May- Tree or Pole ? Tradition at its Best!

Raising the Maibaum must be looked upon as what one would call a "major" tradition. Nobody can really tell you the historical where's, when's and why's, too bad, but we have been trying harder. A slim chance is in sight, an avid reader has promised to provide background information on "ze" origins of this tradition. Sorry folks, the origins supposedly are in France, nevertheless... Join us in this amazing event that brings out nothing but the best.

A Maibaum usually enjoys three lives, the one before the blue and white stripes, the one after and the "post-technical-inspection" repository. The first year the tree is shaved clean and left with a tiny tree top remaining, similar to some contemporary hairstyles: the tree is getting ready for next year's festive decoration. One year later the tree is ready for its traditional costume, the blue and white endless stripes wind from bottom to top (or vice versa ?). Not an easy job, the painter must follow the brush around an immobilized patient following a string for an aevrage of 500 feet !.

So far things have been moving along pretty smoothly, but you never know. Maibaum's have to be replaced every six years, Germany's "technical inspection association" (TUV) keeps a tidy log on the trees and their timely replacement. Taking the tree hostage is a much a tradition and some towns are extremely proud of their reputation in this domain. No matter how heavy or how long, this year's hostage tree tops it all off. How can anyone abduct a heavily guarded 150 feet long and 3 ton heavy tree?

A headline article in Munich's popular "Abenzeitung" about the tallest and heaviest tree ever prepared for the first May challenged the reputed abductors from Unterbrunn, a small town not far from the lake of Starnberg. To make a long story short, it took 2 weeks of staking out, 12 cars and one tractor, 60 men and several sleepness nights to abduct this Maibaum from a heavily guarded warehouse. Not to mention carrying 3 tons across fences and rail tracks and driving the monster through Munich's city freeways. The stolen Maibaum arrived in Unterbrunn at 5am, no signs of fatigue, on the contrary, the members of the local marching band grab all available brass and wake everyone in town to the tune of a successfull job.

Diplomacy starts now. How do you get your tree back ? Negotiations ! Inevitably a phone call will wake the tree owner announcing the tree shattering news: "...your Maibaum has been abducted and you can free it against ransom". How is that possible ? Everything possible had been done to prevent this shameful event, oh well ! Bidding starts with half a pint of the golden brew for all tree pirates. But the abductors from Unterbrunn have a long and successful tradition, making a deal is tough. Finally everyone agrees to one pint of beer and a hot bavarian snack for all pirates and their wives.

The tree that was taken hostage has an important history: it used to be Munich's Christmas tree. People were very proud to use it as their Maibaum and to preserve it instead of turning such a majestic pine into some paper base. This made everyone feel much better around here. The tree was handed over back to their legal owners and a huge fest was given when it came back and was raised by the village community.