May Day

The beginning of the small parade to the Maypole.

They are holding the banner that will be raised on the Maypole.

Auburn enjoying the day in her traditional dirndle.

When we first came to Munich, we realized that there are maypoles in every city. I was really excited to see a maypole being put up. They take the poles down, redecorate them and then raise them on May Day. The poles then stay up for the rest of the year. These poles are huge!!! The traditional way of putting up the maypole is done manually with a system of wood beams and brute strength. It can take a few hours to raise it. Some smaller villages still use this method, but machines are now used in the city for safety reasons.

We didn't catch the actually raising, because Simon had the day off and we wanted to sleep in. We did see a parade and the raising of the flag on the Maypole. Later that day we went to the Bayern Munich training grounds to see the players up close. All the big names were there. It was such a great day!