Old traditions

Through the holy night with a smoking pan

The barn is a fixed point when smoking: "It's remarkable how the animals react," say the Hubers, explaining that there is always complete peace and quiet.(Bild: Hölzl Roland)

Christmas is also a time of old traditions: The Hedegg farmer high above St. Johann has always smoked in his house and stable. The whole family goes along to pray. 

Grandma Marianne shows how the embers are always removed from the old stove for smoking. "It's just part of Christmas - like giving presents." According to tradition, burning incense is a cleansing ritual to ask for good luck and blessings for the New Year.

Grandma Marianne will prepare a traditional Bachlkoch.(Bild: Hölzl Roland)

Herbs are not used in the smoker's pan at Hedeggbauern. "Only embers and incense," reveals Renate Huber and explains that the next generation in particular also attaches great importance to the custom. People who hold head coverings over the smoke are also said to banish headaches. The whole family then goes through all the rooms and into the stable praying. The event ends in the farm's own schnapps distillery and still.

Before the estate road, the only way up to the farm was by cable car
Traditions are upheld at the Hedegghof with its striking location high above St. Johann. Rudi Huber, farmer and deputy head of the village, fondly remembers his childhood with five siblings. "Fetching the Christmas tree, baking Kletzenbrot, smoking - that's all Christmas. Smoking was really mystical right at the time when the Christ Child came."

What's that smell? Molly and Malone are curious too.(Bild: Hölzl Roland)

 The monotony of praying the rosary brings peace and quiet to the stable. According to tradition, the smoke is supposed to drive away the dark forces.

Until the end of the 1980s, only a material cable car went up here. The valley was difficult to reach. Grandma Marianne still wanted to go to Christmas mass on Christmas Eve. "We sang Silent Night on the cable car so that the little deer could enjoy it too," she recalls of times long past.

Traditions are also served at the Hedegghof. For lunch, grandma prepares a Bachlkoch, which many people no longer know today. She refines the Mehlkoch, a fasting dish, with honey.