Weihnachtsmarkt

The holiday season is upon us. It is ironic that I am sending out a column discussing a German Christmas Market on Thanksgiving Day. Nonetheless Elizabeth and I did indeed spend a lovely Sunday afternoon in mid-November at Harmony’s annual Weihnachtsmarkt. Harmony is a delightful village any time of year; it is particularly special on this occasion. Harmony was established on Connoquenessing Creek in 1804 by the Harmony Society, a sect of pietist Lutherans who had fled Germany to avoid religious persecution and purchased 4,000 acres of land in southern Butler County. By 1814 they had constructed a prosperous village…