Christstollen

The story

Every year, all through Advent, Dresden hosts the Striezelmarkt, one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets, first recorded in 1434. The high point is the Stollenfest, on the Saturday before the second Sunday of Advent: a parade in which the city's bakers escort a giant stollen weighing as much as four tons through the streets, then slice it and sell it to visitors for charity. The name "stollen" comes from an old German word for a post or support, but the shape of the long, rounded loaf with a fold down the middle has always been read as an image of a swaddled child as well: Jesus in the manger, dusted with sugar like snow. Behind the public celebration is a quieter, family version. Every household guards its own proportion of marzipan, its own choice of alcohol for soaking the dried fruit (rum, cognac, or simply orange juice for an alcohol-free loaf) and, perhaps most important, its patience. Stollen is baked weeks before Christmas because, resting tightly wrapped in a cool, dry place, it grows ever more moist, almost the way a good wine matures. If your family came from Germany, chances are a loaf just like this one once sat in somebody's pantry, wrapped in foil and waiting for its moment.