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Bavaria and its customs Oktoberfest  
Lederhosen & Dirndls King Ludwig II.
Nutcrackers München
Cuckoo Clocks Oberammergau
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Bavaria and its customs


Bavaria (Bayern) is a Bundesland, but calls itself a "Freistaat" and is divided into 7 regions (like states) which are Oberfranken, Oberpfalz, Niederbayern, Oberbayern, Unterfranken, Mittelfranken and Schwaben.

Beyond Munich, capital of Bavaria are the sprawling suburbs: the Alps - home of many famous mountain resorts. Landscapes as in Visconti's movie about the life of König Ludwig II, villages and towns that seem unchanged for the last 100 years except maybe for a few additional banks, gas stations and souvenir shops along the main town roads.

Otherwise, the "homo bavaricus" has stayed pretty much the same: country shirt and richly decorated traditional jacket, leather pants with flowery suspenders (Lederhosen), felt hat garnished with feathers, "goatee beards" and many pins full of ornaments, little bells and trinkets. The "costumes" are worn on Sundays and even in Munich during the Oktoberfest season. Some take a raft, beer and music ride down Munich's home river the Isar. On the other hand the sacred King of all Bavarians, Ludwig II, architect of almost all castles in the south of Munich of which Neuschwanstein (new-swan-rock) is best known for its role model for Walt Disney's sleeping beauty castle. Wouldn't you be dreaming to have breakfast on the castle's terasse in company of Sissi, overlooking the best in natural Kitsch the Bavarian Alps have to offer, add a few swans on a pond and...

Bavaria is the most fancied state in Germany for purposes of vacationing and tourism. Its sceneries and cultural riches and the traditional Bavarian hospitality are the advantages appreciated by the innumerable international visitors. One in nearly five visitors comes from abroad. Traditionally most foreign tourists come from the USA, followed by the Netherlands, Japan, Italy and Austria.

Bavaria in winter
Bavaria is the most popular holiday centre in the Federal Republic of Germany. The variety of the Bavarian landscape offers almost all athletes a chance to go in for "their" favourite sports, ranging from water-skiing to mountaineering, from skiing to curling.
The Bavarians can look back on over 1000 years of cultural and spiritual history. A rich cultural heritage is also an obligation and there is scarcely another people which cherishes and actively lives its culture as much as the Bavarians. This is reflected in everything from their devoted care of their art treasures to the traditional fostering of local customs.


More than 1,100 museums in Bavaria safeguard art treasures from all over the world. The jewel in the crown is the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which ranks among the most important galleries in the world. Its origins date back to 1528, to the reign of Duke Wilhelm IV.
Theatres - a part of Bavaria. No other country offers such a wide variety of festivals & theatres than Bavaria: 35 permanent drama, opera and operetta theatres, 41 open air and festival events and 17 puppet theatres provide Bavaria with a lively and varied cultural programme.


More than 110,000 secular and religious buildings bear witness to Bavarian culture, past and present. With Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria is the state in the Federal Republic of Germany most endowed with historical monuments. There are also thousands of local monuments. Since 1973, a modern law for the protection of monuments has ensured their preservation in the Free State. Special importance is attached to preserving the character of towns and villages with their historic squares and streets.

oberammergau


The fairy-tale castles of Ludwig II are special attractions and are famous all over the world. This is also true of palaces such as Schillingsfuerst near Rothenburg or the splendid monasteries such as Ottobeuren and Andechs.
The historic castles and palaces, above all in Franconia, tell of knights and heroes. These range from the Kaiserburg in Nuremberg, Plassenburg in Kulmbach, Schloß Ehrenburg in Coburg, Lauenstein Castle near Ludwigstadt, to Schloß Veitshöchheim and the Residence in Würzburg.
Munich is the home of the former royal palaces. The Residence and Nymphenburg Palace proclaim the brilliance of those days. Round and about Munich are the summer palaces of Schleißheim, Lustheim and Dachau, while Lower Bavaria has the medieval Castle Trausnitz in Landshut.
Another feature of Bavaria is its historic cities, e.g. Munich, Regensburg, the old ducal towns of Landshut, Straubing and Burghausen, as well as the bishoprics of Bamberg, Eichstätt, Passau and Würzburg, and the oldest town in Germany, Kempten.

Schuhplattler in lederhosen
Bavaria is the state in which folksongs, folk dances and instrumental folk music are most alive. In the past decades, the native folk music of Bavaria has staged a remarkable comeback. Yodellers and 'Schuhplattler' dancers are not, as is often assumed, typical of the whole of Bavarian folk music, but only of the most southern areas. Lower Bavaria is the region richest in folk dance, with more than 100 different dances. The Upper Palatinate has the biggest repertoire of "double dances" (with a change in rhythm). In the South of the U. Palatinate there are still musicians who play the slow but tuneful "arias".


