Rural Bavaria, c. 1860
"There is a much greater contrast between city life and country life in Bavaria than there is in America. Even the dialects and the dress are altogether different..."
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From When I Was a Girl in Bavaria, by Bertha Tauber Harper, 1932.
There is a much greater contrast between city life and country life in Bavaria than there is in America. Even the dialects and the dress are altogether different.
Indeed, to understand a Bavarian peasant, unless he chooses to use the correct language of his school textbooks, even a native German would need an interpreter. As an example, he will say,
"Naa, ee moag net” for “Nein, ich will nicht (No, I do not wish to),” or “Ebses” for “Etwas (something).”
Once I lost my way in a little town, and asked directions of a man in the field. “Yo, do gange's oawie,” he said very obligingly, "n noacha rachts ummi.” That he meant, “Ja, da gehen Sie hinunter und dann rechts herum (Yes, go down that way and turn to the right),” I could only guess from his gesticulations.
The Bavarian country people still adhere to the costumes that were worn in their grandfathers’ and grandmothers’ time. But they are picturesque and are the frequent subjects of artists’ brushes. The women still wear wide short skirts of rather heavy material. Sometimes they don a gaily-bordered, white linen blouse with bulging sleeves. Over this a colored camisole is worn; on Sundays this is of velvet, and laced in front with a silver chain. A jaunty hat with a long feather, and coarse low-heeled shoes complete the costume.
The men usually wear knee breeches, gay suspenders over white linen shirts, a green felt hat with a long feather, and, on holidays, short velvet jackets with silver buttons. It was quite the custom, when I was a child, for the wealthier peasants to have the buttons made of silver coins, thus indicating their wealth. In the mountainous regions of Bavaria the men wear short woolen stockings that leave the knees bare, and spiked shoes, to facilitate the climbing they have to do.
Wood-carving is one of the chief accomplishments of the Bavarian mountaineers. Even the children have acquired great skill with their pocket knives and often supply the city markets, especially at Christmas time, with many acceptable toys. During the long winter months,when the domestic animals must be herded in warm stables and the snow is deep outside, these active people busy themselves chiefly with wood-carving and the making of pottery.
The mountain folk are great lovers of music. There is hardly a house which does not possess at least one sweet-toned zither, the favorite instrument of the Bavarians. Fiddles and accordions are also popular instruments. During the winter the people pass many social evenings in playing and dancing, or in singing their favorite folk songs, of which they never tire.
With the beginning of summer, all the cattle are driven away up to the highest plateaus of the Alps, there to graze on the luscious grass which the winter’s snows have left behind. There they remain until the first snowfall again heralds the long winter. The Alpine milkmaid moves up with the cattle, and all through the summer months lives in her Almhutte making the famous Alpine butter, and caring for the calves. Towards evening, when the day’s work is done one can hear her long-drawn, musical yodel, which is echoed by the surrounding mountain-peaks and which tells the world below that all is well. Sometimes an answering yodel is heard from some other summit, and as they echo and reecho through the still, pure air, it is a unique melody which, when once heard, one can never forget.
There are as many women at work in the Bavarian fields as there are men. These strong, sturdy women, with the glow of health on their rosy cheeks and in their glistening eyes, present a wholesome picture as they pitch the hay or the grain upon the wagons, or follow the plow with the seed. The Bavarian peasant is cordial, straightforward, and proud of his mountains, lakes, and forests. He will greet you with a Grüss Gott (which means “God’s greeting”) and a friendly nod, while his children are quite apt to bow politely to strangers on the road.
A Bavarian village looks very much like a picture-book village, with its neat white houses nestling close together. There are flower boxes containing bright red geraniums in front of the little windows. Near the entrance stands a long bench, on which the villagers rest after the day’s work.
