In Europe, walnuts were used as part of Christmas Eve games, and feasts, One game the children especially enjoyed playing called for cracking the shell of a walnut, putting a small lit candle in it, and floating it in a pan of water. A boy held his breath as the candle melted down because if the candle burned down to the bottom before turning over, it meant the boy would live a long life. A girl would carefully watch the lit candle in the walnut shell, hoping hers would stand the longest, which meant she would marry a good husband.

Handcrafted in Germany. Ornament is mouth blown and hand painted in the Inge-Glas® workshop in Neustadt, Germany; a business owned and operated by the Mueller-Blech family for 14 generations, since 1596.