When the days grow short in Vienna, lights come on everywhere. On the Advent wreaths one more candle burns each Sunday, and in some years Advent coincides with Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. In 2026 you can experience this especially well: the first Sunday of Advent falls on 29 November, and the first Hanukkah candle is lit on the evening of 4 December. On 6 December, St. Nicholas Day, the second Sunday of Advent and the third Hanukkah candle all come together on a single day.
Eight days of light
Hanukkah lasts eight days. The word means “dedication” and recalls the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE, after it had been desecrated with an altar to Zeus. According to tradition, only enough pure oil for a single day could be found to light the Temple lamp, and making new oil took eight days. The miracle: the oil lasted for all eight. That is why the Hanukkah lamp, the hanukkiah, has eight branches plus a ninth for the shamash, the “servant” candle used to light the others. Each evening another light is added.
Because oil is at the heart of the festival, people love to eat food fried in oil at Hanukkah, such as latkes or doughnuts. Vienna celebrates visibly too: during Hanukkah a large hanukkiah is lit in the old town near Stephansplatz. Chanukah Sameach!
From cart wheel to Advent wreath
The Advent wreath is younger than you might think. In 1839 the Protestant theologian Johann Hinrich Wichern lit a wooden ring the size of a cart wheel at the Rauhes Haus in Hamburg, a home for children from poor families, with up to 24 candles, one for each day until Christmas. It also helped the children learn to count. Fir branches were only added from 1860, and step by step the great wheel became the wreath with four candles we know today. The evergreen twigs stand for the hope that spring will return after winter.
Nativity plays with ulterior motives
Advent in old Vienna was not always a quiet affair. In the second half of the 18th century, people flocked to the suburbs to see “Frau Godl”, Barbara Müller, whose mechanical nativity theatre in Lerchenfelder Strasse delighted young and old, complete with a Hanswurst, a clown who commented on the action. One contemporary complained in a poem that some squeezed into the back rows only to meet their sweethearts undisturbed. Joseph II even banned nativity scenes from churches in 1782; they were only allowed back in 1804.
Experience Advent in Vienna
Hanukkiah or Advent wreath, punch stand or Advent concert: in December Vienna is a city of lights and stories. You will find our tips for Christmas markets, concerts and exhibitions in our post Advent in Vienna 2026. And if you would like to get to know Jewish Vienna, our Jewish Vienna tour is the right choice.
