The Russian Orthodox Nativity icon

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Today being Christmas for many Orthodox Christians, I am fondly remembering my visit a year ago to the beautiful St. Nikolas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Vienna.

If you enlarge my photo with a few clicks, a strange (to the Western eye) Nativity scene will open to you.
The fresco on the wall of St. Nikolas church shows a baby Jesus in swaddling clothes and another young Jesus being bathed by Mary's, shall we say, personal assistant.
Joseph is off to the side, looking worried.
And who is that guy in the black hairy coat?

There are some surprising answers in this rather "un-orthodox" post in a museum researcher's blog.
His post is titled "Have yourself a gloomy little Christmas: The traditional Nativity icon." 

If you prefer a more religious interpretation, see the blog "A Reader's Guide to Orthodox Icons."

By the way, some say the ox and ass stand close to the manger to warm the baby with their breath.
That I quite like!
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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Moscow meets Rome

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Vienna's beautiful St. Nikolas Russian Orthodox Church, in November.
(Click to open the photo, then once again to greatly enlarge it and see the detail.)

Within the next hours, Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis will have a historic meeting -- over coffee at Havana airport.
The first coming together since the great schism in 1054.

UPDATE:  On Twitter:  

Today is a day of grace. The meeting with Patriarch Kirill is a gift from God. Pray for us.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 12, 2016

UPDATE 2:  Here is the Joint Declaration that resulted from the meeting.
UPDATE Feb. 13:
My favorite quote from the get-together:
"Together, they discussed concrete proposals for working together, “because unity is made by walking,” the pope said. Even if the goal of full unity is not reached in this lifetime, he said, “at least when the Lord comes, he’ll find us walking.”
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Horse Yiddish

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What is a funny old way of saying "a distant relation" in Yiddish?

Dem ferds baytsh-shtekls potkeve   
דעם פערדס בייטש-שטעקלס פאטקעווע
Literally: the horse’s whipping stick’s horseshoe!

And what do I miss most about Vienna?
Her beautiful horses clip-clopping around the palaces!
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Walnuts on the radiator

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In a nice shop for cooking and baking equipment in Vienna.
At the Christmas markets I saw plenty of chestnuts being roasted.
But this was my first time to see walnuts being dried on a radiator.
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Silent horses

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Fiaker carriage horses in Vienna.
And another Yiddish saying:

If a horse had anything to say, he would speak up. 
ווען דאָס פֿערד װאָלט געהאַט װאָס צו זאָגן, װאָלט עס גערעדט
Ven dos ferd volt gehat vos tsu zogn, volt es geredt.
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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A Viennese gingerbread house

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More goodies from Vienna's Christkindl Christmas market -- a gingerbread house!
And if that is not beautiful enough for you, look at the lovely face of the young lady.

Even the sign is special.

A Pirker gingerbread house made from genuine Mariazeller gingerbread
with 50% bee honey in the gingerbread dough
handmade in more than 20 hours of work
Long-lasting and sweet as honey
Please don't nibble.

Happy holiday time to you!
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UPDATE!  Photoblogger Merisi Vienna kindly sent us links to the Pirker family's website.
It is filled with sugar and spice and everything nice and begins like this:

The sweet aroma of honey, spices and Lebkuchen gently infuses the air in Mariazell. The unique Marizell honey Lebkuchen have been baked here for more than 300 years. The blend of spices used is a closely guarded secret, and the recipe is passed on from generation to generation.
The Pirker family has kept the traditional handicraft of Lebkuchen baking alive to the present day.

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Rathausplatz Christkindl Christmas market

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Frohe Weihnachten -- merry Christmas

from Vienna's famous Christkindlmarkt!

The Christmas market in the park is so big you might need this map for the "30 years of Vienna Magic of Advent."

The Rathaus City Hall makes a spectacular backdrop.

Even the trees are lit with decorative lights, each tree a different theme.

Hop on the train with the kids.

His machine was melting cheese onto bread for Raclette. 

All kinds of crepes, aka Palatschinken.

All the happy holy Viennese, young and old, posed with angel wings.
My five days in Vienna were indeed heavenly.
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Every pork product imaginable

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By the time I had seen my 4th or 5th Christmas market in Vienna, I started taking pictures of only the REALLY unusual (to me) things.
Like this Speck Standl -- a booth for all things pork!
If you enlarge the photo you'll find Teufelswurst.  Devil's sausage??

For me, a "nice Jewish girl" in Israel who does not eat unkosher food, ALL the meats hanging there seemed to be "from the devil."  ; )
I felt guilty (and a bit sick) even just smelling them and gawking at them.

The chestnuts looked nice, though.

The yellow wheel of this steam engine (?) was turning, I guess helping to roast the Maroni, the chestnuts.

Everyone entering the Weihnachts Markt am Hof stopped to inspect the two fancy cars on display.
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Check the previous post to see a different Viennese Christmas market.
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)
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Like a fairyland . . .

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Vienna's Christmas markets were fun because I got to see all the things you never see in Israel.
Like gingerbread houses! 

