Maypole Rising in Salzburg, oder Maibaum Aufstellen Salzburgs

In Small Town USA, May Day passes by like any other day.  In other parts of the world, however, May Day is celebrated as International Workers' Day, and generally, a day to do something besides work.  This year, a peaceful protest in Seattle turned violent, and in Bangladesh, thousands of workers took the the streets to protest against factory owners who they believe are responsible for the deaths of 400 garment workers in a factory collapse last week.  In Hong Kong and other places in Asia, workers protested for safer working conditions, better wages, and access to breaks during the work day.  In some European countries, the protests centered on high unemployment rates and low living standards. 

While workers protested around the world, my May Day was completely different.  Austrians didn't have to work, yes, but the free time didn't seem to encourage them to participate in protests or parades about their rights as workers.  Instead, they celebrated May Day with the rising of maypoles, and music, dancing, food, and beer.  Again, as a perpetual resident of small towns in the United States, May Day was a foreign concept to me, and in the case of protesting, it remains so.  

But, let's recount the day the Austrian way, shall we?  

As we traversed the city to the fest in Maxglan, we stopped at Mirabell Gardens for some choice background.  An Italian tour group stopped us and took our pictures.  I heard "bellissima" whispered through the crowd, and it pretty much made my day.

The fest was held at the Gasthof Heimathaus Maxglan in Salzburg.  We enjoyed some delicious chicken barbeque, some local beverages, and some traditional music mixed in with Elvis and German-English hybrid songs.  After that,we walked around and saw the Maibaum for the first time.  A group of people were connecting pretzels to the tree as decorations. 

Finally, it was time for the lifting to begin!

This picture of the director, amidst the pretzels and carrying a tree umbrella, is my favorite of the day.   How could you not love this?

And it's up! The lead singer of the band said it was 100% 90 degrees in the air. 

All in all, it was a pretty wonderful May Day.  We even won some Manner chocolate that we had every intention of saving for our trip home, but... you know.

When you Wear your Dirndl to Dinner

For Ben's birthday, we went on a weekend trip to Hartberg with our friends, Johannes and Amy.  The trip has to be broken down into a few posts; we jammed a lot into the few days we were there.

First, we traveled from Salzburg to Weiner Neustadt.  We had to switch trains in Vienna, and man, we picked the wrong train to go on.  There were three different trains leaving for Wr Neustadt within ten minutes of each other, and we had to pick the one that stopped abruptly 10 km outside of our destination.  We had to exit the train and wait for a huge bus to drive us to another train station for us to finish our journey.  As we pulled up to the train station, we steeled ourselves, grabbed our suitcases, and prepared to pounce on anything or anyone who stood in our way.  The bus door opened and we sprinted for the train station.  Workers in reflective vests yelled, "Bahnsteig drei! Your train is waiting for you!"  We dashed to Bahnsteig drei as our fellow passengers were still getting off the bus.  As soon as we took the closest seats on the train, the doors closed and all of the older passengers from the previous train and the bus were stranded at this dinky train station for who knows how long!  I felt bad that the train didn't wait for them, but I also was tired and was done being hassled so I had to laugh at the situation.

So, we made it to Wr. Neustadt, and after a friendly Grüß from our friends and from Leinie, we boarded a train for the last leg of our journey.

 

There was a big ski competition on Friday, and Johannes wanted to watch it while on the train, but Leinie wanted some attention.  Too bad an American was the best at those Austrian slopes...

Actually, I don't care at all.  American myth: everyone loves sports.  American myth-buster: me!

So as not to recount everything, suffice it to say that we met Johannes' father at the train station; he showed us around his house, which is a testament to Austrian planning and to being environmentally friendly; and then it was time to go to a Bushenschank.  And what would three Americans and an Austrian wear to said Buschenschank?  Lederhosen und Dirndl, natürlich!

A Buschenschank is a restaurant that specializes in wine and farm-fresh ingredients.  The farm and the restaurant are usually owned by one family, which makes it easy for them to control the quality of their products.

I ordered a Käsestangerl, which I will forever remember how to pronounce because I pronounced one of the vowels like an American, and I was rightly corrected by the waiter.  It's a cheesy roll loaded with ham, peppers, and cheese.  It was delicious.  It was less than 4 Euro.  And I ate 80% of it.  Woof.  Ben had a Brettljause: salami, hams, cheese, horseradish, pickles, pepper aufstrich, eggs, tomatoes, thick bread, etc. etc. 

