So for today’s installment I was inspired by my sister going back to school a day early to see the ballet "The Nutcracker" in which one of her friends was going to be in. However it got me thinking of the wooden nutcrackers we see around this time of year every year... How did the tradition of making them look like soldiers and kings start? I mean what was wrong with the simple metal ones that they had to design these fancy wooden solider nutcrackers?
The answer I found dates back to the 18th century in Germany, the Sonneberg and Erzgebirge regions in particular. In these regions most of the people were miners who in the winter months enjoyed wood carving while the mines were shut down. These people often felt oppressed by their superiors, soldiers and political rulers who gave them little for their hard work in the mines. Creating nutcrackers in their image was symbolic of making these soldiers and kings serve them by doing a simple and lowly task of cracking nuts.
Bonus Facts:
The term nutcracker, "nussknacker", first appeared in an official German dictionary by the Brother Grimm in the 1830's
The story in which the famous ballet was based on was wrote in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffmann
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