Rauhnächte#

Rauhnaechte, popular name for the nights before St. Thomas's Day (December 21), Christmas Eve, Silvester (New Year's Eve) and the night before January 6 (Epiphany). Christmas Eve and the night before Epiphany are called "foaste" Rauhnaechte, everything that happens in these nights is considered of great significance. Rauhnaechte also mark the turn of the year, they were believed to have mysterious influence on the future (animals were believed to talk, laundry was not to be left on the clothes-line overnight). People thought they could see into the future by fortune-telling and other oracular customs; by smoke (thus the name "Rau(c)hnaechte" - nights of smoke) and by giving the cattle blessed fodder ("Maulgaben") they tried to avert bad fortune from their houses and farms. For good luck they gave donations to beggars (Epiphany carol singers, refuse collectors). The term Rauhnaechte is also connected with the tradition of the popular furry masks called Perchten (Old High German term "ruh" = coarse, rude, hairy, wild), which symbolise wild chases.