KÜHBAACH, Germany — Beer, brass-band music and shouts of “Hau-Ruck” helped bring a new maypole into place in the southern German village of Kühbach on Friday, as young residents pushed the long wooden pole until it stood straight against the sky. People from across Bavaria and beyond came to watch the May Day custom in the village center, a ritual that has been observed for centuries and is rooted in local folklore.
Mayor Karl-Heinz Kerscher pointed at the youngsters guiding the installation and said the Maypole is “a symbol of togetherness,” describing how the effort shows both “proof that we’re powerful” and “that Bavaria means something.” He added that in Kühbach, the tradition is “twice as beautiful.”
The village’s celebrations tied together music, food and drink, with a procession that moved from church and through town to the market square. After the pole was blessed, children rode the pole in a long row as part of the event, and the group then began the work of raising the Maybaum—its German name—using long wooden poles and coordinated chants.
The new maypole, which is installed about once every three years, was prepared during last winter by the Kühbacher Burschen, a village club with 240 members. Organizers chose a spruce from a nearby forest, cut it down, removed branches and bark, let it dry, and then painted it three times in white and blue, the state colors of Bavaria.
They also attached metal signs bearing the village’s guild emblems, and guarded the pole for weeks around the clock while it sat in storage at a former sawmill to prevent theft. In Bavaria, stealing another village’s maypole is itself described as a tradition, and the victim village typically has to buy it back with a costly repayment of beer and a barbecued pig with potato dumplings and brown gravy—expenses that can reach 3,000 euros, the report said.
By Friday morning, no maypole had been stolen from Kühbach, and members—young men and women in traditional lederhosen and light-blue dirndl dresses—carried the pole to the center of the village. The 28-meter (92-foot) structure was lifted horizontally on wooden carts and pulled into place by two horses from the local beer brewery.
After the procession arrived at the market square, the Catholic priest who had finished May Day Mass blessed the tree and the young men with holy water. Everyone then drew closer together to pray before the practical work started again, this time with the pole rising through the coordinated “Hau-Ruck” shouts and the backing of the brass band.
Once the maypole stood upright, the marching band played an extra fanfare and people moved into a huge festival tent, where lunch included pork roast and sausages and the day continued with more beer. Simone Nodlbichler, 41, who played clarinet as her band accompanied the procession, said the tradition is “being passed down from generation to generation,” adding that both young and old participate.
She said she sees “a wonderful sense of community” in the event and added that it is “still very much alive.”