Lavishly draped with fresh, green wreaths, they proudly tower into the sky in many places: the maypoles were erected throughout Austria quite traditionally last Saturday. There were numerous onlookers who watched as the top of the tree slowly straightened. The maypole has a permanent place in Upper Austrian customs. Numerous customs have developed around him: the maypole scrambling, the maypole dance and the maypole stealing.
Three days after erecting the maypoles and three days before they are torn down, cunning thieves are allowed to try to steal them. So that this is not too easy, the local associations in many communities guard the tree and can turn thieves away – often with rehearsed sayings, but never with violence. If the guards are sloppy and the coup is successful, the tree can be exchanged with the thieves for a snack.
Almost accident in Lambach
There was a moment of shock on Saturday for the members of the Lambach fire brigade. When setting it up manually, in the traditional way with long pole forks, the team’s maypole slipped down and they had to jump to the side to save themselves. Luckily nobody was hit – the danger area had been blocked off. The firefighters left the second attempt to the crane.
“It was a stroke of luck that nothing happened to anyone,” says commander Andreas Baumgärtler. “But we still decided that next year we’ll put up the maypole again by hand. That’s part of the custom,” he says.
Accidents during installation are rare. The handles on the poles are practiced beforehand, and there is an escape squad in an emergency. That worked all over the country at the May Day celebrations, which all went off without any nasty surprises.
The celebrations with maypole climbing have already become rare. The Gallspach fire brigade adapts and only lets climbers on the safety rope onto the debarked tree during the big competition on May 22nd. (feh/vaba)
Video from Lambach www.nachrichten.at The Linz maypole guards read the portrait on page 28.
Source: Nachrichten
