Christmas time in Graz, Austria

Christmas customs in Austria:
Advent Calendars

Advent calendars are one of the coolest Christmas customs in Austria. They are usually made of paper or cardboard with 24 little doors. Behind these doors there are little pieces of chocolate, little Christmas pictures, miniture toys, etc…
You open the first door on December 1st and open another door every day .
advent calendars can also be books where you have to read a page every day. Some kids have a mystery advent calendar where you have to solve a mystery every day. Some advent calenders have 24 little bags, that the parents fill with little treats.

Christmas customs:
our class advent calendar

In Austria, we are in lockdown again and we only see half of our class. To bring more joy into the lives of others, we started doing an advent calendar together. Everyday, somebody else gets some chocolate and a nice message.

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Christmas customs in Austria:
Advent Wreath

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Valentin & Elvis

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In Austria most families have an Advent wreath made from fir tree branches.
Most of the Advent wreaths are also decorated. Here you can see what a wreath looks like.

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On the Advent wreath there are four candles and every Sunday before Christmas you light one additional candle. These Sundays we call Advent Sundays. On the Advent Sundays most families also sing Christmas carols and eat Christmas cookies.

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Pete und Tobias

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Christmas customs in Austria: Krampus
December 5th

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On the 5th of December we celebrate Krampus day. Krampus is a very scary figure. He wears a furry costume with dangerous horns and he always carries a whip. All children are scared of him.
Krampus is the opposite of St. Nikolaus.

In many towns we also have Krampus runs, where lots of these scary figures run through the streets and hit people.

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Christmas customs in Austria: St. Nicolas Day, December 6th

Fortunately, Krampus usually walks with St. Nicholas, – and that makes him less dangerous. St. Nicholas looks like Santa Claus and he comes to kids’ homes to bring little presents.
In the evening children put their boots in front of the door because in the night of December 5th St Nicholas comes and puts tangerines, nuts and sweets in their shoes. On the morning of the 6th of December, kids are happy because they find the sweets in their shoes.

Christmas customs in Austria: Christmas Cookies

In Austria we bake delicious Christmas cookies. Here you see my friend Elke's selection of this year. She has made 33 different kinds of cookies. She always finishes them by December 1st and then shares them with friends and family during Advent.

Max and Kevin

Christmas customs in Austria: Christmas Trees

In Austria almost all families put up a real Christmas tree in their homes.
We put the Christmas tree in our living room one day before Christmas. We decorate the tree on December 24th in the morning. We decorate it with Christmas balls, candles, chocolate umbrellas, and candy canes. On Christmas Eve, that is the evening of December 24th, we light the candles and sing Christmas carols. The light and the smell of the wax candles is really magic.
Then we distribute the gifts that are under the Christmas tree.

Viola and Lena

Christmas presents

We give presents to our family and friends for Christmas.
With our family we celebrate Christmas with a Christmas tree and a big dinner.
On the 24th of December, after dinner our parents put the presents secretly under the Christmas tree when the kids aren't in the living room and then we open them and we spend a lot of time together with our family.

Our wish for Christmas is a new phone and a gymnastic mat.
Viola's best present for Christmas was a horse last year.

Ylvie

Christmas customs in Austria: Traditional Food

In Austria many families
eat fish with potatoes on Christmas evening. My grandmother cooks the food for us .

After the main course we eat stracciatella ice cream with waffles and we drink coffee or water.

Then we open our presents.