Corpus Christi

Birch bamlan on the Prångweg and then Prångnudln

Corpus Christi: procession in Kraig.(Bild: Diözesan-Pressestelle/Anton Wieser)

Corpus Christi: for many it's just a day off, for many it's a public holiday. But what is celebrated? And how?

Not only the people, but also their houses are especially dressed up on Corpus Christi Day: Door wreaths are tied, birch trees are placed on either side of front doors and along the procession route: The evil demons are supposed to get caught in them. And the bakers bake Prångnudln, at least in the Metnitz Valley.

Inge Auer bakes Prangnudl every year for Corpus Christi, which are typical of the Metnitz Valley on the feast day.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

In many places, bands play a wake-up call in the village streets early in the morning so that no one is late for the high feast: Corpus Christi - in Middle High German "vron" means lord; "lichnam" means living body - is a celebration of Jesus, the bread of life.

Under the sky
Typical of Corpus Christi in Carinthia are solemn processions, which are intended to express that Jesus is walking with us: Associations such as choirs and music bands, the fire department, the children with flags, the young ladies with pölsters complete with chalice and other symbols usually have their place in the procession. Four men carry the canopy, a canopy sewn and embroidered from fine fabrics, under which the priest walks and holds the monstrance: A vessel showing the host in a halo of rays.

Joint celebration in Klagenfurt
In Klagenfurt, Diocesan Bishop Josef Marketz celebrates the Corpus Christi service for the city's parishes on the cathedral square at 9 am. The procession then leads through the city center to St. Egid. The cathedral choir and military music perform the liturgy.

Corpus Christi is always celebrated on the second Thursday after Pentecost, because it was on a Thursday, Maundy Thursday, that Jesus took bread and wine in a rite for the first time and thus instituted the Eucharist.

The feast goes back to a vision of Juliane of Liège: at the beginning of the 13th century, she reported a dark spot on the disk of the moon. She interpreted this spot as the absence of such a feast. 

Christina Natascha Kogler