Colour blind in a red and black world

Embach as it looks today

Early in the new year there will be an election for the local council which covers the industrial village in the valley, Lend, and the farming village of Embach 500m above. The result is a foregone conclusion. Of the 2500 residents, those in Lend will vote red (socialist) and here in Embach they will vote black (conservative). The reds will win more seats on account of the bigger population.

Politics are ingrained deep into life here almost like skin pigmentation. It pervades even the most benign group or organisation. Each village has its own pensioners club reflecting the “colour” of the residents. Other groups, such as those for sport and social activities also have a tendency towards one colour or another.

The recent visit by the red pensioners, albeit with a number of Embachers, to a huge steelworks in Linz, contrasted with Embach pensioners’ traditional Advent get-together with zither and accordion music, poetry readings and primary schoolchildren in a short nativity play, followed by coffee and cake, wine and plenty of gossip.

 

Traditional entertainment enjoyed by Embach's pensioners

Being an incomer, an outsider from London, only resident in Embach for 11 years – one doesn’t have this red or black streak in the DNA. For this “colour blind” outsider who has activities in both communities the indelible colour definition is still something of a surprise.

Embach once had its own council and mayor and, for some, the colour-clashing merger of Embach with Lend in the 1930s has rankled ever since. The council and mayor do their best to organise events and activities that bring the communities together. But if an event in Embach is reported in the media as happening in Lend, grumblings echo around the mountains.

However, there are some things on which both villages are agreed. A class of children at the local school (which has pupils both from Lend and Embach) were unanimous as to what they would be eating on December 24th: Wurstlsuppe. This is a thin soup with noodles and pale frankfurter-type sausages swimming about in it. Christmas Eve is, after all, a time of fasting.

Embachers will also indulge themselves with Backikoch, As we wrote last year, everyone has their own recipe and no-one seems keen to give it away. It is made of milk and flour whisked together over heat with a pinch of salt and a little butter. Some people also add honey. Apparently everyone eats it and loves it – but only on Bachltag (Christmas eve).

To all readers of this blog around the world, as the Embach people would say:

Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch in das Neue Jahr – happy Christmas and a good slither into the new year.

 

Embach pensioners enjoying each other's company