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A living tradition
For 700 years, mining shaped the life of the people in the Ore Mountains. Even today, 150 years after full-scale mining came to a halt and 20 years after Uranium mining by the Russian-German “Wismut” company ended, people still keep up the traditions. People in the Ore Mountains greet each other with “Glück auf”, the miners’ way of wishing each other good luck. During the Christmas season, men in traditional miner’s attire, form parades in many former mining towns. The “Mettenschicht” commemorates the last shift before Christmas which ends with a ceremony and a meal. During the festive season, houses in the Ore Mountains are brightly illuminated since the miners missed nothing as much as the daylight they hardly ever got to see. Christmas in the Ore Mountains is a truly unique experience where the focus is still on the traditions, not the gifts. |