How 'bout some Humpday Triviola?

early marital aids?

Re: early marital aids?

Bill, I'm not sure what you are thinking of but it's disturbing! ;-) No, that's not it.

Tom

Re: How 'bout some Humpday Triviola?

Would there be a king, a queen and some pawns involved also?

No but.....

....a darn nice guess. Stand by for hint #1.

Tom

Hint #1

These were traditionally used in Julfests.

Tom

Re: Hint #1

That's where they eat moldy cookies, right?

Re: Hint #1

If I remember my basic German,Jule translates to Yule. So Julfest would be like a party. So it has something to do with Christmas. Maybe St. Nick helpers- midget Wise Men? How about wooden steins for drinking spirits?

Nutcrackers????

Think they have been around for a long time and was a sign of good fortune or something like that. Seems like we display at Christmas.

Re: Hint #1

Are the contents mulled?

Is Bill Right?

The images are imprinted with specially carved rolling pins or flat molds (Springerle presses, or boards). After the cookies are baked, the designs are sometimes enhanced with edible food colors--or with tempera or acrylic paints, if the cookies are to be used as decorations.

The name Springerle comes from an old German dialect and means "little knight" or "jumping horse." Historians trace these cookies back to the Julfest, a midwinter celebration of pagan Germanic tribes.

We have a winner! Answer

Bill Earl will need to make room for another Golden Uni. He buzzed in first knowing that Springerle cookie molds was the answer.

Springerle (SPRING-uhr-lee) - These have been and still are traditional Christmas cookies in Bavaria and Austria for centuries. Springerle are white, anise-flavored cookies, made from a simple egg-flour-sugar dough. Usually rectangular or circular in shape, they have a picture or design stamped on the top. The images are imprinted with specially carved rolling pins or flat molds (Springerle presses, or boards). After the cookies are baked, the designs are sometimes enhanced with edible food colors--or with tempera or acrylic paints, if the cookies are to be used as decorations. Hartshorn is the traditional leavening (it is an ammonia compound).

History: The name Springerle comes from an old German dialect and means "little knight" or "jumping horse." Historians trace these cookies back to the Julfest, a midwinter celebration of pagan Germanic tribes. Julfest ceremonies included the sacrificing of animals to the gods, in hope that such offerings would bring a mild winter and an early spring. Poor people who could not afford to kill any of their animals gave token sacrifices in the form of animal-shaped breads and cookies. Vestiges of these pagan practices survive in the baking of shaped-and-stamped German Christmas cookies such as Lebkuchen, Spekulatius, Frankfurter Brenten, and Springerle.

Well done Bill!