were nine distinct festivals in the year enjoined by the
church, and on which, if they fell on week-days, the working people
rested from their labours. Of course each of these days had its special
religious reference and obligations, and these were in general faithfully
observed; but, apart from this, they were essentially holidays, and, as
no deduction of wages was made by the employers on their account, they
did not fall as a burden upon the working classes. These days were: New
Year's Day, the Annunciation, Good Friday, Easter and Whit Sunday, Corpus
Christi Day, All Saints' Day, the Birth of the Virgin, Christmas Day, and
the festival of St. Leopold, the patron saint of Vienna. On the strictly
church festivals, with the exception of All Saints' Day, theatrical
performances, and public amusements generally, were interdicted, but rest
and quiet recreation, in addition to the religious observances, were
their great characteristics. Easter and Whit Monday were among the Volks
Feste (people's feasts), as well as one known as that of the Brigittenau,
from the place in which it is held; and another on the first of May, when
the laufer (running footmen) have their races in the Prater, and the
emperor permits himself to be mobbed--at least the Emperor Francis
did--as he strolls for a half-hour or so among his people in their own
park. Then the Bohemians have a special religious festival, when one is
astonished to see, in out-of-the-way niches and corners, a perhaps
hitherto-unobserved figure of an amiable-looking priest, with a star on
his forehead, now hung about and conspicuous with wreaths and festoons of
flowers, and bright with the glittering of tiny lamps. This is the Holy
St. John of Nepomuk. I have, however, nothing to do with the religious
ceremonies of the Catholic Church. It is sufficient for my purpose to
know that I watched the solemn and splendid procession of mingled
royalty, priest, and people, on Corpus Christi Day, from the open door of
a coffee and wine-house in the Kohl-market; and that, at the Easter
festival, after ascending and descending the Mount Calvary, near Vienna,
or rather having been borne up and down its semicircular flight of steps,
and past the modelled groups of painted figures to represent the life of
Christ, from the birth to the crowning act of the crucifixion on the
summit, I then sauntered away with my landlord (a cabinet-maker) and his
family to Weinhaus, to drink of the new wine