Christmas Saints As Matchmakers And Other Odd Bits In Old Austrian Advent Customs And Traditions

St. Catherine's Day - November 25 "The girls have been hung in the chimney!" is an old Austrian folk saying marking the onset of Advent on St. Catherine's Day. The "girls" referred to the hams and sausages Austrian farm families once prepared in the waning days of autumn. They needed to be hung in the rafters above kitchen fires by St. Catherine's Day to ensure sufficient meat was preserved for the long winter to come. The "girls" in this old saying also alluded to young maidens who had to bide their time and "preserve" their chastity until after Advent, since weddings were forbidden during the four weeks preceding Christmas. Prior to World War I, St. Catherine's Day was the last day for music and dancing as well. Amongst other old sayings were "Catherine stops her wheel" (spinning), "Catherine stops the dance" and "Catherine locks up the fiddles". But just because marriages weren't performed during Advent didn't mean the matter of marriages ceased to be of interest. Quite the contrary. A variety of folk beliefs attached themselves to the various saints' days occurring during Advent to provide assistance to those wishing to marry once the season was over. In Tyrol there was a saying that during Advent, hands reach out to each other and in the New Year they are grabbed! St. Catherine is the patron saint of young women, (especially spinsters). She was a 4th century virgin saint, who at the age of 18, refused all of her pagan suitors, one of which was an emperor! To challenge her position of superiority, the emperor chose 50 pagan philosophers to engage her in a debate about the truth of Christianity. Catherine successfully converted all of them and then the Emperor had all 50 burned. (She is the patron saint of philosophers, students, and librarians as well.) The emperor ordered Catherine to be tortured with a large spiked wheel but a bolt of lightning broke the wheel in the nick of time. In art, she is often depicted holding a piece of the wheel or a piece can be seen at her feet. The emperor then had her stabbed to death with a sword. As to the marriage connection during Advent, in art St. Catherine is often shown receiving a ring from the Christ Child, who is usually being held on Mary's lap.

St. Andrew's Day - November 30

St. Andrew's Day is closest to the first of the four Sundays of Advent. St. Andrew was the brother of St. Peter and one of the first four disciples along with Peter, James the Elder, and John the Evangelist. He is the patron saint of the Order of the Golden Fleece and thus was particularly venerated in Austria in former times. St. Andrew was martyred on a saltire X-shaped cross. In some European countries, on St. Andrew's Eve young women who were eager to marry believed that if they prayed while sweeping a room with a new broom, stepped on a piece of silver in their room, or looked up a chimney while naked, they would see their future husband. That's right. While naked. But in Austria, it was deemed sufficient for clothed young girls to stand barefoot beneath a plum tree at night and listen for a dog's bark. The dog's bark would tell them from which direction their future husbands would come. Today, St. Andrew's Day is usually the time when families buy an Advent wreath. An Advent wreath has four candles, three violet and one rose-colored. The rose colored candle is lit on the third of the four Advent Sundays preceding Christmas.

St. Barbara's Day - December 4

St. Barbara was a virgin Holy Helper and martyred in 306 AD. Barbara, who also refused her pagan suitors, was locked in a tower by her pagan father. The tower had two windows and Barbara had a third one made to symbolize the Holy Trinity.  In a fury, her pagan father struck off her head and in that instant was himself struck by lightning. Some sources say that before having her head cut off, Barbara was "racked, birched and carded with metal combs, forced to lie on a bed of sharp shards and seared with red-hot blades". Barbara is the patron saint of minors, gunners, architects, builders, and stonemasons. An old Austrian custom tied to St. Barbara's Day suggests that a young maiden wanting to marry should cut a branch from a cherry or pear tree and put it in lukewarm water next to the fireplace. If the branch blooms exactly on Christmas Eve, she will get married in the following year. It was important not to change the water. The custom is still popular, although it has lost most of its marital associations. Today, families are thought to gain good luck in the coming year with the blossoming of their cherry branches on Christmas Eve.

