New Year in Alpbach, Austria

Posted on September 28, 2016 in Austria Inghams Ski Holidays by Kevin.Holland Tags: , , , ,

New Years Eve  is celebrated throughout the world but ‘Sylvester’, the day of the Feast of Pope Sylvester I, coincides with this and makes it a doubly exciting time to be in Austria!

As you may expect, each town or village has their own way of celebrating these momentous occasions and in Alpbach, after a day on the slopes, everyone enjoys a gourmet celebration dinner in their hotels, usually followed by music and dancing. For anyone who wants to venture outside of their hotel, the centre of the village becomes alive from around 10pm. The road in front of the church is closed and everyone spreads out onto the road from the local bars with music playing out in to the streets. At midnight there is a countdown followed by a brilliant fireworks display. Watch out for the rogue firecrackers warding off bad spirits! At 1am, or midnight in the UK, the British contingent gather by the Jakober to do a traditional Auld Lang Syne to the amusment of the Austrians, although they often join in!

New Years’ Day, as if so often the case, is usually fairly quiet to start but then everyone heads onto the slopes. The verdict is still out on whether more time is actually spent on apres than actually skiing though… If you plan on joining them then you can expect to see lots of locals and guests skiing in fancy dress costumes and there are always one or two brave souls who venture out there in a kilt.

A tradition of New Year is to hand the gift of a marzipan pig. This is said to be good luck and he may even hold a four leaf clover. On the theme of good luck pigs, a traditional dinner start with suckling pig so you can almost certainly look forward to plenty of pork on the menu!

On the eve of Three Kings Day, 5th January, the Perchtln roam around the village from house to house. In Alpbach they would wear an old robe or dress and a long wig covering their faces, and carry a broom. They will enter each house and sweep away any bad spirits. It is also on this night that the head of the household carries the Christmas tree out.

The 6th January is Three Kings Day. This commemorates the day that the three kings arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts. Nowadays, village children walk around dressed as the three kings, carrying a star and visiting each home. They often collect money for charity and bless the houses, this is said to bring luck to the household for the New Year. Over the entrance door they write C + M + B and the year. This is the initial of the three kings’ names plus the year.

New Year in Alpbach is a particularly special time as it’s time to see old friends as many visitors return year after year.

Hopefully this year, I’ll see you too!

Blog by Jane, Inghams Resort Representative in Alpbach.