Labour Day - Standing of the Maypole in Aigen

On the 1st May in Austria there is a public holiday for Labour Day and the Austrians know how to party and dress traditionally for the occasion.

We decided to head to Aigen where there was a festival and standing of the Maypole. We later found out that this tradition pretty much happens in every town where a Maypole is stood.

Not wanting to miss the celebration we headed there around 1:30pm and the festivities kicked off at 1pm. The train that we rode to get to Aigen was jam packed with people in the most wonderful colourful traditional dresses and shorts and hats. Ben wore his leiderhausen but Mum, myself and Jessy were just in normal clothing of jeans and we stood out as tourists from a mile away.

It was wonderful to see how all the locals really get into the spirit of the occasion and everyone was dressed up.

When we arrived at the festival there were hundreds if not a thousand people sitting on tables and chairs eating and drinking steins of beers. There were umbrellas set up and lots of stalls with food and drink. There in the centre was the maypole and it had not been raised very far.

We went off to find some yummy cakes to try and came back waiting in anticipation for the pole to go up. 3 hours later and it was only half way up as what I found out later was they take their time raising the pool so patrons can drink and also they can drink in between.

Picture watching around a dozen men holding poles and braces on a 3 tonne pole/ tree trying to stand it cm by cm. It was as painful as watching the grass grow or paint dry! By 4pm I couldn’t wait any longer or I would pull all my hair out lol So we left but all 4 of us were happy to go.

It was nice to experience a festival and they also had a live band playing!