Holdia* (for Holiday, Holidays)

You know the holiday season is approaching when the stollen appears on the shelves of grocery stores and specialty food shops.  This delicious, buttery sweet bread stuffed with raisins, candied citrons, currants, or other fruits—and sometimes marzipan—originated in Germany in the 1400s.  And if stollen is somewhat popular here, it’s a knockout in its native land.  For Dresden particularly, it’s a point of pride.  Each year, a giant version features in the Stollen Festival held during the Dresdner Striezelmarkt (Christmas market), where it is paraded through the historical old town, then sliced up and sold to an appreciative populace.

While I personally love stollen, a close acquaintance of mine (who shall remain nameless for fear of hate mail) maintains that its one and only purpose is to serve as a door stop.  Regardless of your opinion on the issue, I hope we can agree that Holdia* is an unwelcome presence during this season or any other.  There are 13 instances of it in OhioLINK and 132 in WorldCat.

(Stollen, from Wikimedia Commons)

Deb Kulczak