Glücksschwein: what it is and where it comes from

The new year has begun and the great New Year celebrations have just concluded around the world… In German-speaking countries, the period of the frenetic exchange of Glücksschweine has ended. Do you know what we're talking about?

By Alessandra Ivaldi / 2.01.2026

Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Südtirol have many cultural elements in common. Among these, a specific tradition reigns supreme during the last days of the year before the great celebrations of Silvesterabend, on New Year's Eve. During those days, cities suddenly turn pink, since pigs of all sizes, both edible and inedible, appear everywhere. These are the Glücksschweine, the lucky pigs that people usually exchange as a form of greeting before the start of the new year.

They can be found in the form of marzipan sweets, chocolates, fancy loaves specially shaped by bakers… Or they can appear as ornaments, pelouches and toys, keychains and much more. They are sometimes decorated with other symbols of good fortune, such as four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, mushrooms and coins. Giving a Glücksschwein means expressing your heartfelt wishes for a prosperous and fulfilling year.

As we have just said, sizes and materials are the most varied and the same goes for the price. Glücksschweine are perfect gifts for all budgets and you can buy them anywhere: in supermarkets, grocery stores, pastry shops and bakeries, but also on the streets. In fact, numerous “specialized” stalls selling lucky pigs suddenly appear on every corner of the city, replacing the Christmas markets, which are much more famous for tourists who travel to German-speaking countries during the winter holidays.

Glücksschwein-shaped sweets with coins representing a chimney sweep, another German lucky charm. Picture by Bernadette Wurzinger from Pixabay.

But where does this nice tradition come from? An initial, rather intuitive answer has to do with medieval beliefs, linked to a historical era in which consuming pork was a privilege for the wealthy. This made this animal a symbol of prosperity and well-being and “having a pig” the best wish that could be expressed. In this regard, you should know that a particular German expression connected with pigs and luck is still used today. In German you can say man hat Schwein gehabt (literally translating: a person has had a pig) to indicate a person who has suddenly had a stroke of luck, not necessarily deserved.

A second, decidedly darker explanation comes from the Germanic mythological landscape, populated by numerous deities and magical creatures. A particularly beloved figure was Freyr, god of fertility and bringer of peace among mortals, as well as possessor of Gullinbursti, a golden-bristled boar received as a gift from the dwarf people. But what does Gullinbursti have to do with our modern lucky charms? To answer this last question, it must be kept in mind that dwarves would never have given just a normal pig to the god Freyr. Gullinbursti obviously had special powers: he was in fact capable of running faster than other steeds and could advance without any hesitation during the day and even at night, since the splendor of his bristles illuminated even the darkest places. A very appreciable gift, don’t you think? In this sense Gullinbursti would be the mythical ancestor of today’s Glücksschweine.

Shop window full of Glücksschweine in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria.