No surprises – the main Easter traditions in Austria revolve around…eggs.
Eating them is, of course, one Easter activity, but eggs are also the centrepiece of Easter arts and crafts.
Decorated Easter eggs
Decorating eggshells is a popular tradition that dates back centuries. The egg’s contents are blown out, then the outside painted or otherwise coloured using beads, fabrics or whatever material catches your imagination. Egg-shaped decorations are also made from wood, plastic, or polystyrene (popular for Kindergartens).
At Vienna’s Easter markets, you’ll see basket after basket of the things.
But what do you do with your decorated eggs?
Here’s the answer:
The Easter tree (Osterbaum)
In the weeks and days leading up to Easter, Viennese flower shops “blossom” with thin tree branches, mostly of different varieties of willow. People buy the branches to put in a vase and hang ribbons and decorated eggs from. Here’s one of ours:
Colouring eggs (Eierfarben)
And the egg-based fun doesn’t stop there: no respectable Easter morning would be seen without a handful of hard-boiled eggs in different colours.
They’re sold in supermarkets, but many people still make their own at home by boiling the eggs in food colouring. If you choose that route yourself, I’m told “red” works best.
And what do people do with these eggs (other than eat them)?
Eiersuchen (looking for eggs)
Young Austrian kids spend many a happy hour on Easter Sunday scouring the garden for the hard-boiled eggs. The hunting instinct is encouraged by adding one or two chocolate alternatives to the hiding places, too.
Eierpecken (egg pecking)
This is a sort of Easter conkers. Two opponents take hold of an egg each and then “clash eggs” by knocking them against each other.
The idea is to crack the opponent’s egg while leaving yours unharmed, allowing you to claim the losing egg for yourself. We just do it for bragging rights.
Too hard and you both lose. Too soft and the opponent has the upper hand. It requires considerable skill and nerve to control the speed and timing of the coming together advantageously. (Not really.)
Traditionally, it’s always pointy end against pointy end or flat end against flat end to avoid long, tiresome debates about how dad’s all-conquering egg performance was tainted by structural manipulation.
The Easter rabbit
And of course, who brings all these eggs? That famous egg-laying mammal the Easter rabbit (German: Osterhase – technically an Easter hare).
Chicks, lambs and the like are just supporting characters – the Osterhase is very much the dominant animal. So while UK kids, for example, might delight in a large chocolate egg for Easter, Austrian kids will tend to get a large chocolate rabbit.
Happy Easter!