Miner's figure

A miner's figure (German: Bergmannsfigur) is a traditional Christmas decoration from the Ore Mountains of central Europe.

In the Ore Mountains, miners and angels, together with candle arches, smoking figures and nutcrackers, are all part of Christmas tradition.

In modern times, people around the world place these candleholders on windowsills to provide light on long winter nights.

[2] Saxony’s Ore Mountain (German: Erzgerbirge) region[3] is one of the closely associated producers of this type of Christmas decoration[4] since the 19th century.

However, miners’ hobbies of carving wood from the surrounding forest provided a supplementary income to the Ore Mountain villages and have continued until present.

An Ore Mountain miner's figure as a candle holder
The altar of the church in Crandorf with two tin miner's lights as altar lights in the foreground
Miner and angel as Christmas light bearers