German Christmas Pyramid

If you had asked me about a German Pyramid four months ago, I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about. But I attended a Christmas dinner at a German colleague’s house in December, and she had the most interesting wooden Christmas decorations from Germany. One in particular was a wooden nativity scene with a windmill powered by heat from candles, otherwise known as a German or Christmas Pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide). A little online snooping, and I found out that these are a long-standing German tradition and are quite expensive! They also come in many sizes from a simple one-tier pyramid to enormous outdoor versions found in the Christmas Markets of Germany.

While treasure hunting this weekend, I came across this box containing a Pyramid at a flea market.  Honestly, this item is something I wouldn’t glance twice at if I hadn’t been armed with my newfound knowledge. It was priced at $10 “as is” which usually means it has some damage or missing parts. The only thing I found wrong with it was a couple of pieces that needed to be re-glued.

The pyramid I found is a 17” hexagon with three tiers. The holy family and wisemen are on the first tier, shepherds and sheep on the second tier, and trumpeting angels on the third tier. When the candles are lit, the windmill at the top spins in turn spinning the figures on the first and second tiers.

The best part is that I looked online to see if I could find this particular pyramid. I found one very similar priced at $330 new!

Christmas Pyramids – Wikipedia – features a little history plus a photo of a pyramid very similar to mine as well as some of the very large pyramids in the German Christmas Markets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Buy Pyramids (see item 16730 for the one similar to mine): http://www.christmas-treasures.com/EuropeanImports/GermanPyramids.htm