In Bavaria, I think.
I was idly watching a Rick James segment on PBS about Christmas when He showed these men firing these really big bore, but short, cannon-like guns from a rampart. The guns are hand-held and fired by pulling a trigger it looked like, and muzzle loaders. He mentioned something about chasing spirits.
Wazzat?
Peace,
mangeorge
There was a Salzberg (Salt mountain), which is now part of Berchtesgarden. And there is a Salzburg (Salt town), one of the main cities in Austria. I’m guessing he probably meant the latter.
The gun sound like it might be a Hand Cannon.
Although a Rick James Christmas special on PBS would be interesting, I suspect that you’re probably thinking of Rick Steves.
Here’s the script for Rick Steves’ European Christmas:
If that’s the segment to which you’re referring, mangeorge, then the guns were probably black-powder muzzle-loaders of the type called Handböller, fired from the Salzburg Castle. This page describes the tradition, found both in Berchtesgaden (southern Bavaria, Germany) and the area just across the border in Austria; it seems that the gunfire was originally intended to wake Nature up from her winter’s slumbers after the solstice.
“Waking up Nature?” Makes me wonder if they uesd these guns for avalanche contol, or strictly military
Right, Rick Steves. Understandable mistake, seeing how the two are so much alike. Probably James caught me at a week moment (xmas eve and all) and was trying to cross back over for a little visit.
But yeah, those are the guns alright. But I suspect, from the looks of the Kanoniers doing the honors. that it’s fun to awaken Ms Nature. 
That’s an interesting take on winter solstice folklore, no doubt concocted by the medieval German equivalent of “good ol’ boys.”
“I’m worried about Nature, Klaus. It ain’t moving. Let’s shoot at it and see what happens.”
I don’t know, I think it might have involved a lot of beer and sausages late into the night with guns being fired off in random directions, then the next morning, when they stagger from the castle, hung over, noticing that large amounts of snow are missing from the nearby mountains. The fact that it was now covering the village at the bottom of the mountain is a mere technicality, one that they’ll eventually work the kinks out of, the important thing now is that there’s less snow on the mountains, so that means it’ll be getting warmer soon. 
I have relatives near Salzburg. I think Tuckerfan is on the right track.