Kindleinwiegen

[1] It is a tradition primarily from the German speaking parts of central Europe[1] which appeared across the region in a variety of forms, chiefly though not exclusively in monasteries and churches.

It was at its most widespread between the fifteenth[2] and nineteenth centuries,[1] and survived more strongly in Roman Catholic regions than in those areas that switched to protestantism, following the interventions of Martin Luther and others.

The first surviving record of a "Kindelwiegenfeier" appears in "De investigatione Antichristi", produced in 1161/62 by Gerhoh, the Provost of the Augustinian Cannons at the Monastery of Reichersberg in Upper Austria.

Bach biographer Philipp Spitta describes the customs regarding the Kindleinwiegen in Protestant Leipzig before and after the City Council formally abolished the practice in 1702.

(…) the words put together by Kuhnau for a Christmas cantata and adopted by Bach reflect the simple old custom, still popular at that time in Leipzig, of representing dramatically in church the angelic message and the adoration of the shepherds; but in a more ideal way, being, as it were, its poetic and musical counterpart.There was throughout the centuries considerable variation concerning the details of the ceremony.

Even in regions that remained staunchly catholic, as the Counter-Reformation took hold there was a reaction against some of the Medieval jollity of the earlier celebrations, and the image of Jesus tended to be removed from the crib and placed instead on the altar, which was felt to be more respectful.

On January 7, 2012 the Viennese Medieval music expert Eberhard Kummer marked the 850th anniversary of the ceremony's first surviving recorded mention with a revival performance in St Gertrude's Church at Klosterneuburg, a short distance upstream of Vienna.