GERMANY: SCHAEFFLERS PERFORM THEIR TRADITIONAL BAVARIAN DANCE IN MUNICH IN ORDER SHY AWAY THE BAD MOODS AND SADNESS OF THE TSUNAMI

Record ID: 859871

  • Title: GERMANY: SCHAEFFLERS PERFORM THEIR TRADITIONAL BAVARIAN DANCE IN MUNICH IN ORDER SHY AWAY THE BAD MOODS AND SADNESS OF THE TSUNAMI
  • Date: 6th January 2005
  • Summary: VARIOUS: SCHAEFFLERS PERFORMING DANCE (3 SHOTS) MLV: SPECTATORS APPLAUDING VARIOUS: SECOND DANCE, BRASS BAND, CROWD APPLAUDING (7 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 21st January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MUNICH, GERMANY
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVA2L8OGX7086ISVO0VCE6GBVYUY
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Schaefflers, or vat makers, perform their traditional Bavarian dance in the southern German city of Munich for the first time in seven years.
    The Schaefflers, or vat makers, have come out to perform their traditional Bavarian dance in the southern German city of Munich for the first time in seven years on Thursday (January 6), following a tradition which dates back to 1517.
    Colourfully dressed men climbed a platform in central Munich's Marienplatz, across City Hall, as several thousand people packed the square to watch the rare event.
    Legend has it that the dance is only performed every seven years because the plague at the time increased in regular intervals of seven years.
    "The Schaeffler dance was a possibility for people to regain courage and hope following the plague, to shy away the bad mood at home," Schaeffler dancer Christian Haertl told Reuters Television.
    "Now we have another current event, the tidal wave, which saddens the people of Munich," Haertl added. Munich mayor Christian Ude, eager to promote his city already popular with tourists from around the world, said that "when I look out my office window I notice thousands of fascinated Japanese and Americans who are used to all sorts of high tech events but the Schaeffler dance and the chimes is something they enjoy thoroughly."
    Ude said the dance was "a great event for the young and old people of Munich, for students who are learning about the Schaeffler dance's origins."
    The Munich Schaefflers are between 30 and 50 years old and a prerequisite for the unpaid job is not just a love for Bavarian music but also the willingness to donate precious private time.
    Schaeffler dancers practice the complicated presentation twice a week from the end of Oktoberfest -- the world-famous annual Munich beer festival -- until Christmas.
    Since the Schaeffler dance is performed around 350 times at various events during one season, most dancers sacrifice the entire year's holidays every seven years.
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