Visiting kings update mystery code

Just about every visitor to our home asks the meaning of the chalked inscription above the front door:

A similar symbol is to be found above just about every front door in Austria, even the police station, bank and council offices. Our guests put forward various theories: we have/haven’t paid the council tax, for example, but few work out the meaning without some serious prompting.

Today it came in for its annual update – the 11 at the end was changed to 12. A group of small people arrived in strange clothes, one with the face painted black. They came in, sang a song, said a few well-rehearsed words, were pleased to accept some money for charity and a handful of sweets, changed the chalk marking over the door, and left.

These are the Sternsingers. Children dressed as the three wise kings, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, who arrived slightly late in Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Ah! So the C+B+M are their initials!

Well, true but wrong. It stands for Christus mansionem benedicat or Christ bless this house. Over two or three days around the Three Holy Kings holiday on January 6, every property in Embach and around Austria, will get a visit from the Sternsingers and receive the mysterious chalk marking – just one of many traditions  being acted out in the first few days of the year.