Austria retains a surprising number of rural festivals, which,
despite their pagan origins, were taken over by the Catholic Church
and vigorously promoted during the Counter-Reformation, in order to
wean the populace away from Protestantism.
The year kicks off on the night of January 5-6 with one of the
oddest of Austria's folk practices, the Perchtenlaufen ,
when folk dressed as Perchten - kindly spirits wearing
elaborate head-dresses - parade through the streets in the hope of
ensuring good fortune and good harvests in the coming year. It's
celebrated in various locations in the Salzburger Land and western
Austria: the Pongauer Perchtenlauf (whose venue changes every year)
is the most renowned Fest. The same night sees the
Glöcklerlaufen in the Salzkammergut town of Ebensee, a
related ritual in which the men of the community don giant
tissue-paper head-dresses illuminated from within by lanterns. Both
Perchten and Glöckler costumes are a common sight in
regional museums.
January and early February sees the height of Fasching ,
or the carnival season, which officially starts on November 11 and
comes to an end on Shrove Tuesday ( Faschingsdienstag ). The
weeks in the run up to Shrove Tuesday are marked by lavish society
balls in Vienna, Salzburg and other major cities and towns. On Ash
Wednesday, families greet the arrival of Lent by eating
Heringschmaus , a platter of various dried, salted and
pickled fish. Also in February, but only at four-year intervals,
are two Tyrolean New Year fertility rituals, which echo the
costumed parades of the Perchtenlaufen : the
Schemenlaufen in the town of Imst and the
Schellerlaufen in nearby Nassereith.
The three great moveable feasts of spring and early summer,
Easter ( Oster ), Whitsun ( Pfingsten )
and Corpus Christi ( Fronleichnam ), all provide the
excuse for long-weekend holidays and family outings. Corpus Christi
is marked by religious processions in the Salzkammergut towns of
Traunkirchen and Hallstatt - in both cases, celebrants take to the
waters of nearby lakes in flotillas of tiny boats. The summer
solstice is the occasion for the lighting of bonfires on high
mountains in some areas on the night of June 21-22 (known as the
Bergfeuer in Ehrwald; or the Sonnwendfeier in the
Gasteinertal). In alpine parts of Austria, September and October
see the descent of the cattle herds from the high mountain
pastures where they spend the summer. Festivals marking the event -
usually called Alpabtrieb or Almabtrieb - are held in
many areas, notably Zell am Ziller on the first weekend in October,
and Mayrhofen on the second weekend of the same month. October is
the pumpkin month, with a pumpkin festival (
Kürbisfest ) in just about every town in the agricultural
heartlands of Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria. All Saints'
Day ( Allerheiligen ) on November 1 is taken seriously
across the country, with hordes heading out to the cemeteries to
pay their respects to the dead.
The feast of St Barbara , patron of miners and
tunnellers, is celebrated in mining areas (such as at the Styrian
towns of Leoben and Eisenerz) with parades and special church
services, either on the day itself (December 4) or on the nearest
Sunday. Also at the beginning of December, Christmas preparations
get under way with a Christmas market (
Christkindlmarkt ) of some sort taking place in most towns
and cities. The biggest of these is in front of the Rathaus in
Vienna, although big markets also take place in the Domplatz in
Salzburg and in Innsbruck's old town. St Nicholas' Day on
December 5 sees a procession in Innsbruck and, on the night of
December 5-6, St Nicholas, accompanied by the devil (Krampus) and
sometimes an angel, goes round handing out gifts for children.
Meanwhile the Krampuslaufen (when demonically masked males
run through the streets to symbolize the evil spirits chased away
by the goodly St Nicholas himself) takes place all over Austria,
and most notably in Zell am See. Christmas (
Weihnacht ) is usually a private, family affair, with the
highlight (for kids at least) coming on Christmas Eve when Baby
Jesus ( Christkindl ) finally hands out the presents. In
some areas carol singers also go from house to house in order to
symbolize the visit of the three Wise Men to Bethlehem; a record of
their visit is chalked above the door of each household, using the
letters K, M and B to denote Kaspar, Melchior and Balthazar -
you're bound to encounter some of these strange chalk marks as you
travel around Austria, because it's considered unlucky to wipe them
off until the following year's visit.