The Dialect - like everywhere in the world gives you the impression, you are a foreigner in your own country. "It´s easier to understand an English speaking person than an Bavarian" you can hear everywhere around in the rest of Germany. "Oachkatzlschwoaf" - can you pronounce that correctly? Yes? Then you have passed the test. You are a real Bavarian.

The people of Bavaria have frequent opportunities to celebrate throughout the year, for example...

... at the October Fest in Munich: Opened with the traditional cry of "O'zapft is", this largest and most famous festival in the world has been held annually since 1810 on the Theresienwiese.
... at the Auer Dults: a treasure trove for collectors of every kind. The Dults are a combined fair and junk market held three times a year in May, summer and autumn on the Maria-Hilf-Platz in Munich. The May and autumn Dults date back to 1799 while the summer (or Jakobi) Dult has existed since 1296.
...at the Tölz Leonhardifahrt: This horseback procession round Bad Tölz to Calvary Mountain is probably the most famous of many similar religious ceremonies in the Bavarian hills. It takes place each year on Leonharditag, 6th November.
...at the Landshut Wedding: "God save Landshut! May Landshut live for ever!" are the traditional cries when every few years about 1200 citizens dress up for a few weeks in late medieval costumes. This greatest historic festival in Germany recalls one of the most splendid weddings of the Middle Ages. According to contemporary records, 333 oxen were consumed at this wedding arranged by the Wittelsbach Duke Ludwig the Rich for his son Georg and the Polish Princess Jadwiga in 1475.
...at the Kaufbeuren Dance Festival: About 1200 children annually take part in this oldest historic childrens' festival in the 2nd half of July in Kaufbeuren. Kaiser Maximilian founded this festival in 1497.

boys in lederhosen
It is known that some of the Wittelsbach lords preferred wearing the national costumes to their uniforms. The love of national costume, known simply as "G'wand" in Bavarian, has survived to this day. Numerous Bavarians devoted to their traditions have joined national costumes clubs throughout the state. The range of Bavarian costumes is as varied as the landscapes and the tribes of Bavaria. Leather belt, leather shorts, feathered hat, tuft of chamois hair and loden (woollen) jacket are the basic garb of an Upper Bavarian from the Alps. Specialists distinguish between four main groups: the national costumes of Werdenfelser Land, of Tegernsee, Miesbach and Schliersee, of Chiemgau and the Berchtesgaden region.

Also very typical for Bavaria is the food and the love for beer. To this day the Bavarian Purity Law is still the basic rule for the Bavarian brewers, famous throughout the world. "Dark", "lager", "export" and "special" as well as the renowned strong beers, which once helped the monks to survive Lent, have friends throughout the world. The wheat beer, known locally as white beer, and described by elderly Bavarians as "the only vegetable which we can still bite into" is enjoyed by the Bavarians with another local speciality, white sausage. This consists of pork bacon, veal and many other ingredients (lemon, onions, salt, parsley, white pepper and nutmeg), the proportions of which are kept a closely guarded secret by every butcher. It tastes best with fresh salt bretzels and mild mustard. Leberkäs (meat loaf), however, is right at the top of the list of favourite Bavarian snacks. It consists of beef, pork and bacon and its name comes from the fact that since the 16th century it has been baked like a big cheese (Käselaibe) and hence it was originally called "Laiberkäs". A special delicacy for snack time is also the radish. In addition to the "smoked sausage" of Lower Bavaria and the many sausage specialities of Franconia, there are some 40 different cheeses to choose from, most of which come from the Allgäu.
This consists of pork bacon, veal and many other ingredients (lemon, onions, salt, parsley, white pepper and nutmeg), the proportions of which are kept a closely guarded secret by every butcher. It tastes best with fresh salt bretzels and mild mustard. Leberkäs (meat loaf), however, is right at the top of the list of favourite Bavarian snacks. It consists of beef, pork and bacon and its name comes from the fact that since the 16th century it has been baked like a big cheese (Käselaibe) and hence it was originally called "Laiberkäs". A special delicacy for snack time is also the radish. In addition to the "smoked sausage" of Lower Bavaria and the many sausage specialities of Franconia, there are some 40 different cheeses to choose from, most of which come from the Allgäu.

If you want to know more about Bavaria, simply send us your question, we are happy to inform you.

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