!!!Osterbräuche

Easter Customs: Eastertide extends from Palm Sunday ( Palm Sunday 
Customs) to White Sunday (the Sunday after Easter). Side by side with 
the traditional Easter customs restricted to that period, there has 
been a tendency in recent times to extend Easter customs (Eastern 
markets, Easter egg exchanges, show-window, door and table 
decorations) to the period before and after Eastertide proper.

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On Maundy Thursday (Gruendonnerstag, i.e. "Green Thursday", 
Antlasstag) many families in Austria traditionally eat green dishes 
such as spinach and herb or vegetable broths. Eggs laid on that day 
are considered lucky charms that protect people from evil 
(Antlasseier); choirs perform parts of Christ's Passion at Grossarl, 
Salzburg, (Leiden-Christi-Singen) and Traunkirchen, Upper Austria, 
(Antlasssingen), Passion plays are staged on the Holy Days at Tresdorf 
(Carinthia), Erl, Brixlegg and Telfs (all in Tirol), 
St. Margarethen (Burgenland) and elsewhere. One popular custom is 
Ratschengehen, a procession in the course of which rattles are 
sounded. For many Catholics, Good Friday (a public holiday for 
Protestants) is a fast day, at 3 p.m. a minute of silence is kept 
by many (including some business companies and factories) in 
commemoration of the death of Christ. During Easter night (from 
Saturday to Sunday) Christ's resurrection is celebrated in the 
churches, beginning with the blessing of fire, and many faithful take 
the Easter light back home. Easter bonfires are frequently lighted on 
mountains, particularly in Carinthia, Styria, Tirol, Lower Austria and 
Burgenland. On Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday foodstuffs (ham, 
eggs, special baked goods) are blessed in church. Perhaps the 
best-known popular custom is that of decorating and giving away 
coloured Easter eggs (allegedly laid by the "Easter bunny"), which are 
often used in a contest in which one person tries to crush his/her 
opponent's egg by hitting it with his/her own ("Eierpecken"). Children 
are given little presents (eggs, sweets), which are often hidden ("by 
the Easter bunny") in the house or garden. In former times, there were 
frequently excursions or processions around the fields on Easter 
Monday ("Emmausgehen" in Lower Austria and Styria), nowadays 
people visit their relatives, go on hiking tours, etc.


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