A beloved Austrian tradition that takes place at the time of Advent, the four weeks preceding Christmas, is the "Christkindlmarkt," or Christmas Market.
This institution goes back several hundred years and had its beginning in the coming together of families at Advent to make such Christmas decorations as Advent wreaths, candles, straw angels and spice bouquets. Eventually as others, less handy, wanted also to partake in the joy of these little wonders, the decorations were brought to market and a tradition was born.
On the first Advent Sunday throughout the country, the Christmas markets would appear and farm people and city folk alike would display their homemade crafts for sale. Others offered hot mulled wine (Gluehwein) and candied apples, gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies. The markets joined the smells, sounds and tastes of Christmas, often with snowflakes sugaring the whole picture, in a way that delighted children. Of course, grown-ups loved them, too.
And so, all these years later in our computerized world, the Christmas markets still flourish in Austria. One finds them in front of churches, or on village squares and in city parks. In Vienna, which has 24 districts, one can find at least one Christkindlmarkt in each district. The Christmas markets give the local artists and merchants alike a chance to show their wares. They give all of us a chance to recoup bits of our childhood and our childhood dreams of an old-fashioned Christmas: wax ornaments; glass-blown angels and snowmen; the smells of Christmas cookies with almonds, anis and vanilla, and freshly cut pine branches; and the sounds of children singing Christmas carols.
