Easter customs in the Fuschlseeregion

Anyone who spends Easter in the Salzburg region will inevitably come across one or two Easter traditions that they may not be familiar with at home. Here is a brief overview of traditional Easter customs from Austria, which are also observed in the Fuschlseeregion.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. The festival commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. While palm branches lined Jesus' path in the Middle East, the custom of palm bushes developed in the Alpine region. These are traditionally brought to the church one week before Easter Sunday, on Palm Sunday, and consecrated there. The consecrated palm bush is then said to ensure a good harvest, health, and protection from storms and illness in the house and yard.

Ostern ist das höchste Fest der Katholiken. Deshalb finden in der Karwoche auch in der Fuschlseeregion zahlreiche Gottesdienste statt. Wenn Sie österreichische Osterbräuche hautnah erleben möchten, empfehlen wir Ihnen, einen Kirchenbesuch in Ihren Urlaub einzuplanen.

Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper. Although Maundy Thursday is not a strict fasting day, it is customary in Austria to eat "green dishes" on this day of Holy Week: the classic is "spinach with fried eggs".

A Catholic legend says that church bells fly to Rome on Maundy Thursday and only return on Easter Vigil to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Traditionally, the church tower bells are silent during Holy Week in Austria. During this time, wooden ratchets served as a replacement for the bells. That's why the ratchet children, mostly altar boys or young children, are out and about with their ratchets in the villages of the Fuschlseeregion during this time.

Then in many places you can hear the loud clatter of wooden ratchets and sayings like: "We rattle, we rattle the English greeting that every Catholic Christian has to pray." Since 2015, ratcheting during Holy Week has been part of UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage.

Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In Austria, this day is considered a strict fasting day on which meat and alcohol are abstained. Holy Saturday is dedicated to prayer and culminates in the resurrection celebration of the Easter Vigil, the Easter Mass.

The egg itself is considered a symbol of the resurrection of Christ. Cold and lifeless on the outside, life grows on the inside. There is a saying: "As the bird crawled out of the egg, Jesus broke the tomb."

A more practical derivation is: In the past, eggs were not allowed to be eaten during Lent. To preserve the old eggs, they were boiled. To distinguish them from fresh eggs, they were colored. After the consecration, the Easter eggs were given away and eaten at the festive Easter breakfast on Easter Sunday.

Here in the Fuschlseeregion it is customary not to just eat Easter eggs. You look for an “opponent” and practice the Easter custom of “egg pecking”. The Easter eggs are hit together either with the tip or with the round side. Whoever's egg stays intact is the winner.

As is so often the case, pagan and ecclesiastical customs come together in many traditions, including the Easter nest and the hiding of Easter eggs. According to legend, eggs used to be given as gifts to honor the spring goddess Ostara. Eggs symbolize fertility. The church did not like this custom and banned it. So the eggs were secretly hidden and given away. This gave rise to the Easter custom of hiding eggs.

Towards the end of Lent, but at the latest during Holy Week, you can see the decorative Easter bushes in many houses. Traditionally, catkins and forsythia are placed in a vase and decorated with blown-out and artistically painted Easter eggs. This brings Easter joy into the house.

The Easter Festival in the city of Salzburg was founded in 1967 by conductor Herbert von Karajan and has been a must-attend event for classical music lovers ever since.