It’s a holiday today in Sulzburg. Last year I was out of town and didn’t know what I was missing. I really don’t know anything about May 1 celebrations – we don’t have them in Canada, at least not that I have ever seen.

When we signed the lease for our apartment in Sulzburg we received not only keys to our apartment but keys to the front gate, which we were told is locked only one day a year. May 1.  Supposedly the crowds are rowdy.

There was no evidence of that last night as the Maypole was erected in the market square. There wasn’t much of a crowd for that either. No speeches (or maybe I left too soon) or ceremony, just a few fire fighters (Sulzburg has what I presume is a volunteer fire department) and a fork lift. Now I know how they do it.

All the villages around here have maypoles – it is a big thing culturally.

The maypole will sit in the square for the next month. Longer if, like last year, birds choose to nest and lay eggs in it. They get a lot of use out of last year’s Christmas tree. 

I gather the month kicks off with a mini-festival of some kind all day in the square. Surprisingly there have been no details – I knew about the maypole being raised, but hadn’t seen any other information about the festivities. Maybe it is one of those things everyone knows about already. I’ll check it out after work and let you know.

Until then, here is a few photos I took Tuesday evening.

The maypole looked quite different in December when it was the town Christmas tree.