• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Little Prince Leopold

Life and times of a hot mess mama

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Collaborations
  • Disclosure
You are here: Home / An Au Pair in Germany / An Au Pair in Germany: May 1st and A Tree Raising Festival

An Au Pair in Germany

An Au Pair in Germany: May 1st and A Tree Raising Festival

may first celebration festival tree

May 1st

Today the town traditionally raises a tree or ‘baum’ to celebrate the beginning of May (and warmer weather).

I woke up surprisingly well this morning for going to be at 1:30 last night…it might have had something to do with the two munchkins banging on my door at 8:30, but who knows. I let them in and they wandered around touching things and asking for candy and I just sat back on the bed and gave them blank ‘I just woke up’ stares.

Around 11:30 we piled into two cars and went into town for the big May 1st festival. There is a very large bare tree trunk with wreaths on it that is the centerpiece of the festival. They have a tradition where they have to raise the tree up manually. It takes about 3 hours to do so and a bunch of local men. Everyone who is not helping raise the tree helps themselves to sausage, pommes, and beer.

men at work raising the tree

The  ‘May’ tree must be prepared for thirty days prior to raising it. During that time the tree can be stolen by other nearby villages, and you do not want your tree stolen! Typically a bunch of young men stand 24 hour watch over the tree while other villages wait until the guys get very drunk, then try to steal it. It can then be bought back with money and beer.

the raising of the tree or 'mai baum'

There was a band that played and most everyone was wearing the traditional ‘tract’, which are just adorable. We left before the whole celebration played out because S’s mother and Elle couldn’t handle all of the excitement.

After we got back to the house it started raining cats and dogs! It’s a good thing we left when we did! We had some leftovers for lunch and then took a wonderful nap before the barbecue at J’s house.

The nap was so good that we fell asleep around 1:30 and the family didn’t wake up until about 5:30! We rushed out the door and made it there around 6:15. We were supposed to be at J’s house by 5 so we had to scramble to get out the door!

They have this adorable grill house in their backyard that looks tiny from the outside but we fit about 10 people in there tonight and we probably could have fit more. The inside was straight out of a romance novel. It had candles and animal fur draped over the benches and a fire in the center.

We had amazing food that included soup, fresh bread, asparagus salad, stick bread (so much fun! You take a ball of dough and roll it into a long strip, then wind it around a stick and bake it over the fire!) We drank prosecco with a hibiscus flower at the bottom that you eat!


I made J her first roasted marshmallow, but it was probably not the proper experience because Haribo doesn’t make their marshmallows as good as the ones I normally use.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Email
  • More
  • Print
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Telegram
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket

Related

«
»

2 Comments March 22, 2017

Comments

  1. Britt @ Sweet Tea & Thyme says

    March 27, 2017 at 6:11 pm

    I love fun rivalries, it reminds me of the two high schools in my city and they’d mess with each other’s mascots. Stealing a May Tree must be a lot harder, though.

    Reply
    • Ayana says

      March 28, 2017 at 3:20 am

      Right?! It’s huge!! I’d like to see that in action haha

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I'm just a twenty something stay at home mama trying to do my very best to be awesome at my job. I love Harry Potter, crafting, coffee, red wine and stretchy pants. I used to be a world traveler but I've settled down (for now) to have babies. I'm married to my best friend James and I'm a dog mom to Niko (Goldendoodle) and Rahksi (Chinese Crested). Read More…

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Search

Latest Posts

Baby #2 Update: Week 18

Baby #2 Update: Week 18

Waterproof, Breathable Crib Mattress Pad

Waterproof, Breathable Crib Mattress Pad

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Archives

Categories


Categories

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Archives

Copyright © 2018 · Flourish theme by Restored 316

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.