Wooden rattles and colourful eggs

Tyrol has a wealth of Easter traditions. We’d like to share our favourites with you.

When the tables are groaning under the weight of tasty treats on Easter weekend, colourful eggs are vying for attention in baskets, and “egg tapping” competitions are taking place all around (more on that later), you know that spring has arrived in Tyrol. If you want to tease your favourite people on Palm Sunday, just explain our Tyrolean “palm donkey” tradition to them: The last person to hop out of bed on the Sunday before Easter has the “honour” of being called this for the rest of the day.

As the church bells fly to Rome on the Thursday before Easter (or so say the customs) and are therefore silent here, the children take over their work with their wooden rattles. This tradition has belonged to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2015.

Here in St. Anton, our luxury hotel’s got lots of colourfully decorated Easter eggs for you to eat – and for egg tapping competitions, of course! Find a worthy opponent, hold your egg tight in your hand, and bring your eggs together point to point with a short tap. The egg that breaks goes to the winner, who can enjoy munching on their prize.

Look forward to indulgence-filled days at Arpuria!