!!!Sternsingen

Sternsingen, traditional custom around Epiphany (Epiphania Domini, 
January 6%%sup th/% , formerly the beginning of the Year), emerged 
from the traditional New Year Singing of the monastic schools. First 
documented mention around the middle of the 15%%sup th/%  century in 
the foothills of the Alps of Salzburg and Bavaria. After the Second 
World War, Sternsingen ("Star Singing") became very popular 
in the course of the "Dreikoenigsaktion" (Catholic charity 
collection at Epiphany) in Catholic areas, carried out by the 
Katholische Jungschar (Catholic Children´s Organisation) and in 
which children dressed up as the three Magi collect money for 
charitable purposes. There are special forms outside those organised 
by the church and related to charity, such as in Oberndorf (Salzburg, 
reintroduced according to older models) and Heiligenblut am 
Grossglockner (Carinthia). There, groups of men who are not in 
disguise but carry an elaborately painted star visit farmhouses, 
accompanied by musicians.

!Literature
H. Moser, Volksbraeuche im geschichtlichen Wandel, 1985; 
G. Kapfhammer, Brauchtum in den Alpenlaendern, 1977; H. M. Wolf, 
Das Brauch-Buch, 1992.


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