The Strange Legend of the Christmas Pickle

As the legend goes, the Christmas Pickle is an old German custom that started with parents hiding a pickle-shaped green ornament deep in the boughs of the Christmas tree after the children had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning before presents were opened, the children would search for that hidden pickle on the tree and whoever found it first, would get an extra gift. (One flaw with this German tradition story is that children in Germany open gifts on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.).

So, where and how did this strange quirky legend start?

One origin story goes back to the American Civil War (1861-1865) and a Bavarian-born soldier Private John C. Lower. He was enlisted in the 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, captured in North Carolina in April 1864 and sent to the prison in Andersonville, Georgia (also known as Fort Sumter) where by August 31 there were over 31,000 prisoners. According to the Lower family history, by Christmas Eve he was starving, weak, and near death when he asked the guard for a pickle, which the guard provided. Miraculously, John recovered and credited the pickle with saving his life. After the war ended in 1865, he returned to his family in Pennsylvania and began a Christmas tradition of hiding a real pickle on the Christmas tree each year, with the first person to find it being assured of good fortune in the coming year.

Another tale is set in the Middle Ages (some versions say Victorian Era) when two Spanish children were returning home from boarding school, stopped to stay at an inn, and the innkeeper put them in a barrel of pickles. St. Nicholas happened to pass by, tapped the barrel with his wand, and set them free