Visit to Austria

Hi children!
When I arrived on the 26th of October, the Austrian people celebrated their National holiday. Since the 26th of October 1955, Austria has been an independent republic and has declared a permanent neutrality.
I could see the Austrian flag on many houses and the children at school sang the Austrian hymn. Do you want to hear the Austrian hymn? Have a look at our platform and find the folder “Information about Austria”. There you can find the file “Austrian hymn”.

Now, it is already winter here and today it is snowing.
Every year, the children love the Advent season. At school, they prepared Advent calenders for their classrooms. An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent till Christmas.
This calender could be for instance a house with 24 windows and every day from the 1st Dezember on the children open one window after the other. Advent calenders can have all kind of shapes and this year, the kids created very different calenders.

Another tradition is the Advent wreath. It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles.
The four candles stand for the four Sundays before Christmas. On each Sunday a new candle is lit. So the ones that haven't been lit tell you how many more Sundays… you will have to wait.
The children helped to create the Advent wreath and the priest hallowed the Advent wreaths for the classrooms.

December 4th is St Barbara' s Day. Some 100 years ago Barbara, who lived in what is called Turkey today, was killed because she was a Christian. Miners have chosen St. Barbara as their Patron Saint.
On 4th December break a twig off a cherry tree and put it in a vase in your room. Because it's warm indoors you can trick the twig to believe it is spring. The buds start blooming and, if you are lucky, the flowers unfold on Christmas Eve.

Krampus is celebrated in the evening before 6th December.
Of course, there is no such thing in reality. It always is somebody in disguise - wearing a terrifying mask and a dark fur coat. Carrying a birch Krampus tries to frighten people.
There were stories that Krampus was looking for the naughty children. Of course, kids were scared! This has changed a lot and no one fears Krampus nowadays.
In some Austrian regions 'Perchten' are roaming the streets. Their masks can really be horrifying - even for adults.

On 6th December it is St. Nicholas' Day. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of the children and seamen.
It is said that St. Nicholas lived in Asia Minor hundreds of years ago.
He used to be bishop in a Christian community. This is why, even today, he carries a crosier (a bishop's crook).
The custom to brush your shoes and boots especially for this occasion the night before, still prevails. You put them in the window - hoping to find them filled with apples, nuts and chocolates the next morning.
Very often St. Nicholas is accompanied by Krampus.
So, that is enough for today, next time Mrs Wista will tell you more.

Bye
Mr Wista

Hello children!
Last weekend, I went skiing on the mountain called “Kreischberg”. This was great fun. All lifts are running and even a new lift called “sixpack orange” is opened now.
Do you want to see pictures of this skiing region? Have a look at the photo album: www.kreischberg.at
The children are learning skiing at the age of 4 or 5 years, some of them even earlier. Most of the kids have saison cards and are enjoying skiing the whole season till Easter Monday. A few of them prefer snowboarding, which is also great fun.

Today I got up very early, it was 5 o’clock in the morning. Many children attended an early mass named “Rorate”. The meaning of this mass is to bring light into the darkness, to light candles and to welcome Jesus.
Some of the children went with their hand laterns to the church, it was dark and the christmas tree in front of the church was gleaming. This impression gave us a wonderful feeling of forthcoming christmas.
Next time, Mr Wista will tell you about Advent markets and the famous "Eiskrippe" in Graz.

Bye
Mrs Wista