Teresa Windschall is the new Nuremberg Christkind (Christ-Child). A jury made up of representatives from the media, the Nuremberg State Theatre, the City of Nuremberg and last year’s Christkind Benigna Munsi selected the 17-year-old schoolgirl for a two-year term in 2021/22.
Teresa Windschall, the new Christkind with Benigna Munsi the outgoing Christkind.
Photo: Giulia Ianicelli
Teresa Windschall was born in Nuremberg in 2004. Her hobbies are making music, sports, culture and travelling. She attends the Wilhelm-Löhe-Schule grammar school. Her busy intercultural commitment has led the versatile student to a church exchange programme in Brasilia (2019), an archaeological project in Istanbul (2019), as well as language and exchange programmes in Hungary, France and Spain. From 2018 to 2020, she volunteered at the parish of St. Johannis in the organisation of church services and youth work. Her great passion is making music, and she began playing the violin in 2011. She is currently the first violin and concertmaster of the Wilhelm Löhe School orchestra. Since 2019 Teresa has also been taking lessons in ballet. She loves sports, whether it is tennis, which she has played since 2015, working out, swimming or skiing.
The city’s press spokesman, Andreas Franke, explained the jury’s unanimous vote for Teresa Windschall: “The jury faced a difficult task. All six girls presented themselves convincingly. In the end, it was not a decision against anyone but for one of the girls. In the end, the choice fell on Teresa Windschall. She particularly convinced the jury with her openness, spontaneity and warmth.”
Teresa Windschall will speak the prologue with which the world-famous Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt is opened every year on Friday, 26 November 2021, at 5.30 pm. For corona reasons, this year, the opening will not be held in the gallery of Nuremberg’s Frauenkirche and will not be open to the public. However, the opening ceremony will be broadcast live on television and radio. Besides opening the Christkindlesmarkt, the Christkind’s duties in 2021 and 2022 include several visits to social and charitable institutions in the city. To avoid crowds, the traditional presence of the Christ-Child at the market itself will also not take place this year.
The Nuremberg Christkind has been chosen every two years since 1969. Girls aged 16 to 19 who live in Nuremberg, are at least 1.60 metres tall and free from giddiness, can stand for election. The public can vote for twelve candidates after the photos have been published in the daily newspapers and on the Internet. The six candidates with the highest number of votes are then invited to attend a jury selection where they answer questions about themselves, Nuremberg, the Christkindlesmarkt, and recite a poem of their own choice and the prologue.