And snow globes!
The Schneekugel was apparently invented in Vienna.

I had to laugh, though, at these thumbs-up lollipops.

Nice German names for the Christmas cupcakes.

This particular market, one of many in Vienna, was the Weihnachtsmarkt am Stephansplatz, right at the base of St. Stephen's Cathedral with its multi-colored tile roof.

Ah, I'd love to still be in peaceful Austria, especially tonight when the fighter jets keep roaring over my place, after rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Western Galilee and Israel responded with artillery fire, etc. etc.
It's a whole different world . . . . 
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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So many saddles!

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The guided tour of Vienna's Spanish Riding School takes you into the impressive tack room.

Some 70 Lipizzaner horses live in the stable and each has his own Baroque dressage saddle.

The Spanish Riding School has 170-175 riders.
It takes years of training and they start anywhere between the ages of 16 to 25.
In recent years a small number of horsewomen have been admitted to what was always an all-male academy.

Stirrups are fastened up behind the saddle.
Riders need strong legs because some of the riding and the airs above the ground are done without stirrups.

Above each bridle is the stallion's name.

For more information and links about this wonderful place in wonderful Vienna please see my previous posts. 
For those of you reading this on "PhotoManiac Daily pictures," a Blogspot "blog"  that steals real bloggers' posts and publishes them without permission or attribution, you can find me at Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo.
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Classical horsemanship in Vienna as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity!

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Ach, just a few weeks ago I was here in Vienna; how I miss that city!
It was raining that Sunday when I first saw the Hofburg Palace.

At its gates, Christmas market booths  were doing a brisk business with hot Gluhwein.

Inside the palace is the most beautiful riding hall in the world, a Baroque masterpiece outfitted  between 1729 and 1735.
It was originally built to give aristocratic youths an opportunity to take riding instruction.
The two men in my photo were installing a new sound system in this Winter Riding School for the international audiences who come to see the Lipizzaner stallions perform.

Emperor Charles VI commissioned the building of the arena.
You can faintly see a tall painting of a white horse.
The guide on this tour explained that the monarch later had his own image added so that it became a portrait of himself on horseback.

Guide Sophia was good at explaining everything in just one hour.
She was strict, though, that we should not take pictures of the horses or the stables. :(

Till today the tradition is for the riders to doff their hats to that same portrait of  the emperor when they enter his arena.
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I'll soon have another post or two about Vienna's wonderful Spanish Riding School. 
You can see my previous posts here and here, which have links to more information about the horses and the school. 
The BIG NEWS is that the Spanische Hofreitschule has just now been inscribed in UNESCO's 2015  Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity!!
Be sure to see what they tell about classical horsemanship and see the photos at the bottom of the page, plus a wonderful video! 
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(For ABC Wednesday, V is for Vienna!)
(Linking also to Camera Critters. )
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Good luck pigs, Glücksschweinchen

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Runner-up for City Daily Photo shop window theme day:
these strange Glücksschweinchen! 
Good luck pig pillows in a Vienna store window.
For only 24 Euros you can take one home. 
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UPDATE: Thanks to Merisi of Vienna  for explaining the pig mystery in the comments.

Here is some more on the subject of lucky things in German-speaking lands:
Pigs as Glücksbringer – Schwein as Austrian Good Luck Charm
Other luck bringers
Goethe Institute on Superstition
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Lipizzaners in the shop windows

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Want to buy a Lipizzaner stallion?
(Or how 'bout a pewter soldier?  Enlarge the photo to choose one.)

 
The Viennese are very proud of their performing Lipizzaner horses, and if you gaze into the shop windows in stores all around the Spanish Riding School you find SRS souvenirs.
Christmas tree ornaments, pencils in the shape of a horse head, diaries, key chains, cap and gloves . . .

Spanische Hofreitschule calendars and even WINE.
A mug saying "I'm the best horse in the stall."

And books in German and English.
There were tons more horse things in the official gift shop in the palace.
But I took pictures only of the shop windows in the neighborhood, remembering that December 1 would be Theme Day on that subject over at City Daily Photo bloggers group.
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The best and only souvenir I came home with is my 13-Euro ticket for a guided tour of the stables, tack room, and arena -- and the memory of being so close to these magnificent horses.
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Lipizzaner stallions, Vienna!! Part 1

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A white Lipizzaner stallion!!!!
Two weeks ago in Vienna my childhood dream came true and I got to meet these fantastic horses of the Spanish Riding School in person!

Click on the photo above and see horses in their box stalls (on a rainy Sunday).
These historical stables of the Lipizzaners are in one of Vienna's few Renaissance buildings, the Stallburg. 
The guide said that it was badly damaged in World War II bombings but after the war the building, with its beautiful arcade courtyard, was restored according to the original plans.

 Horses are exercised in this horse walker in the courtyard;  45 minutes a day they enjoy being outside in the fresh air.

It is the world's biggest oval horse walker.
See how it works in this nice video!

I'll show you more pictures of the Spanish Riding School in the coming days.
Meanwhile you might watch this beautiful documentary on YouTube .
All the information and more clips are at the SRS website.
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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