{"id":212,"date":"2015-08-19T22:25:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T20:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=212"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:52:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:52:25","slug":"christkind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/christmasmarkets\/christkind\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa or the Christkind?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/newyearmarket_small.jpg\" alt=\"Angel at a Christmas market\" class=\"wp-image-7476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/newyearmarket_small.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/newyearmarket_small-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a battle on (sort of) for the hearts and minds of the children of Austria. Not Playstation against the Xbox. Or TikTok versus Instagram. No, it&#8217;s Santa Claus in a fight to the finish with the Christkind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Book a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/concerts-opera-vienna-tickets-l206741\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_Xmas\" rel=\"sponsored\">concert experience<\/a>* for your Vienna trip<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/christmas-in-vienna\/\">Christmas traditions in Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Marketing versus tradition<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/christkind2024.jpg\" alt=\"Vienna's mayor alongside a young woman dressed as the Christkind\" class=\"wp-image-85971\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/christkind2024.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/christkind2024-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">Vienna&#8217;s mayor Michael Ludwig alongside Lena, the 2024 Christkind&#8230;a position filled every year anew. Behind them is the Tree of Hearts in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/rathauspark\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"84216\">Rathauspark<\/a>: one of the many decorative elements around the big <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/christmasmarkets\/rathausplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"222\">Christkindlmarkt<\/a>; press photo \u00a9 Stadt Wien \/ Christian Jobst)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In predominately Catholic Austria, the Christkind (Christ child) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/christmas-in-vienna\/#traditions\">traditionally brings the gifts<\/a> at Christmas. They even feature in the names of some Christmas markets, like the famous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/christmasmarkets\/rathausplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"222\">Christkindlmarkt<\/a><em> <\/em>in front of Vienna&#8217;s city hall (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/christmasmarkets\/christmas-market-glossary\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7193\">here<\/a> for more on market terms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Portrayals of the Christkind commonly feature a young child dressed in brilliant white or gold. The Christkind character that often accompanies seasonal markets or Christmas events tends to be a young woman with long (blonde) hair and clothed in white and gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The imagery and spiritual or religious association of the Christkind doesn&#8217;t lend itself easily, however, to modern commercialism or today&#8217;s marketing and advertising requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enter Santa Claus or Father Christmas. Now, there&#8217;s a nice, flexible, non-religious Christmas brand you can plaster across your product packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sensing their chance, companies across the land started using Santa Claus in their Christmas marketing materials, boosted in part by the help of non- (or decidedly anti-) religious groups.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/christkind2018.jpg\" alt=\"The 2018 Wiener Christkind\" class=\"wp-image-27297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/christkind2018.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/christkind2018-300x217.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Vienna&#8217;s Mayor, Michael Ludwig, introduces the Viennese Christkind back in 2018; press photo \u00a9 C. Jobst\/PID)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This led to a bit of a cultural debate about just who should be pitched as the bringer of gifts in Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things first came to a head way back in 2004, with both sides firing salvoes at each other via the media in an intensive effort to settle the issue one way or another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These days (my perception), an uneasy truce exists as marketers seem to have shifted to more neutral imagery for advertising and packaging&#8230;like snowmen, reindeer, bells, and similar. The culture wars have yet to enter the realms of reindeer (but I imagine it&#8217;s only a matter of time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Christkindlmarkt has certainly come down firmly on the side of traditionalists: 2004 saw the election of the first &#8220;Wiener Christkind&#8221; (Vienna Christ Child) and that established concept is still going strong in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Personally I think it&#8217;s the parents that bring the presents, but what do I know?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more on Austrian Christmas traditions (and what to do if you visit Vienna during the Advent period), check my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/christmas-in-vienna\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"627\">main Christmas article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a battle on (sort of) for the hearts and minds of the children of Austria. Not Playstation against the Xbox. Or TikTok versus Instagram. No, it&#8217;s Santa Claus in a fight to the finish with the Christkind. Marketing versus tradition Vienna&#8217;s mayor Michael Ludwig alongside Lena, the 2024 Christkind&#8230;a position filled every year anew. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christmasmarkets","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85975,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/85975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}