The dwellings are scrupulously clean. The white floors must be kept immaculate, and the brass and copper kitchen utensils must shine and dazzle on their shelves. Many of the houses have paintings of saints or of Biblical scenes on the outside walls, for the peasants, as a rule, are a deeply religious people and they like to put their houses under the protection of their favorite saints. One sometimes sees, at crossroads, a little wooden shrine with the figure of the crucified Christ. Beneath the figure is a bench on which the passing worshipper may kneel. At the close of day, when a little church bell rings for the Angelus, the workers in the fields suspend their work, the men bare their heads, and all offer a silent prayer to the Virgin.
Every Hausfrau is proud of her well-filled and systematically arranged linen chest. And, when I was a girl, the Hausfrau in the city took the same pride in her linen as did her country cousin, and would have been ashamed to use cotton sheets or cotton underwear. I still remember the chill I experienced when I retired between cold, slippery, linen sheets on a cold, stormy night, in my linen chemise. Hot-water bottles and flannel nightgowns were not yet known. Sometimes beds were warmed for guests by moving a copper pan, filled with glowing charcoal, back and forth until the chill was removed from the sheets. It was a Spartan hardening process that we went through in our youth. And we grew up healthy and strong, and had great powers of resistance.
The reason why the houses in the Bavarian villages are so close together is that they were built at a time when Bavaria, the garden spot of Germany, was the envy of surrounding countries—Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary—and was frequently invaded, especially by the savage Huns, as the Hungarians were called. To protect themselves, the Bavarians erected their houses close together, and built walls and moats around their towns. Remains of these walls and ramparts may still be found.
Bavaria, with her many fine cities, her many natural resources, her many beautiful lakes and grand forests, her picturesque Alpine scenery, and her romantic castles scattered among the mountains, has been the Mecca of tourists from all over the world. And since she is no longer ruled by kings, the fairy like castles which the romantic Ludwig II erected in his mountain-kingdom are now open to the public. The splendor and magnificence which that beauty-loving monarch created there can hardly be described. In those castles, atop the majestic Alps, high above all human sound, the king found the solitude he craved.
The most magnificent of Ludwig’s castles is Schloss Neuschwanstein, which looks down upon one of the most wonderful panoramas to be found anywhere in the world. As far as the eye can see, mountain rears upon mountain. Some are glistening white under eternal snows. Others are tinged with soft greens, purples, or misty blues. At sundown, this ocean of rocks and cliffs and dark, wooded crests is glowing in flaming crimson. Far down in the valley, an emerald-green lake nestles placidly between towering walls of stone. All this beauty, which a poetic king, who really did not wish to be king, once enjoyed all by himself, is now accessible to the public, and every year thousands of tourists are drawn to behold this fairy castle in the Bavarian Alps.
Let us pay a visit to this famous castle and see what lies within it. After a long climb over winding mountain paths, we arrive at a gate between two towers, over which is the statue of a dog, bearing the inscription: Bei Tag und Nacht , die Treue wacht” (“Day and Night, the Faithful watches”). We have to climb some more steps before entering the courtyard, which is surrounded by high buildings and a tower that is almost two hundred feet in height. If we wish to visit the royal rooms we must climb ninety-three stone steps inside this tower. From this point a most magnificent view can be obtained.
Then we follow the guide into the magnificent gold and crystal throne room, which is two stories high. The ceiling is studded with painted stars and represents the sky, while the marble floor, with its mosaic designs of animals and trees, represents the earth. The walls are covered with huge and priceless paintings, most of them representing scenes from Parsifal and Tannhäuser. There is also a gallery, which is supported by sixteen marble columns.
On a floor above is a room with magnificent frescoes, depicting scenes from Wagnerian operas. In fact, the whole of the Wagner Cycle is represented in the many rooms of this castle. To describe all the magnificence that King Ludwig has left behind him would require many more pages. No words of mine, I fear, could do his achievements full justice.
Harper, Bertha Tauber. When I Was a Girl in Bavaria. Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Co., 1932.
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