Weyregg Local Customs

This wonderful holiday - the holiday of the Blood and Body of Christ - is observed on the second Thursday after Whitsunday.
It is observed by public worship, procession of the parish about the city/town towards the outskirts/fields. The procession is accompanied by the firemen's orchestra.
All the house doors are decorated with birch branches to keep away the evil spirits.
You can see Austrian national flags flying at the houses, which is a rare occasion that happens only on that day.
People have a day off.
We attended the liturgy and then were invited by the priest to take part in the traditional procession to testify our Christian faith, which we did with pleasure.
We went towards the outskirts of the town and made a prayer stopover at four prepared and decorated stations.
Everybody knew what to do except us. We were not instructed.
The only "uncoordinated" thing happened when we remained standing when all the participants of the procession kneeled on one knee all of a sudden at each station. It is not customary in Orthodox faith to kneel on your knee. We usually kneel on both knees when we feel tired after standing during a long liturgy (we always remain standing) or to venerate the special icons in the church.

One day in June we were present at the National Costumes Festival in the city of Attersee located on the opposite shore of the lake.
There were several groups from near and far who were all dressed in the national costumes of their towns and villages.
Their costumes' design dates back to the Middle Ages. They were thoroughly sewn by the group partucipants themselves or ordered at the tailor's.
At first there was liturgy at Maria Attersee Church and then common lunch in the chrruchyard.
The hunters' group even fired some shots in to air to salute the participants.
After lunch the groups went to the shore to embark on two ships that took them for a holiday cruise around the lake with live music and dances.
We met the members of the folk costume group from Weyregg called "Goldhaube" with Hilda at its head.
Frau Rosa, our favorite local of Weyregg, the former leader of that group, invited us to that holiday and was with us all the time.
Thanks a lot, dear friends!

Our group leader and great friend Wolfgang invited us to his home more than once and treated us to some delicious Austrian dishes such as Kaiser (sweet omelette) cooked at the open fire on a huge pan that is not customary with us at all.
It was a nice company, very merry and healthy.
Thanks a lot, Wolfgang and friends!

On May Day the May Tree is put up in the central square in Weyregg like in many other towns and cities of the German-speaking countries.
The Tree becomes the magnet drawing people to the square from near and far. You can see different performances, play and dance there or just sit at a bistro and have a snack or a beer.
May Tree is decorated with different bright ribbons, garlands and wreaths. The Tree usually stand longer than May Day holiday - for about a month. So when we came to Weyregg on June 11th, it still stood there.
Sometimes, when the Tree is not guarded properly at night, it can be sawn off and stolen by "well-wishers" who may come from a neighboring community, which can be a disgrace for the town residents who lost their May Tree.
Stealing the May Tree is one of the oldest customs in the area along with Stealing the Bride at the wedding.

Another interesting custom is honoring regular visitors who have come and stayed in Weyregg for vacation for five, ten, twenty or more years.
Those visitors are registered and invited to the City Council one day to get honorable mention and receive souvenirs.

Days of Culture are traditionally held every year in summer.
They include:
*photo exhibitions with the topic "Water";
*concerts and orchestra performances;
*lectures on nature protection such as "Living Water";
*hikes up the stream (Alexenauer Bach) called "Wassererlebnispfad". Those hike are *conducted by my friend Wolfgang who lives in Weyregg;
*movie nights with films about water
and so on.

Of course one of the most popular customs along with wine drinking is beer drinking.
"Zipfer" is one of the popular sorts here.
I adored it after a good long hike (when I could afford it)!
The brewery's motto is "A glass of pure joy" is true to life.
You will unmistakeably like this sort of beer as soon as you taste it.