Munich maypole thefts

Also in tonight's Abendzeitung they talk about 4 old geezers (one of them an ex-US army colonel) who stole the maypole from the top of the Zugspitze (Germany's highest mountain, just south of Munich). No mean feat when you consider the maypole is 20 meters long, weighs 900 kilos, and that these were 4 pensioners working with their bare hands. What the article fails to explain, and what I think is a key point, is that it's traditional in these parts to steal your neighbouring village's maypole. If you manage to nab it before 1st May you can claim a ransom for it's return. The rightful owners are obliged to pay up. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Until today. I guess it explains the background to a similar article I read a week ago about 4 young dudes who crashed their car into a tree whilst stealing a maypole in Ottobrunn. I'd been very confused about that one. These Germans are crazy.

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/munich-maypole.jpg[/img]

Hey, has anyone noticed that as of Sunday 24 Feb. the maypole in Victualienmarkt, München has gone missing? Is someone hiding it for ransom or has it been taken for repairs?
Where would one hide it, anyway?
It begs the question... no I cant/wont say it. Ok then, "Is that a maypole in your pocket or are you... you know the rest" lol

yes heard of this, it seems its a village thing and they love stealing the next villages maypole, some places i gather hold police in reserve to stop other villages steeling the polls and its considered a big insult to the village if it gets nicked

It's not just a Bavarian custom. I had the priviledge of being able to participate with a village verein in the Albstadt area last year. Its sole function is to put up and then guard the Maypole. It was a lot of fun, mainly consisting of setting up a tent and some tables, drinking vast amounts of alcohol and eating way too much while keeping an eye on the pole. To placate neighbours about all the noise that's made (music etc), it turns into a village festival with food and drink being sold to cover costs.

Hubby fondly remembers stealing Maypoles as a kid.

According to tradition, a maypole can only be stolen before it is erected. As it is erected every year, they obviously have to take the old one down some time before. I dont think the old maypole gets repaired. They probably throw it away or burn it.

Unfortunately, the "new tradition" is for kids to use a chain saw and just cut it down. They often don't bother taking it away, either. Happened three times last year in a village near my in-laws. The pole was pretty short after the third time.

There was one in pieces at the Hofbräukeller on Sunday. A sad sight indeed.

Bavarian maypoles?

Shhhh!

'ow many do you want?

Mum's The Word, like.

Actually anyone want some artified wood for burning.Blue and white wavy stripes and all local wood.

I heard about this on one of those walking tours. Aparently the polices stole the airport maypole a while back. What I wat to know if how the heck do you get out of town with a maypole???

you carry it obviously. Or pull it with a tractor or if your really fancy put it on a flatbed.

Or helicopter if it's a mountaintop maypole.

Well obviously you carry it somehow, I mean how do you get out of town without someone noticing?

Skilful tailoring.

Sneakily walk out with it tucked down your trouser leg, innit?

I saw a tv documentary about maypole theft in rural bavaria a while ago. It´s almost a military operation. Succesful thieves are well organized. Often every male villager joins the local club. They send out spies to find the less well guarded maypoles of the neighbouring communities. Early in the morning they send out agents to check if the situation seems advantageous. If so the whole village gets awakened by phone. A tractor with trailer already has to stand ready. They drive near the location of the victims maypole, then 20 or 30 men sneak in, equipped with carrying straps. If they dont get caught, they carry it outside and drive away. They often fail two or three times before they finally catch one. And the whole time, they also have to guard their own maypole. Of course their are easier victims, like suburban communities or a business, where noone cares for the tradition and therefor no guards watch the maypole...

Can you spot which one is hiding the maypole?

It failed the bi-annual Maypole TÜV last week (I kid you not) and was removed by the Munich Fire Brigade on Saturday. It was rotten to the core, accelerated by the warm, damp winter and considered dangerous. The pole was not due for replacement until 2009, and there is currently discussion about whether to break tradition and put up a new one this coming May (well actually, April 30 this year as there is a conflicting fest in the Viktualienmarkt on May 1st)

I was quite impressed with the ingenuity of the Garching club this year. They saw their Dietersheim neighbours transporting their maypole to its hiding place, and decided to use Google Earth to scout the area to see if they could find it. Although the picture was 6 years old, they did indeed find some woodland with a long white line in one place, and correctly concluded that it was where the Dietersheim group usually hide their maypole. After some careful planning, the Garching group "collected" the maypole in the middle of the night, and charged the Dietersheimers a storage fee of 50 litres beer plus a ransom of food and beer for its return (which would have amounted to over 100 litres of free beer in total).

FYI, the SZ has an article this week that mentions the theft in broad daylight of the Viktualienmarkt's maypole in 1964. As a ransom, the brothers Schorsch und Valentin Bauer demanded, and received, the lifelong right to a box at the Oktoberfest, since which time Box 7 in the Augustiner tent has been called the Maibaumräuber (maypole thieves) box.

I thought the whole thing, as most things are in these parts, was based around beer?

They take the pole down and then there is a tree watch, involving beer naturally. If it does get stolen the ransom is beer.

Worryingly there are rules in this one as well. What would the Germans be without rules.

Rules for kidnapping a maypole (German)

Babel Fish Translation

Looks like Dietersheim broke rule no. 2 then.

I guess this is where they found it - see that long white pole, aligned with the edge of the trees in the clearing in the centre of the image? Pretty smart, eh?

In Albaching this year they went with a different approach to securing the tree - they put the may-tree in the basement of a farmer's barn and built a Maibaumstueberl (pub/club) around it, which was open every night throughout April. The timber for the ceiling and some of the furniture was made out of the old may-tree.





It didn't help - the tree got stolen pretty much straight away.