It was what arrived with Christmas that the ancient Germans held highly significant. This ancient festival is now one of the major festivals of the Christians. The ancient Germans had similar feelings because the days again start to lengthen. Our ancestors often bound their festivals to natural processes. The lengthening of the days created within their homes a festive environment because this meant more light.
Light is life and more light means more life .
At the end of 1880, the working poet Manfred Wittich published a piece on Christmas for the Union of Trained Workers of Leipzig. This piece referred to the old Germanic customs of Christmas. A militant text by Franz Diederich was entitled Winter Solstice . After the First World War, working youth played out solstice scenes published by the Young Workers Editions . Among these publications, we could cite Light, a solstical play by Hermann Claudius and Solstice by Kurt Heilbutz.