The object I have chosen is stollen, a German bread. My family has it every Christmas morning because of our German background. Stollen is from Dresden, the capital of Saxony, Germany, and it is originally from the year 1400. Around that time, the Pope had banned the consumption of butter and milk because it was believed to fuel lust. The Ernst of Saxony and his brother requested that the ban be lifted during the Advent season, specifically so the people of Saxony could enjoy their Christmas stollen. The Pope responded with what is now referred to as the Butter Letter, permitting the use of dairy products with God’s blessing for a small price. Around 500 years later in the early 1900s, my great-great grandparents on my mom’s father’s side moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana from Northern Germany and brought the tradition of Christmas stollen with them. When my grandfather was a child, his grandmother used to make stollen each Christmas. Then she passed that tradition down to my great-grandmother, who passed it down to my grandmother, who used to make stollen each Christmas as well. Recently, my family has begun to make it ourselves with my great-grandmother’s recipe. Eating stollen each Christmas is by far my favorite family tradition, and I have loved learning to make it from my great-grandmother’s recipe. Something about making bread is very calming to me, and I am thankful that it is part of my ancestry. 

– HC

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more