A glance at the customs and traditions of Austria, a country in Central Europe.
FOOD IN DAILY LIFE
A typical Austrian day begins with a light breakfast of coffee or milk with bread and butter or jam. The sausage served with mustard on a hard roll is a typical mid-morning snack.
Lunch is generally the main meal of the day and consists of soup and a main course of sausage, the very popular Wiener schnitzel (breaded beef), chicken, beef, pork or fish. Fresh vegetables, meatballs, noodles, or potatoes often accompany the main course. A salad can end the meal.
Inhabitants of Austrian cities often take a mid-afternoon coffee break at a national institution, the cafeteria. Part of the Austrian lifestyle, the café serves as a meeting place and as a source for breakfast, snack or lunch.
Most cafes, which also often serve alcohol, have their own distinctive atmosphere. Dinner usually consists of light dishes such as sausages, cheese or smoked fish with bread and wine or beer.
LABEL
Most Austrians greet each other formally, shaking hands and saying, “Gruss Gott” (greet God) or “Gruss dich” (greet you). When they leave, they tremble again and say “Auf Wiedersehen” (goodbye). Older Viennese men can kiss a lady’s hand at the performance, or say “Kuss die Han” and kiss their heels together.
Women like to have doors opened for them. At dinner, everyone at the table joins in a toast, saying “Prost”, and “Guten Appetit” is exchanged before starting to eat. The formal titles Frau (for a woman) and Herr (for a man) are for universal use.
RELIGION
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Freedom of religion and worship is guaranteed in Austria. About three quarters of Austrians are Roman Catholics. Many Austrians practice the “Catholic Baptism Certificate,” in which they are Catholic by baptism and religious formality, but have no Catholic beliefs on central issues.
Another important religion in Austria is Protestantism, and many foreign workers are either Muslim or Serbian Orthodox . There is also a small community of Jews, mostly WWII immigrants and their families, although Jews have a long history in Vienna, beginning in the 10th century.
RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS
Catholic priests, Islamic teachers, and mosque officials, Protestant ministers, and Jewish rabbis make up the majority of religious practitioners.
RITUALS AND HOLY PLACES
Throughout Austria there are cathedrals and churches. One of the most magnificent cathedrals in Austria is that of St. Stephen, or Stephansdom, in Vienna, built in the 15th century. The Augustinian abbey and the statue of San Florián in the city of San Florián are also important religious places.
The cathedrals contain carvings representing the life of Christ, in which worshipers stop to pray. Several monasteries of the Cistercian order of monks, founded in the 12th century, continue to function. A popular tourist and pilgrimage destination is Melk, a Benedictine monastery on the banks of the Danube. In the field, crucifixes are erected at crossroads, and numerous hermitages offer a place to rest and pray.
DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE
Austrians depend on churches for funerals, and most cling to beliefs of their religious faith about life after death. Austria has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe, especially among men.
In Vienna is the great Zentalfriedhof (central cemetery), which contains the memorial tombs of such famous composers as Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, as well as a monument to Mozart. Rich Austrians are buried in elaborate mausoleums, but almost all the graves are well-kept, with well-arranged flowers.
SECULAR CELEBRATIONS
Major celebrations include Fasching, a carnival celebration that takes place the week before Lent begins, and Almahtrieh, a September celebration of the return of herders from the alpine pastures, in which cows decorated with ribbons and bells they are led into the city in a procession.
Austrians also celebrate National Day on October 26; Independence Day, November 12; the Day of Nicolo (San Nicolás), on December 6; New Year’s Day, January 1.
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS
The arts are highly respected in Austria, and Vienna was known during the 18th and 19th centuries as a world center of culture, especially music. It was home to some of the greatest classical composers, including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms.
During that time, the Habsburg family and the Roman Catholic Church were the main advocates of the arts. Austria is sometimes known as “the land of music”. Annual festivals across the country include orchestras, choirs and other Austrian groups.
The best known is the Salzburg Summer Festival, founded in 1920. Austria is famous for its Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and its Vienna Children’s Choir.
The Vienna State Opera is a state institution that supports Austria’s main cultural center, the Vienna Opera, one of the most opulent in the world. It accommodates Austrians on a budget, providing standing space in stepped hallways with rails to support spectators during a long opera.
Austrian children have compulsory music and art classes in primary and secondary schools, and music schools and private conservatories abound. Provincial theaters and orchestras bring the arts closer to the inhabitants of rural areas and cities.
The arts are responsible for stimulating a large part of the tourist trade in Austria, which is why they are considered excellent investments for private fans.
LITERATURE
Because it is written in German, Austrian literature is often considered part of German Literature, and the first significant German literature appeared in Austria in the form of epic poems and songs around 1200.
The seventeenth-century minister Abraham a Sancta Clara wrote a prose on social classes that left a permanent mark on Austrian literature. Adalbert Stifter was the best-known fiction writer of the 19th century, and Rainer Maria Rilke was a talented philosophical poet of the 20th century.
Several Austrian writers wrote plays and operas, in addition to verse and fiction. Among them was Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who, together with groundbreaking playwright Max Reinhardt, produced the mystery play Everyman annually at the Salzburg Festival.
The works of early 20th century novelists Franz Werfel and Franz Kafka are world famous. Among the best-known interwar novelists are Heimito von Doderer and Robert Musil. Thomas Bernhard and Peter Handke achieved fame in the late 20th century.
Cafeterias, especially in Vienna, have long been known as a meeting place for writers and poets. Today, many coffee shops offer literary readings as part of the culture that makes them so popular.
GRAPHIC ARTS
As the capital of the illustrious Habsburg Empire, Vienna was a center for fine arts, as well as music and theater. The realistic painter Ferdinand G. Waldmuller and the painter Hans Makart were the most famous of the 19th century. Gustav Klimt painted in an unconventional and sensual “secession” style, founded in 1897.
Oskar Kokoschka painted the realities of the First World War. In the 20th century, artists like Herbert Boeckl painted ornamentation on apartment blocks and cathedrals. Anton Kolig and Josef Mikl were abstract painters, and Ernest Fuchs and Anton Lehmden were known for their “fantastic realism”.
The Albertina museum in the Hofburg district of Vienna houses a collection of world-famous graphic arts, with engravings, drawings and watercolors by artists such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rubens, Cézanne, Manet, Modigliani and Schiele.
PERFORMING ARTS
Religious drama flourished, especially in Tyrol, during the Middle Ages. During the Counter-Reformation, Jesuit priests wrote countless religious dramas and performed plays in Jesuit schools. Vienna became the center of the German-speaking theater during the 18th century.
The Burgtheater in Vienna was the most eminent during the 19th century, when the works of the playwright Franz Grillparzer were first performed there. Social dramas, popular farces and satires were also released during the 19th century.
Around 1900, the Vienna School of Dramaturgy, led by Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler, created a new style of playwriting in Europe, which included psychological drama. The Salzburg Festival shows both drama and music.