[Music]
slow German the podcast for
learning German with Ann
Grubens today is May 1st in
Germany May 1st is a
public holiday the shops
remain closed most people do
not have to go to work why this day is a
holiday it is
Labour Day like in many other countries
the history of this day is old
on May 1st
1856 there were
mass demonstrations in Australia people
demanded the
hourly day meaning that they only
wanted to work 8 hours a day 12
hours of work a day was normal back then in
1886 there was
a strike in the USA over the same issue on the haymket in
in
Chicago demonstrators and police
fought each other the violence
escalated a bomb killed seven
policemen afterwards
200 workers were injured and some were
killed in fighting three years later May 1st was
declared a day of struggle for the workers' movement to
commemorate the victims what does May 1st look like in
Germany in Berlin
more precisely in the Kreuzberg district
there are street parties and
demonstrations there are often
riots and
violence the night before May 1st so the
night of April 30th to May 1st is
called Walpurgis Night.
Walburger was a saint from
England. When you think of Walpurgis Night, you do
n't think of a saint, but of
witches. Apparently, witches celebrate
a festival on mountains and hills on this night,
especially on the Blocksberg, which is
actually called Brocken and is
located in the Harz Mountains. During May Night,
large fires are lit to
drive away evil spirits. There is also a big
festival, the May Dance. May Night
is also the time for young men to
go out and play pranks.
They wrap toilet paper around car mirrors
or throw eggs at houses and cars
and spray them with shaving cream.
Here in Bavaria, maypoles are put up on May 1st.
Almost every community and some
districts have a maypole. This is
the trunk of a tall tree whose
branches are removed. It is then sanded by
hand over several weeks
and painted with white and blue stripes.
On May 1st, there is a big
festival and the new tree is
put up in the town center.
Nowadays, this is usually done by
crane, but some Communities are
proud that even today they put up the huge tree
by hand using
long, tied-together
wooden poles. This takes quite a long time.
Visitors sit and
eat together, drink, and dance to
brass music. The maypole is
probably a symbol of
fertility. No one knows for
sure, but the
Vikings were already putting up trees on May 1st.
In some regions,
young men secretly place
a small, decorated maypole
in the
garden of the women they love. There is also another
custom that I
find quite funny in this context. Attempting to steal a
maypole: It
all starts with a
large tree being put up in a shed or
barn. It is then
worked on and turned into a magnificently decorated
decorated
maypole. During this time, groups
from the surrounding communities try to steal the tree.
If they manage it, the
the
maypole owners usually have to pay for beer and food to get
their tree
back. Then they
celebrate together with the thieves. To ensure that the tree cannot be stolen,
stolen,
people guard it during the so-called
maypole watch. They sit
by their maypole all night to make sure it is not stolen,
stolen,
and yet clever
groups still manage to steal the huge tree time and time again.
I wish you all a
nice May Day and I'm off to a
nice May Day celebration. See you next time.
Your Annik. That's it for slow German for
today. Please have a look at
slowgerman.com. There you'll find a
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proverb or a phrase.
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