St. Nicholas's Day - December 6

St. Nicholas is believed to have been the Bishop of Myra, though no historical evidence exists that he was. But, nevermind. Legend says Nicholas was such a pious little baby that he "declined his mother's breast on Wednesdays and Fridays", which were days of fasting. Amongst his many miracles it is said he managed to put three little boys back together who had been chopped up for sale as some sort of minced meat by an evil innkeeper, thus earning him the rank of patron saint of children. But it is for his generosity in tossing three bags of gold through a window of a poor man to prevent him from selling his three daughters into prostitution, that St. Nicholas is known today as a gift-giver. In Austria, St. Nicholas is often accompanied by Krampus, a devil-like creature. When St. Nicholas visits children on December 6, he rewards good children with small gifts while in former days, Krampus was supposed to use his switch on the bad ones or take them away in the sack on his back. St. Nicholas's combined role as protector of children and a gift-giver has evolved over the centuries into Santa Claus who delivers gifts on Christmas Eve in the U.S., but in Austria he is still a bishop and he still delivers his small gifts in person on December 6. The Christ Child brings gifts to Austrian children on Christmas Eve.

Immaculate Conception Day - December 8

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a national holiday in Austria. It celebrates Anne's conception of Mary.  Anne and her husband Joachim were old and childless. When Joachim attempted to sacrifice at the temple, his offering was refused because he and Anne were childless. Joachim fled to the fields to be with his sheep where an angel appeared and told him that his wife would bear a child and to go and meet her at the Golden Gate of Jersusalem. Another angel gave Anne the same message. Thus Mary was conceived immaculately, i.e., without original sin. St. Anne is the patron saint of pregnant women and invoked during childbirth. Celebration of the Immaculate Conception was stopped as a public holiday by the Nazis during the war years, but following a national referendum in the 1950s, the Immaculate Conception Day was reinstituted as a national holiday.

St. Lucia's Day - December 13

St. Lucia was another virgin saint with a domineering pagan father. Various stories are told about her, but one story concerns a suitor whom her parents wanted her to marry. Evidently, he was obsessed with her beautiful eyes. As the story goes she eventually plucked them out and gave them to him, but later, due to her great piety, her vision was restored.  Her suitor denounced her as a Christian and after testifying that, yes, she was, she was condemned to a brothel. Somehow, the oxen pulling the cart to transport her there, were unable to move it. Then the authorities tried to burn her on the stake, but the fire wouldn't stay lit. Then they tried to boil her in oil and pulled all of her teeth. Finally, they used a sword. She's the patron saint of repentant prostitutes, writers, weavers, and is invoked against eye diseases, sore throats, and infections. Many of the symbols regarding St. Lucia concern light and St. Lucia's Day is often celebrated by Feasts of Light. In Scandinavia, girls wear crowns of lit candles, a symbol of the returning sun. Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced, St. Lucia's Day fell on or close to the shortest day of the year.  In Austria, an old custom for young women wishing to marry was to take one bite of an apple every day from St. Lucia's Day until Christmas Eve. They must, of course, judge carefully the size of each bite to make sure they took the last bite exactly on Christmas Eve. And then, with luck, they would see their future husbands. While seeming rather quaint today, these old folk beliefs and customs do reflect the importance a young woman's matrimonial prospects held in former times. Young maidens had one career possibility in life and that was marriage. Alternatives weren't nearly as attractive. It was only natural that young maidens were preoccupied with trying to determine just who their future husbands might be. Alas, history hasn't left us a record as to how successful these folk customs were in helping young women acquire husbands. However, having been handed down from generation to generation over the centuries, they must have worked often enough.

About The Author

Billie Ann Lopez was an American freelance writer, born and raised in Kansas. For many years she called Vienna, the city she loved, home. Billie Ann's articles tell you about the legends, places in Austria not often on the tourist maps and subjects close to her heart. Informative, descriptive and interesting she acquainted you with her Austria. Billie Ann Lopez passed away September 13th, 2003. She enriched our lives through her friendship, caring and writings. Billie Ann, you are greatly missed. Silvia McDonald

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