My Österreichisches Weinachts

My mother has been nagging asking me to update my blog, since it has been quite a long time. I have just been keeping up with school and friends, nothing of interest came to mind that was worthy of a new post. However, my mother came up with LOTS of ideas for me ^_^ As for your LAST update of 2013 I will share with you my first Christmas away from home. This is the second time I have been in Europe during the holiday season, in 2010 I was in Brussels for the holidays, but returned to the U.S. a week or two before Christmas Day. For starters, Christmas in Austria is different than in Brussels and very different from the U.S. The "launch" of the Christmas season is the Christmas markets ("Weinachtsmarkt" & "Adventmarkt") that open in the end of November. They are much prettier than the ones in Brussels and our little city of Graz has at least five of them! Each vendor sells handmade goods, and each "markt" has a "Gluhwein" stand selling mulled wine, so there is more public drunkenness this time of year ^_^ Unfortunately, above is the only good picture from the markets that I got, and it was my favorite Gluhwein stand.

 The next big event in the Austria Christmas season occurs on December 6. Santa Clause is not the guy who brings gifts to children on Christmas, Baby Jesus does! They call him the "Christkind." St. Nicholas does, however, come on December 6th. Kids leave their shoes outside their bedroom doors and he leaves candy for the good kids and sticks for the bad kids. The sticks are then used by the Krampus to beat the bad children. What is the Krampus? He's essentially the devil, and boy do they love the Krampus here. The sell Krampus chocolates next to the Santa chocolates in the grocery store, and have a Krampus Run, where men of the town dress up as various forms of the demon and run around town terrorizing people. Supposedly, it got too violent in the last 20 years, so now they just have a parade. However, if you're standing too close they will still beat you! They take kids, beat adults, scare children, etc. Its all about mischief and scaring the  bad kids into being good kids.  The parade is something to see, they come riding motorcycles, modified cars, dune buggies, and anything that will make lots of noise. They all wear rattling chains and carry bundles of sticks to whip people.

Matthias and his mom lighting sparklers

As for a true Christmas celebration, I was beyond lucky enough to have my very very very good friend (and best friend) Matthias and his family open their home to me for a "Styrian Christmas." In Austria, the 24th is the more important holiday than the 25th. However, everything in the city is closed from noon on the 24th until the 27th. As soon as I finish writing this, I'm going to enjoy a normal day in the city again ^_^ Anyhow, his family lives about 15km outside of the city in a small village called Attendorf. On the car ride there, you could see the snow covered mountains in the distance (Graz is also one of the least snowy places in ALL of Austria). As soon as we arrived, his mother had prepared a delicious brunch of soup and assorted meats, cheeses, and breads. Then we all relaxed while his sister began decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments and candy! Then came dinner, his mother made a delicious Pumpin soup, followed by a main course of veggies and bacon wrapped chicken. Mmmmm. After dinner, the dad played the guitar while Matthias and his mom lit the candles and sparklers on the tree. They turned all the lights off and we sang a round of Silent Night (Stille Nacht). Then came presents, they each got me such a thoughtful gift! His mom even knit me such warm socks!! We ended the night playing Phase 10 (a favorite amongst my family) and watching movies. It was a wonderful evening and I thank them so so so so very much for allowing me to share the holiday with them. There are so many other things to write, but I think this is enough for now. If you have questions, just comment them below, or if you have any blog topic ideas feel free to share them!! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (which I will be celebrating in Sarajevo!)!

Hauptplatz with it's Christmas tree.

The main street in Graz, my friend calls these
the "Anti-Christ"mas trees, because they
are Christmas trees hanging upside-down.

The Rathaus lit up for Christmas,
the crowd is for the Krampus parade

Krampus "float" during the parade.

They come right up to the spectators
and interact with them.

Each float is designed by a small village
 that is just outside the city

This is my best friend Ana and a Krampus. He came right up
to her and said "die rote Haare!" Then he grabbed her hair
and pulled her over to him. (die rote Haare means "the red hair.")

Mati and his sister watching their parents open gifts.

Mati lounging while his dad plays
Christmas carols on his guitar