Christmas in Austria. Silent Night.

2012: Christmas tree from Lower Austria

One of the main attractions of the Christmas market is the splendid Christmas tree. It is a traditional custom that one of the Austrian provinces presents the Christmas tree as a gift. This year the tree comes from Lower Austria. The spruce tree from Schwarzenbach/Pielach is 32 m high and about 120 years old.

Starting with the official opening on November 17 at 5.30 p.m. the Christmas tree is lit with 1,000 LED bulbs, which allows to save 90 percent of the energy costs of conventional bulbs.

One of our favourite Christmas songs comes from Austria. "Silent Night" or "Stille Nacht" is sung the world over, although it's sung a bit differently than the piece Franz Gruber had originally written on Christmas Eve in 1818..

Below you can see the German lyrics written by Joseph Mohr side-by-side with a literal English translation. You can compare the two versions and see how closely they are.

Stille Nacht | Silent Night Deutsch English  Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!  Silent night, holy night  Alles schläft, einsam wacht  everyone sleeps; alone watches  Nur das traute heilige Paar  only the beloved, holy couple  Holder Knab im    lockigten Haar,  blessed boy in    curly hair,  Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!  sleep in heavenly peace  Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!  sleep in heavenly peace. Words by Joseph Mohr. Music by Franz Xaver Gruber.