Another sticker for the multicultural scrapbook
9am. small street in vienna. sunlight, daylight, all bright. silence.
sudden disruption: a brass band. leap to window.
oustide: brass band marches through the street. preceded by three young people in black/white/gold student fraternity uniforms, with a huge black/white/gold flag. [later research: this shows that they belong to the “Austria-Wien” branch of the Austrian Catholic Student Fraternity. member organization of the “Österreichischer Cartellverband”.] followed by a priest under a canopy. altar boys galore. about fourty-or-so believers, aged fourty plus. one policeman.
other windows open. all along the street. two white-haired ladies. a young woman, presumably somewhere from the Balkans. an older woman, definitely from the Balkans. a small Sikh boy. two older Turkish women.
priest stops in front of a house. others gather around him in a circle. priest preaches. others pray. sing-song, sing-along. ding-dong. mobile phones ring. believers step aside. believers talk on the phone. others continue praying.
priest moves on. band starts playing. fraternity guys start marching. altar boys and believers follow suit. policeman joins. … but the impression that this leaves, you know, all this marching, just like back then …, says one white-haired lady to the other. – leap back to bed.
was this an ordinary occurrence for a Fronleichnam holiday in the midst of Vienna?