Page 5 - 2026 Jan-Feb GC

A Few Area German Culture and Heritage Activities

By Elaine Timm The community held its Weih-
ast spring artist Harumo Sato began looking for ideas for a commis- nachtsmarkt on the church square,
sioned sculpture for the refurbished DL&W train shed on the on Dec. 13. There were 14 stalls
Lwaterfront adjacent to the KeyBank Center. She invited submis- and 2 tents, and an estimated 1,000
sions honoring Buffalo's diverse cultural roots and received an enormous people attended. Fortunately, the
response. Some German-inspired designs were submitted and are included weather was dry that day!
on the final sculpture. (photos below)
Sharing her hopes for the piece, Ms. Sato said, “I want viewers to
reflect on their past and cultural heritage by finding patterns they feel
connected to through observation and reflection, rather than through a
[literal] map of where those patterns come from.”
The building officially opened on Dec. 8 as the new DL&W Station, a
new transit station of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. There
are two other public art projects located at this station. Take a trip to see Traditions Continue
Buffalo's newest addition! Information from a press release from Maria who were in need. He gave us 3 in Brüssow
Naula coins to help us remember to share The Das Haus sister museum in
• Holy Ghost Lutheran School in the hamlet of Bergholz (Town of God’s gifts, too! “ (“St. Nicholas”
Wheatfield) was formed in 1843. The German immigrants placed high recently celebrated 50 years as an Brüssow in Brandenburg, Germany
held their annual der lebendige Ad-
priority on education for their children, so a school was organized soon ordained pastor!) ventskalender on Dec. 1. Director
after they settled. A church building would • This past summer the Explore Guenter Trester says: “We had
come later, when they could afford it. Prior to & More Children’s Museum on the
arriving, some sources indicate that children Buffalo waterfront requested help many guests again and enjoyed
singing, while drinking mulled wine
even received instruction on the sailing ship for one of their projects. They dis- and eating bread with lard and pas-
during the 6-8 week trip to America. played wall art in their stairwell, tries.” (photos below)
For many years, to honor its German heri- based on one of the many cultures in
tage, Holy Ghost School sponsors a Christkindl our region. Currently they have a
Market on the first Saturday in December. The painting from the Chinese Cultural
classrooms are rearranged to allow many ven- Center. The link to the current proj-
dors to set up and sell their products. There is ect is https://exploreandmore.org
always quite a variety of items; this year, Buffa- /the-big-spring-ox/
lo Bills items were everywhere! Also, the stu- Holy Ghost students and their art
dents in the school are encouraged to make craft teacher stepped up and took on the
items or baked goods and sell them. German food was available for lunch, project! To learn more about the
including bratwurst, schnitzel, German potato salad, cheesy spaetzle, German heritage of their school and
potato soup, and sauerkraut. Some of the older students help with serving. its vicinity, about 20 7th and 8 th
graders visited Das Haus Museum,
about 3 blocks down the road, for
inspiration. They continue to work
on their design and anticipate it will
be installed early in 2026. Check
the Explore and More website peri-
odically to see the final product.

Earlier in December, Holy Ghost pre-K students were visited by St.
Nicholas. As you may know, St. Nicholas was the inspiration for the more
recently known Santa Claus. The students learned the original story of
secret gift giving. From their Facebook page: “St. Nicholas told us about
how he shared the blessings God had given him by giving gifts to 3 girls

January - February 2026 • THE GERMAN CITIZEN • 5