Johannes and Amy ordered a Schinkenteller, or a plate of different hams and toppings, and Sauer Bohnen, beans and onions drenched in vinegar.

*For more information on vinegar, read my blog later in the week! It can be delicious! Who knew?

We got some peculiar looks during our outing.  We walked into the restaurant, and it was like in a movie when someone walks into a party and the turntable screeches and everyone stares.  It's not common for people to wear Tracten in the winter, but we made an older woman who sat next to us happy.  She said that Trachten was going out of style, but the younger generation is bringing it back.  Well, glad to have charmed her and we had fun too.  P.S. Her dinner was a piece of heavy bread covered in schmaltz, or lard mixed with garlic and herbs.  Gulp.

Gingham und Lederhosen und Dirndl, Oh My!

Coming to Austria, we knew we weren't leaving before we bought some traditional clothes, and earlier this week, we made good on our promise.

The first time I saw Trachten (traditional clothing) was on a Sunday in September.  After visiting the Haus der Natur, we walked around the Alt Stadt where so many men, women, and children were dressed in Trachten.  Ben explained that people from villages surrounding Salzburg come into town to go to the markets on Sundays.  I was blown away that people actually wear Lederhosen and Dirndl in real life, not just in movies and in what I presumed were stereotypical advertisements and images of the German-speaking world. 

During this time of year, one doesn't see Dirndl and Lederhosen in town, but many older men and women in Salzburg wear traditional hats and jackets.  I have to say that I love it.  I love that people are proud to be Austrian, and, on a side note, I also love that 95.2% of people here dress nicely when they go out in public.  It's not that they all wear suits and dresses on the bus, but their clothing is more fitted.  Whereas some Americans drown in clothing two sizes too big, or squeeze into jeans and tops two sizes too small, Austrian men and women just wear more body-conscious clothing.  I've noticed that my style has shifted to be a bit more formal and I'm trying to do new things with my hair.  Sometimes it looks like I styled it with two chopsticks, but at least I'm trying. I'm a firm believer that when you dress up, you feel better and are more productive, so yeah, go put on some slacks.  Yes, slacks.

So, before I babble some more, I should start with a picture of Trachten, ja?

These felons are all wearing some form of traditional clothing.  Just kidding - these are Ben's students graciously accepting our applause at the holiday concert last month.  This is a little one-sided, yes, but the males generally tend to sit farther in the back and to play different instruments.

Well, we received recommendations from a few different sources to buy our Trachten at H. Moser in Eugendorf.  We caught the 8AM bus so we could be there when it opened, and away we went! 

It was absolutely miserable outside.  We arrived 30 minutes early, because as the saying goes, if you're early, then you're on time.  We shouldn't have listened that day.   

We took refuge in a cafe.

To say that we were disheveled would be an understatement.

A sound, healthy breakfast.  We ate a real breakfast probably an hour and a half before we left home, so that flaky, chocolate-filled wunder-pastry was just to smooth my hair.   

Finally, it was 9AM and we were ready to get suited up!

First, a very friendly saleslady helped Ben find his Lederhose.  He told her that he didn't quite know what size he needed, so she patted his hips a few times, asked me (not him) two quick questions about what I wanted to see him in, handed him two pairs, and promptly sent him to the dressing room.  I waited patiently, and no sooner had he opened the curtain to show me when the lady popped in and started patting him all over!  He looked pretty uncomfortable, but I just had to smile and nod that they looked sehr gut.  Needless to say, she got the fit dead-on and he was done after trying on one pair.  Go, efficiency!  

This left plenty of time for me to try on Dirndl.  So, you buy the dress and the blouse separately.  The blouses were kind of like 2002 music video wear: belly shirts, but with sleeves.  The Dirndl were all different color combinations, and one even had a rhinestone upside-down pretzel that Ben tried to make me try on.  Without saying too much, I tried on my first blouse and Dirndl; it felt good, but the consumer in me had to try on different combinations of blouses and Dirndl.  But, when the first is utter perfection, why bother? Just like Ben, I bought the first pieces I tried on.  

Sadly, there are no photos of the women's section of the store because I'm the resident family photographer and I was busy trying to mess with Dirndl perfection. 

The Gingham Sea.

Our bag filled with goodies!

I can't wait until we wear our Trachten!  Stay tuned for the debut!