“The daffodils are really pretty here,” Julia Köberl and her eager helpers agree when they discover the white sea of blossoms of the star daffodils on the meadow near the Blaa-Alm. Tubs are placed in the shade of the trees. “We keep the picked bouquets of daffodils in there so that they don’t break,” says the resident of Grundlsee. Gloves are put on to prevent the daffodil juice from sticking to your hands. Then the seven young women go into the meadow and begin to tie the star daffodils into small bouquets. With a bit of music on the side, the work is easier to do.
The meadow at the Blaa-Alm still belongs to the group alone. “We wanted to go to the Zloam, but there was so much going on today. Everything has been grazed in the past few days, there are hardly any nice daffodils left,” says Köberl.
For the figure that they want to present at the daffodil parade tomorrow on the festival Sunday in Altaussee, they need around 80 tubs full of freshly picked daffodils. “We’re going to stick a pair of Lederhosen. We currently have about 60 full buckets. And you always need a few as a reserve. Yesterday we picked for hours, today again and tomorrow we’ll start sticking in the early afternoon,” says Köberl.
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tradition in Ausseerland
For the hostess of the Daffodil Village Zloam in Grundlsee and her helpers, this is the first Daffodil Festival this year, where they create their own character. They used to help relatives or acquaintances. “It’s a tradition for us, we help each other,” say Sabine and Magdalena from Aussee, who help pick the fruit that day.
Again and again hikers stop next to the meadow. “Do you want to pick too?” is the question. And indeed: even the passers-by kneel in the meadow. What must be considered when picking? – “The most important thing is that the daffodil blossoms don’t have any brown spots. Otherwise this will quickly spread to the other daffodils in the bouquet and then we can no longer use them,” says Köberl.
The flowers are stored in a cool place overnight before being placed three at a time in the figure’s iron frame. “It’s going to be a lot of work again, I guess we’ll need until around midnight,” says the woman from Grundlsee.
Gradually the buckets are filled with the white bouquets. But the meadow at the Blaa-Alm is also filling up with more daffodil pickers. Will there be rivalries? – “Not really. There are enough daffodils for all the characters. But today we definitely have the best place,” says Köberl.
Source: Nachrichten
