Maypole-raising at the Viktualienmarkt - Munich

A new, 36m tall maypole will be erected tomorrow morning, April 30th, at the Viktualienmarkt, and there'll be free beer to celebrate!

Current regulations state that a maypole can stand for a maximum of 5 years, and it has to undergo a TÜV examination each year to make sure it's still safe - the old one at the Viktualienmarkt had to be removed at the beginning of this year as it no longer met the requirements.

If you're an early bird you can watch as the new maypole arrives at around 4am and is decorated between 5.00 and 9.30am. Oompah music's a given.

At 10am it will be raised (with the help of a crane – the traditional method of raising a maypole with long sticks is not allowed in Munich for safety reasons), followed by some speeches, including one from Munich's mayor, Christian Ude. After the ceremony, free beer donated by the Munich breweries will be handed out at the Viktualienmarkt's beer garden (source).

If you can't make it out tomorrow, there will be other maypole-raising ceremonies around Munich on May 1st. Here are a few, based on info from muenchen.de:

• Harlaching - 14:00 in front of Menterschwaige beer garden, corner Harthauser-/Menterschwaigstraße
• Haidhausen - 13:00, Wiener Platz
• Glockenbachviertel - 11:00, first gay-lesbian maypole event, Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Platz
• Garching - 12:00, U-Bahn stop Garching-Maibaum
• Waldperlach - 12:00, Leiberheim beer garden, Nixenweg 9
• Neuaubing - 13:45, St. Markus church square

Ganz-muenchen lists similar events also happening in Moosach, Berg am Laim, Solln, Tierpark Hellabrunn, Neubiberg, Ottenhofen, amongst others.

If you want to drive out of Munich on May 1st to see more traditional maypole-raising ceremonies (i.e. where they use long sticks to raise the maypole), you can look at the events listed here.

See also the related topic: Munich maypole thefts, A curious Bavarian tradition

That's good news, the market has looked somewhat... impotent... without it.

The raising of this Maibaum is boring, they do it with a crane.
However, I read in the paper today that the Breznreiter will ride again. From Neuhauser Strasse to Viktualienmarkt, IIRC, ending up there about 6.30pm with free Brezn for all who get close enough.

After a bit of googling, I now realise it would have been more accurate to write "Munich's first gay-lesbian maypole", although its official title is the "integration maypole" (BR report).

The idea is that the maypole will represent the colourful variety of lifestyles in the Glockenbachviertel, and, in a break from tradition, the maypole decorations will include single-sex couples surrounded by multi-coloured flags.

Nothing is sacred though: the Burschenverein Ismaning have managed to steal the 10m-long maypole from the artist's premises (report in German). They'll bring it back to the Glockenbachviertel on May 1st, and will receive their ransom in the form of free food and beer, so the maypole-raising will still take place at 12pm (the Ismaning group have been busy - they also managed to steal Berg am Laim's maypole).

oh i love the maypole celebrations!
i wish i were there for them! (and wearing a dirndl!!!)

Can anyone recommend a small village nearby Munich for maypole erection entertainment? I saw a documentary on Arte about a particular village a long time ago but can't remember the name of the village. I'm talking lots of Trachten, beer galore, and the obligatory oompahpah music here! ;-)

I thought Deco provided a pretty comprehensive summary of May Day events including links...are you just too lazy to click on them? What more do you want?

Along the same lines, I think girls dancing around the "pole" in sexy attire is somewhat erotic.

if anyone was not able to make it out to VM today for the raising and the free beer, well... too bad! its a gorgeous day and the beer was even better!

I think I prefer the country events where it's still done by hand. I've documented one such occasion, for your reading pleasure.

Our village (Albaching) is celebrating its 1200th anniversary this year, and we'll be putting the tree up tomorrow...

No I'm not at all lazy, I clicked through ALL of them.

Some people have been to nearby towns/villages during May Day festivities. I haven't. I was hoping for some personal recommendations. Like "x town is great" or "avoid y town, it gets a bit crowded".

Don't you have anything better to do than make stupid remarks, madgibson?

Well, of course I'd recommend Albaching. But then, I don't have to drive home from here.

Trachten and beer are guaranteed, plus you'll get to see a TTer sweating away under the tree (you'll notice I'm assuming the weather is going to be good).

depends on which direction you want to go - try schönau, aicha, pfarrkirchen, burghausen, or mühldorf
i dont know for sure if the last 2 are having anything this year, but i'm about 80% sure they are.

have fun!

Yeah but see, they ALL have that. And each village just does it every five years or so, so the village that was fabulous last year can't be fabulous for another four years. Gedddit? The descriptions given should be enough for anyone to make a decision.

As Gen wrote, the locations will be different each year. FYI, I saw the event in Geltendorf this time. It took 45-50 men 2 hours to raise the maypole - in the past it's not taken as long, but they were partly slowed down because a rope joining two of the Schwaiberl (raising rods) came loose so they had to fix it.



Once the maypole was up, they used a "lift" to attach the figures. Benches and tables were set out for the May Day party, which included dancing by the local Tracht club & music provided by the neighbouring village's band. A Maß of Kaltenberg beer cost 5 Euro.



As their maypole is not painted and still has its bark, it will apparently not last as long (maybe 2-3 years). I'd recommend Geltendorf, as the location was great, and the neighbouring countryside is perfect for walks or cycling if you want to do more that day.

It's not too late to see maypole-raising this year though – there are some events taking place this weekend, as mentioned on the other thread.