of her traditional festivities. Robert’s fondest memories involved his mother’s baking of the Springerle and other cookies, well in advance of Christmas. She always attempted to conceal them from the “cookie snatcher”, but their aroma, especially the anise oil in the Springerle, usually gave away her hiding places.

Your grandfather, Robert Schmidt, was very close to his mother in both temperament and interests, so it is not surprising that he perpetuated the Springerle tradition. Your grandmother, Dorothy Schmidt, contributed other types of Christmas traditions from her Sherman family—but that’s another story.

When Robert and I took a short tour to Germany in the 1980s, we included Ittlingen (in Bavaria) and actually saw (from the outside) the house where Robert’s great grandmother was raised—not much changed, I am sure, because even today, the village is very small. The population is only 2400 or so, and the largest structures are the church and the city hall. I would like to have been conversant in the German language, and to have stayed longer. Perhaps even met some of Robert’s distant cousins, who still occupy the house/barn.

Perhaps some day you and your mom will travel to some of the places your ancestors came from.

I hope that you find this information helpful.

Oma

(Dorothy Sherman Schmidt)