Another good one for excellent arts and crafts is the Schönbrunn market. Every stallholder must make their own products and pass a jury test, which ensures a host of booths selling unique handcrafted art and gifts. In particular, consider a shopping trip to the Karlsplatz market. Candles are everywhere, as well as hats, bags, scarves and other fashion accessories, glass, wood, leather and pottery items, jams, honey, wine, schnapps (lots of schnapps), various forms of art, and numerous undefinable things you’ll have trouble finding elsewhere
(Karlsplatz Christmas market is great for gifts) These add to the old-fashioned flair of Christmas markets, together with the many stands selling Christmas punch.Ĭonsumption of chestnuts and punch counts toward your collection of Christmas activities.
But, you know, tradition…Īs you wander the streets of Vienna in winter, you also find the little Maronistand booths selling roast chestnuts. Spekulatius: a spiced biscuit with, frankly, nothing particularly recommending it.Hard Impossible to avoid if visiting an Austrian family during Advent Weihnachtskekse: Christmas biscuits, of which an unending variety magically appear in December.A little dry, but lots of people seem to like it Stollen: a seasonal cross between fruit bread and fruit cake.Lebkuchen: similar to gingerbread, sold in various shapes, sizes and flavours for eating or as hard-baked decorative shapes that look like they could probably survive a nuclear incident.Many people then use Christmas Day itself to visit other parts of the family, recover from overeating or, if you live in an Anglo-Austrian household like mine, celebrate Christmas all over again the UK way: more food, more drink, more forced expressions of gratitude for entirely inappropriate gifts, and, particularly, complaints about the scarcity of the purple chocolates in a tin of Quality Street. Late afternoon or early evening on the 24th then sees the family gather for the Christmas festivities, including carol singing, a hearty meal (see below), and the exchange of gifts and well wishes. Especially since modern kids with Internet access are less easily convinced by tales of Christmas magic. Inevitably, commercial interests have pecked away at the influence of the retailer-unfriendly Christkind, and pushed for more sleighs and Santa you can read up on that battle here.Ī growing tendency is also to put the tree up earlier. When the bell rings, the kids enter the room and marvel at the magical transformation. The Christkind is the traditional gift bringer: a manifestation of Jesus as a child or an angel, often represented with golden locks and the obligatory wings. When all is ready, someone rings a tinkly bell which announces that the Christkind has been. Sometime in the afternoon of December 24th, a handy relative or friend (grandparents are particularly useful here) distracts the kids while the parent(s) decorate the Christmas tree. But the big moment of family celebration definitely remains Christmas Eve ( Heiligenabend) and not Christmas Day ( Weihnachtstag) as in, for example, the UK. Palais Niederösterreich Advent market (in a lovely palais)Īs Vienna becomes more multicultural and multifaith, it’s tricky to talk about pervasive Christmas traditions.Medieval Advent market (think mead and roast boar).Weihnachtszauber (in Vienna’s main brewery look for the bonus weekend markets in the event hall).Wintermarkt (food and drink out by the giant Ferris wheel).
Michaelerplatz (in front of the mighty domed entrance to the central Hofburg palace complex).Genussmarkt bei der Oper (near the state opera house).Hirschstetten (typically includes a lovely floral exhibition).Altes AKH (good for food and entertaining the kids).
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