Saint Nicholas's Day open the Christmas season in Austria. Called Santer Klausen, the saint arrives not with a nasty helper for the holidays, but with the devil himself! (This is an extreme but not uncommon variation on the "dark companion" theme)
Both figures test the children, and the good ones get presents
In Austria, the Nativity scene is displayed around the family tree, which is decorated with cookies as well as ornaments. There are processions known as "Showing the Christ Child." Nativity plays are also performed; similar to the Mexican posadas.
On Christmas Eve, many enjoy music from the Turmblazen, a brass band that plays carols from church steeples or towers. Later there is midnight mass.
Both December 25 and 26 are legal holidays. The days are spent relaxing, socializing, and feasting on carp, ham, goose, pastry, and the like.
One of Austria's most important contributions to the celebration of Christmas is a song sung by church choirs and carolers around the world; "Silent Night." On Christmas Eve, 1818, organist Franz Gruber composed the music to accompany Josef Mohr's poem. The carol was Gruber's only published musical work. Today, it is certainly hard to imagine Christmas without the song.
Born and raised in the state of New York, R.M. Villoria began his writing career as a prolific songwriter. After two back-to-back tours as a Marine in Vietnam, Villoria spent the next few years owning and operating a myriad of businesses and in 1992 returned to writing, this time appeasing his appetite for suspense and horror fiction.
Years in the making, his ghostly tales touching on the underpinnings of quantum physics and the paranormal are now ready for the public. As his first published work, Villoria presents readers with Volume One of his series “Tales From the Mind Field.”
Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.
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