Jaunted

Christmas Travel

Jolly St. Nicht

November 30, 2006 at 9:34 AM | 0 Comments

Christmas is fast approaching and one of the best parts of the season is drinking Gluehwein at a German Christmas market or snapping up handicraft bargains in Prague's huge markets. But if you head to Vienna's Christmas markets this year, it won't be a Santa Claus handicraft that ends up in your suitcase.

That's right--there've been mumblings for years and this year it's official: Santa's been banned in parts of Austria and Germany. If you want to be a stall holder at the biggest Christmas markets in Vienna, in front of the town hall, then you must agree not to sell or promote the image of Santa in any way. A pretty strict sounding town hall spokesman said:

Santa is an English language creation, people who want to see him should go to America where I am sure Coca Cola will be happy to oblige.

Ouch. We know full-of-atmosphere Christmas markets in central European countries are something special, but will we still take our valuable tourist cash there after this? Next they'll be banning reindeer because they're from Scandinavia or snowmen because they're always male.

Related Stories:
· Anti-Santa Campaign [Ananova]
· St Nick a No-Ho-Ho [Washington Times]