Germany's most famous Christmas market, the "Christkindlesmarkt" in Nuremberg, began here on Friday evening.
About 20,000 visitors came to the main market in the middle of Nuremberg old city area in spite of cold winter weather to join in the opening ceremony, according to the organizer.
Teresa Treuheit, this year's Christ Child, then inaugurated in front of the crowd the annual Christmas market, which will last from Nov. 28 to Dec. 24 this year.
It is a tradition dating back to the 17th century. The "Christkind" or Christ Child will be performed by a young lady, who needs to be between 16 and 19 years old and will be elected every two years. Her most important job is to inaugurate the Christmas market on Friday evening before the first Sunday of Advent.
The current Christmas market is made up of about 180 wooden stalls and 200 merchants, according to the statistics released by the organizer, who expects more than 2 million visitors this year.