BERLIN (AP) — TraditionalChristmas marketsare opening acrossGermanyon Monday, drawing revelers to their wooden stands with mulled wine, grilled sausages, potato pancakes or caramelized apples.
Security has been stepped up, with memories oftwo deadly attacks on Christmas marketsstill fresh for many Germans.
InBerlin, the famous market at the city's Gedächtniskirche church opened with a public service on Monday morning. Other openings included the Christmas markets at the Rotes Rathaus city hall, Gendarmenmarkt and Charlottenburg Palace.
Vendors sell not only snacks and drinks but also handmade candles, wool hats, gloves and shiny Christmas stars in all colors and shapes. Children enjoy rides on chain carousels, Ferris wheels and skating on ice rinks.
Christmas markets are an annual tradition that Germans have cherished since the Middle Ages — and successfully exported to much of theWestern world.
Security is an issue at all markets across the county.
Last year, five women and a boy died, and many were injured in a car-ramming attack on aChristmas market in the city of MagdeburgonDec. 20that lasted just over a minute. Theattacker is currently on trialin Magdeburg.
On Dec. 19, 2016, an attacker plowed througha crowd of Christmas market-goers at Gedächtniskirche church in Berlinwith a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more in the German capital. The Muslim militant was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
In the western city ofCologne, the Christmas market in front of the city's famousdouble-domed cathedralwas packed with big crowds on Saturday.
"We sense a very good atmosphere here, so we feel that in these difficult times we are currently experiencing, we can give visitors a little moment of respite here," said Birgit Grothues, the spokeswoman for the market. "We see many smiling faces under our illuminated tent."
Nonetheless, she said that after last year's attack in Magdeburg, the city created a special security concept for its markets in close cooperation with police. It includes an additional anti-terrorism barrier and private security, she said.
Associated Press writer Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.