As a result, authorities tried to revamp December festivities as a celebration not of the Christian holiday, but of the new year - a concept borrowed from the Soviet Union. That led to some amusing terminology: a Christmas angel (Weihnachtsengel) was officially known as a Jahresendflügelfigur - an "end-of-the-year winged figure".
It might sound funny, but it wasn't the only familiar Christmas symbol to get a secular re-branding in East Germany. Your Jahresendflügelfigur wouldn't sit on top of your Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree), but your Jahresendbaum (end-of-the-year tree), and instead of a chocolate Santa, you might get gifted a Schokoladenhohlkörper (hollow chocolate body).
East Germans still got to enjoy this guy, but with a different name (and sometimes much less real chocolate).
© Imago Images
It's not exactly known where the word originated, but linguists and craftspeople who lived in the GDR (ironically, traditional German Christmas angels carved from wood originated from the Ore Mountains region in the east of Germany) say the word and others like it were thought up by officials and imposed from above. Former East German citizens say they recall seeing the term on signs in shops and at markets, but that no normal people ever said Jahresendflügelfigur.
These odd-sounding words aren't the only example of Christian traditions being replaced with secular state-sanctioned jargon. The Jugendweihe, which had existed as a secular alternative to Christian coming-of-age ceremonies in Germany since the 1800s, became more widespread and more grounded in socialism. The 14-year-old participants would pledge their commitment to socialist ideals and defending them from "imperialist attacks".
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