page_title: Star singers
section_title: In Austria
hierarchical_section_title: Star singers / Central Europe / In Austria
caption_attribution_description: English: Sternsinger in Vienna, Austria (Traditions of the Epiphany)
context_page_description: Star singers also known as Epiphany singers, or Star boys' singing procession, are children and young people walking from house to house with a star on a rod and often wearing crowns and dressed in clothes to resemble the Three Magi. The singing processions have their roots in an old medieval ecclesiastical play, centred on the Biblical Magi of the Christmas story in the Gospel of Matthew, appropriate to Epiphany. It is observed usually during the period between 27 December and 6 January.
  In Scandinavia and Central Europe a special set of songs, distinct from Christmas carols has developed in this context. In England, the liturgical drama developed from being performed by cathedral schoolboys in the 16th century to become a more secular mystery drama, containing also some ordinary Christmas songs and carols. Historically performed by boys and male adolescents only, it is nowadays performed by children and young people of both sexes in most regions where the tradition is alive.
context_section_description: In Austria the biggest carol singing campaign is organized by the "DKA" (Dreikönigsaktion), an aid foundation founded by the youth organization Katholische Jungschar. Annually about 85,000 children and 30,000 adults take part in the "Dreikönigsaktion".
caption: Star singers in Vienna, Austria.
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