It has been quite some time since my
last post, which I wrote while in Hungary. Since then I meandered around Europe
and travelled to Poland, Italy, France and back to Vienna where I am now and
have been for almost 6 weeks.
Austrians have a strange twist on
familiar customs. Christmas for example is a time when streets around the city are cheerfully lit- up with Christmas markets stalls. Many people gather around them drinking fruity
and alcoholic punsch and eat meaty snacks and kartoffelpuffers (potato
pancakes). The punsch by the way smells delicious but tastes awful. There are
lots of lovely handmade gifts available at the stalls, anything from snow globes,
xmas decorations to beeswax candles and heavily decorated lebkuchen (delicious ginger
bread-like biscuit). The many lights, some of which are very elaborate, adorn
everything, buildings, trees, sidewalks. And the pointed spires of churches and
the glowing lanterns light up the otherwise dark and cold landscape. It felt
rather magical seeing at these things at the Rathaus for the first time. The
snow we had later was the final touch on the postcard perfect image of
Christmas.
Little did I know that Christmas in
Austria is not just a time for jolly old Saint Nicholas (Santa) but also
for Krampus. When window shopping and gazing at chocolate gifts, I found myself
frequently pondering “ what on earth is that creepy thing standing next to Santa”.
Well that creepy, goblin-like creature is Krampus and it punishes children by
licking them with its long tongue, putting them in barrels and scares them with
its chains. Seriously. And what kind of
a parent would give their child a chocolate Krampus anyway? One that wants to
instil fear and discipline and give their kids freakin’ nightmares. I can
imagine them saying “Oh you have been bad my child, your’re not getting a visit
from Santa this year, you’re getting a hairy, perverted devil to abuse you with
rusty chains.... Stranger still, there are people particularly in southern Austria
that celebrate Krampus on Dec 5th. The festivity on this day
involves men dressing up like Krampus and harassing mostly young girls with
their creepy get up. Sexual harassment is obviously not an issue here...
Another unexpected custom popped up
the other day. I noticed that stalls started to appear here and there and they were
selling pig
paraphernalia ....little pig statues, pig toys, pig cakes, pig
candles..what’s with the freakin pigs I thought. Apparently, it is a custom to
give a person a pig for new year and it is supposed to bring a person good luck. Of
course I couldn’t help myself and ended up buying a pig after the toy gazed at
me with its shiny, cheerful eyes...arg, what a sucker I can be for cute
things..
Christmas/New Year period is
also a time when people randomly let off firecrackers and it is not uncommon to
hear a big bang like someone has put a bomb in a garbage bin. I found one culprit
on a deserted Christmas evening while walking on the deadened cold streets of
Vienna. It was a young boy and he was just throwing some sort of firecracker
out the widow of the six story apartment block without even looking where he was
throwing it or on what. When I looked at him, he guiltily hid behind the window
curtains and then I thought “so this is why they have krampus, to punish the
kids that are throwing firecrackers on pedestrians”!
New Year is coming very soon and I am
happy to hear that they celebrate it here albeit with classical music and
subzero temperatures. I am interested to see how the Austrian celebrations will turn out...
