At Home in the Erzgebirge

The miner with the candle is one of the oldest traditional Erzgebirge figurines and has become increasingly famous with the discovery of stearin as wax for candles in the 1850s. Light was not only a symbol of life for the miners, it was life itself in the darkness of the mine during long days of hard work. The figurine of the miner was soon joined by an angel to complete the pair. The Erzgebirge angel combines the tradition of the golden Nuremberg Christmas angel and the simple lathe-turned Erzgebirge dolls. It got its typical shape with waist and neckline during the Biedermeier period in the 19th century. Illuminated by wax or electric candles, the simple or richly decorated angels and miners from our workshop add a warm and festive light to long and cold winter evenings.

During a visit to Seiffen on a Sunday in advent, you can see the carolers going from one house to the next with a shining star. In German, the church’s children’s choir is called “Kurrende”. 

That goes back to the Latin word for walking – currere. “Kurrende” was originally a choir of boys who also carried messages and therefore walked through the village. Today, girls are also part of the choir. In about 1935, Max Schanz from Seiffen created a group of figurines that could be called the arch-consisted of four carolers with books and one with a star, two carved wooden trees and three rather narrow houses, and one church. Today, this collection usually includes a miniature church of Seiffen. We are the only workshop to include other typical buildings into this traditional Seiffen set, such as the town hall and the old school building.