Traditional Austrian Cookies

Life is pretty traditional here. From the roles of men and women... To the kinds of cookies that they make for Christmas. I think that traditions are good if you know why you do them but I think that they are kind of pointless if you just follow the crowd towards the edge of the proverbial cliff. (Do you know the origins of Halloween?)

Anyway, I was making cookies with Oma who was very adamant about how they were to be shaped; these particular cookies were worm-like crescent shaped, called Vanilla Kipfel. So I started making them into 's' shapes, lightning bolts, question marks, and right angles when she wasn't looking. When she noticed two lightning bolts juxtaposed unfortunately as they were (lit. SS = nazi police) she busted up laughing and telling me to be careful.

Then next day she gave me a tin of gingerbread cookies and a frosting spritzer and told me to decorate them anyway I liked. I took the liberty and make angry hearts, broken hearts, and other random shapes with gestalt influence. Lisa, 13yr daughter of Sep, came to see what I was doing and got angry that I was not making them traditionally. She said that I must make them traditionally because that is what everyone does. So I gave her the spritzer so she could finish them 'traditionally.' On the second cookie she started making 'untraditional' designs. After the third she had lost interest and told me that I could finish the rest however I wanted. So I finished the last dozen with the English vocabulary that she was having trouble with. Some of the cookie shapes and the words were quite funny. My favorite was 'ENVY' on a heart shaped cookie.

Question traditions, think different, live better!

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