Ancient customs – happiness & fertility: the secret of the rough nights

In the mysterious time between the years, the boundary between the human and the supernatural world would be particularly permeable. In the rough nights, it is said, the wild hunt comes through the land. And she stopped at the Klagenfurt Zuge-Alm. Customs historian Hubertus “der Boar” Berger first called the Klalaufe, who were still trying to contact the spectators, around the fire.

Then Death, the Boandlkramer, walked along. “Where he reaps a man dies, where he draws back the scythe a man is born,” said Berger, who introduced Habergoass as the third character: bisexual, half-goat, half-goat, she was once feared by the farmers, they spoiled many a harvest . Much more positive is the Kraxnmandl, who carries eggs in his Bugglkraxn as a sign of fertility.

“Now comes the king of the forest, the deer,” said “the boar” and a 15-pointer played to the music of the hunting horn players Grafensein-Poggersdorf. Martin Lutz, head of the Ostarrichi Pass association, organized the antlers in Lavanttal and sewed the costume himself. The club, which maintains the Krampus tradition and the Perchten tradition during the Raunnacht at the beginning of December, also sent a wild boar to the fire.

Then came the Pehtra Baba, who visited families in Southern Carinthia with her fork on the night of January 6. As the eighth group of figures, the witches frolicked through the meadow and swept everything bad into the fire. “Only when everything is clean can the Perchten bring happiness, fertility and peace,” says the boar.