Draft:Pflaumentoffel

Pflaumentoffel (etymologically probably going back to Toffel meaning "stupid, clumsy person") is an edible figure made from dried or baked plums and produced by bakeries, pastry shops and gingerbread makers for children. The sweet became known through its sale at the Dresden Striezelmarkt.

History

Pflaumentoffel are based on boys, usually coming from orphanages, who could be employed by the approval of the Essenkehrermeister with the electoral-Saxon approval of 1653. The children's task was to crawl through and clean the high and narrow ditches of municipal civic buildings. This is an early example of state-tolerated child labor.

Pflaumentoffel are documented as "little man from prunes" for Christmas 1801. In the 19th century, it was children, the "Striezelkinder", who, equipped with a tray, sold homemade Pflaumentoffel at Christmas markets in Saxony and the Ore Mountains. In 1910, selling by children was prohibited.

The Pflaumentoffel as a symbol of good luck corresponds to a reinterpretation of the topic of child labor, which is a terrible issue from today's perspective, through popular humor and various Christmas traditions. It is reminiscent of chimney sweeps as symbols of good luck and of the parallel in tradition that in some parts of Europe, St. Nicholas also comes down the chimney or fireplace or that stockings are hung on the fireplace to be filled with sweets. It is also conceivable that there is an educational intention to remind children of the so-called bogeyman when they disobey.