(The notes may be issued sporadically while my eye is recovering, but so far I am doing well with the new lens.)
I was preparing some photos for George to post on the Germanna page when RootsWeb solves their problems. I was doing some work with photos of maypoles and a few general thoughts came to me. The maypoles go up all over Germany on the first of May. It has become a contest to see who can put up the highest and best. Each of them seems to be one tree trunk, and splicing seems not to be allowed. I am taking a guess, but it seems some of them reach 150 feet into the air.
One of the rules of the game is that the pole must be erected with human labor only. No machines can be used to erect the pole. When the day comes to put the pole up, it must be that every man and boy turns out to help. From what I saw at a couple of the poles, a sloping trench is dug up to the hole that the pole will stand in. The butt of the pole starts in this trench and as the top end is lifted, the butt slides into the final hole and can’t get away.
We saw more color and decoration on the poles this year. One motif used in decorating the pole, which we did not see in 2000, was to leave the bark on the pole. This was carved away to make geometric and scenic designs, using the contrast between the dark bark and the blond wood.
In the year 2000, we saw many of the symbols of the trades mounted on the poles. See the photos of Ötisheim in 2000 for an example. This year there was some variation on that. Because the smaller communities are being administratively combined with larger communities, we saw poles with the names of several communities that probably contributed to the effort for a unified pole.
After the pole is erected, it could be decorated by the expedient of having a pulley at the top and a rope to the ground. Then material and labor could be hoisted up.
Because this seemed to be a cooler May than in 2000, the decorations were staying fresher. The cool weather also delayed the flowers this year.
It is said that in days past, the boys from one village would attempt to climb the pole in a neighboring village and to vandalize it. I am sure that the boys do not act that way any more. Elke Hall told us something about such behavior earlier. Maybe she will comment more on the subject of maypoles.
(24 Jun 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.