Fred Elder, Tapestry of Christmas and New Year in Vienna

Christmas in Vienna

Trips to Vienna have always been special to me. Ardith and I have been to Vienna many times and I have always considered myself lucky to be in the presence of a near-native German speaker with intimate knowledge of Vienna, its environs and how to travel in Europe.  However, our Christmas trips were truly special. Our first Christmas/New Year trip (1998/99), when the Euro became the accounting currency for most of the EU, included Vienna, Leipzig, and other towns. Our 2^nd Christmas trip (2002/03) the Euro became the circulating currency for most of the EU. This trip included Vienna, Leipzig, Eisenach, and Wartburg Castle. Our 3^rd Christmas trip (2004/05) included Vienna, Brussels, Rochefort, Aachen, and Bratislava

 

Christmas and New Year’s festivities transform Vienna into a magical place, from the beautiful decorations lighting the streets in the center of the city and the elaborately decorated shop windows to the many outdoor Christmas markets. The holiday lights are a welcome antithesis to the dreary, short days that often dominate the city in winter. 

So, enough introduction, let’s take a tour of the city and see some highlights of Christmas and New Year in Vienna.

MARONI STANDL
A harbinger of winter and a part of the Christmas and New Year’s scene are the little wooden chestnut stands that spring up all over the city. The chestnuts are roasted in round black drums and sold in small triangular paper bags.

At this time of year, newspapers often contain an article touting the nutritious value of chestnuts. If you deign to reject this nutrition, the stands also offer Kartoffelpuffer  (a type of round crispy hashbrown)  and roasted chunks of potatoes. All are cooked on a rotating steel plate atop the black drum, which holds the charcoal.

CHRISTKINDLMARKT
The end of November, outdoor Christmas markets appear as if by magic, as many tiny huts are built all over the city and are arranged according to the available space. Vendors then occupy the individual huts, offering their wares until New Year, when the huts are taken down and placed in storage to await their reappearance the next season. These markets can be found all over the city, some large and some small.  A major draw of all outdoor Christmas markets are the food and drink stands, where locals often gather at tall wooden tables, especially weekday evenings after work. Steaming mugs of Glűhwein (‘mulled wine’) and Weihnachtspunsch (a sweet alcoholic drink) help warm the hands and liven conversation.

 

 

To accompany the libations, one can also indulge in fare special to the season: Schmalzbrot (open-faced sandwiches on a hearty slice of brown bread, slathered with lard and topped with cracklings), Langos (a culinary contribution from neighboring Hungary, consisting of a large piece of deep-fat-fried dough with a butter-garlic sauce), gingerbread hearts covered with icing, and a plethora of other inviting choices.  One can also buy a slab of cheese from one of the many giant wheels of cheese.

A huge assortment of wooden toys, Christmas decorations, and glass and ceramic decorative art are among the goods sold in the avenue of little wooden huts.

KAFFEEHAUS
Coffeehouses are a constant in Vienna, but at Christmastime provide a cozy, warm place to imbibe in a warm drink and a delectable pastry. Vienna is famous for its many different types of coffee (numbering from 13-30). Whether one orders a typical Melange or a Kleiner Brauner or indulges in a Maria Theresia (a double espresso with whipped cream and orange liqueur), a pastry or torte never goes amiss, especially when served with a hefty dollop of whipped cream. During the Christmas season, more cookies begin to appear in the display case as well (e.g., Lebkuchen, Vanillenkipferln, Linzeraugen, Florentine). Some of our favorite coffeehouses include Tirolerhof (1^st district), Dommayer (13^th district) the Bräunerhof (1^st district), and Café Eiles (8th district). Alternatively, we often popped into a bakery for a less expensive coffee and pastry.

 

 

CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve found us attending the church service at the Vienna Community Church (an international, interdenominational English-speaking church). Again, a magical moment was experienced when, at the conclusion of the service, everyone gathered in a circle in the adjacent courtyard, where each person’s candle provided the only light for the singing of Stille Nacht (‘Silent Night’). A hush fell over the land, so to speak, as the song ended.

NEUJAHR 
Our first Christmas and New Year together in Vienna (1998/99), we stayed at a friends’ apartment (they were gone for the holidays) in the center of the city, in the first district. A memorable part of New Year’s Eve was our return to the apartment around midnight. We inadvertently found ourselves pressed into a crowd pushing its way as one body on the wide street of Graben, which leads into the square in front of St. Stephen’s cathedral where many firecrackers were being thrown onto the square in a dense crowd. We skirted the square best we could to reach the quieter winding side streets that led to our apartment, away from the rowdy, reveling crowd.  There was good reason that we were warned that St. Stephen’s Square was a somewhat intimidating place to be at midnight.

Another trip between semesters (2002/03), we were “gifted” with another friend’s apartment, where tins full of an array of homemade Christmas cookies were left for our consumption as well as a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. New Year’s Eve found us dressed up going to a concert at the Konzerthaus. Friends met us afterwards and we enjoyed a Glűhwein at the Rathaus Christmas market before heading to the welcome warmth of one of the couple’s apartments. There at midnight the windows were opened wide, the TV turned on, and when the Pummerin, the largest bell in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, resounded throughout the city, the “Blue Danube Waltz” began to play on TV and, along with Viennese all over the city, we waltzed around the living room before raising our glasses in a toast.  A New Year’s Eve is not complete, however, until one has done Bleigiessen (‘lead melting’), which involves each person melting their respective small lead figure and then pouring the melted lead into a bowl of cold water, where it forms a shape that supposedly predicts one’s future for the next year.  Friends also exchanged marzipan pigs or red marzipan mushrooms, both meant to bring good luck. The evening ended with a typical late night party meal of Hungarian goulash and hunks of dark bread. New Year’s Day that year we imbibed in roast duck and red cabbage at friends who live in a small town outside of Vienna. New Year’s Day selected banks in Vienna were open to begin circulating the Euro, despite the normal state of the city being totally closed down on that day.  We also wound our way to a bank to change money into Euros.

Another year (2004/05), near midnight, we enjoyed operetta music at the Rathaus Platz (‘City Hall Square’), where the avenue of the Christmas market huts opens up into a large open area with a stage. Glűhwein helped warm one up a bit until the climax of the evening, when, the Pummerin began its majestic ringing at midnight, signaling the moment for the orchestra to begin playing the traditional “Blue Danube Waltz”. We found ourselves waltzing around the square, part of yet another pageantry, a magical moment. Although neither of us really knew how to waltz, it did not much matter as we were carried along with the crowd of others waltzing.  

Opera
One year (1998/99) we decided to attend the traditional holiday opera, namely, “Die Fledermaus” (‘The Bat’), a comic opera by Johann Strauss II. The pageantry of the Staatsoper (‘State Opera House’) with the bejeweled and gowned upper class women and the champagne bubbling in fluted glasses at intermission was also part of the “show,” literally and figuratively. 

There are too many more scenes to describe, so instead, we will include some photos of our favorites. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr!!!