Austrian Traditions

St. Nick doesn’t visit us on Christmas eve or day in Austria, but on December 6th instead. On this day people in Germanic speaking countries such as Austria and Germany celebrate a festival called St. Nikolaus day, on which St. Nikolaus (yes, same name as Santa) and his companion Krampus come and visit children to reward those that have been good and punish those that have misbehaved.

Nikolaus gives the well-behaved children a red shoe filled with goodies and a gold coloured twig to represent their good behavior and Krampus gives the bad children a bunch of dark birch twigs, which are tied together and meant to be whipped with.

Krampus is a terrifying figure who wears chains and ragged clothes made of goat-hair. A carved mask and usually runs through the streets attacking anyone in his way. He usually rings a cow bells to scare everyone and let them know he’s coming. In Austria and Germany this day is especially celebrated in pubs, bars, taverns, “gasthäuser” (an Austrian/German type of familiar/informal restaurant, directly translated into Guest House) and clubs and can often go out of hand, because those dressed up usually are young adults and teenagers that often can get carried away (depending on the environment, of course) as the nature of the holiday is the perfect excuse to be all crazy and run around scaring people.

Inspired? Get in touch now to arrange your free consultation and first step towards your personal travel experience!