Have you ever wondered why there’s a pickle among your snowman, angel and reindeer ornaments? You’re likely taking part in the American tradition of hiding the green ornament on the tree so that the first child to find it wins a gift, or gets to open the first present Christmas morning. The practice’s origins are a bit, shall we say briny; but, it’s likely it grew from a Woolworths marketing gimmick from the late 1800’s, when the retailer received imported German ornaments shaped like a pickle and needed a sales pitch. Around the same time it was claimed that the Christmas pickle was a very old German tradition and that the pickle was the last ornament hung on the Christmas tree and the first child to find the pickle received an extra present.
However, the claim that it’s an old German tradition seems to be a total myth. Not many people in Germany have even heard of the Christmas pickle.
