An Austrian Easter

If any holiday has surprised me this past year, it has been in discovering how Austrians celebrate Easter differently from us Yanks.  Perhaps the bulk of the surprise lies in my assumption that, as a Catholic country, things would roll along much the same as they do in the US...which, as far as essentials go, is true: Fat Tuesday (aka Carnival) Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday "He is risen! Hallelujah! Amen!"

Same thing, right?

Wrong.

There is so. Much. More.

I won't even bring up how Americans don't celebrate Carnival with donuts...why, I have no idea...but I digress. 

So, here in Austria they certainly celebrate Lent: A holy season, focused on fasting and prayer...but if that gets too depressing, feel free to pop over to one of the Easter markets to lift your spirits.  While you're there, pick up an Osterpinze--a holy trinity roll--sweet bread shaped like a clover that tastes like the delectable crust from a danish pastry.  (but, remember you're fasting).  While you're nasching, peruse the stalls and try to pick just one (or six) out of the millions of hand painted eggs hanging from boughs and displayed in cartons--stacks upon stacks of intricately decorated orbs.  Note that most of the other vendors have just re-vamped their wares from the Christmas markets (Easter Bunny Lebkuchen!) and go back to gawking at those eggs.    

Before you go, remember to grab a glass of white wine in celebration of the coming Spring...and don't forget to pick up a bunch of palms...which are actually pussy willows, but any Austrian you ask will insist they are palms.  If you're Catholic, make sure you bring them to church on Palm (pussy willow?) Sunday and dip them in the holy water. Bring 'em home, stuff them in a vase and call them a tree.  Now, hang some eggs on it.  It's like Christmas!  Isn't fasting and praying fun!?

From what I gather, Last year's palms were recently thrown in the fire (in celebration of Ash Wednesday) after hanging all year on the family home's cross...for good luck.

But, in all seriousness, as far as actual Easter celebrations go, people here still celebrate in much the same way: Lambs, bunnies and chicks abound.  People head to church to observe many of the same customs any Christian in the States would (if not more so) and there are Easter eggs--just not in the way we know them.

There are no plastic eggs full of candy here, no crazy color dying kits complete with egg tattoos and stencils.  People here do not decorate eggs; they buy them...either carefully selected from the aforementioned markets or pre-colored in the grocery store.  And this is what probably weirded me out the most--even more than the palm/pussy willow conundrum.  The Easter eggs that children search out in their hunts are real...which might not seem so odd since plenty of people in the States hard-boil and decorate their own.  But, a month before Easter, hard-boiled, spray-painted eggs started coming out of the wood work...and none of them were refrigerated.  They were all just out there at room temperature in their  plastic cartons, shellacked and gleaming in the fluorescent light.  Any time we went to the bakery, the delighted worker behind the counter would hand two of these eggs to the girls like they had just been gifted golden treasure.  Mostly, the girls looked at them askance and made me put them in my purse...which resulted in several occasions of discovering hard boiled eggs lingering in the bottom of my bag.

Disturbing.

...or Normal...depending on your nationality.

I might be able to chalk up all this stand-offish cynicism to culture shock, but Easter really was a hilariously weird time for me to be in Austria.  And please note, this post is not even remotely based in researched fact.  It's all just casual observation from a person in the throes of Seasonal Affective Disorder, who happened to pry some information from her Austrian friend's grandmother.   I will note, though, that I much prefer my skewed reality.  I like my Austrians a little wacky and enslaved to crazy tradition.