The feast of St Nicholas takes place on the 6th of December and marks the beginning of Christmas in Austria.
Gifts that are placed under the Christmas tree are opened after dinner on Christmas Eve.
Silent Night was first sung in 1818, in the village church of Oberndorf and there is a story of how Christmas was almost spoiled for the villagers that year.
On that Christmas Eve in 1818, the priest went into the church to find the organ was not working. The leather bellows used to pump the air through the pipes were full of holes. Christmas without music would not do so the priest showed the organist Franz Xaver Gruber a new Christmas hymn he had written. Franz quickly composed a tune for it that could be played on a guitar. So Oberndorf had music after all.
We hope you enjoy this Christmas webcam and have a very Merry Christmas too.
