Monday 2 June 2014

Bride stolen at the fairytale wedding!

Fairytales can come true. For 20 or so years the family M from Cologne have been coming to Embach for their winter holidays, often with friends. Mr and Mrs M brought along their daughter Freddy and over the years became part of the village’s winter scene. However, the family M never came in the summer.

This year for the first time, Mr & Mrs M came in the spring, because one winter in one of the local pubs, Freddy had fallen for Fritz a local farmers’ boy – or he had fallen for her, and at the end of May the village resounded to the sound of wedding bells.

This was in every way the traditional Embach wedding which has not changed for decades. For an “incomer” to be part of such an event is to feel at once part of the community and at the same time an outsider. There is a ritual to follow, everyone knows the procedure and is in the right place at the right time.

First, the gathering in the village centre: the drinks flow and the band plays. Everyone is lined up behind bride and groom in strict order for the march to the church led by the 50 strong band…who stop playing at the point where the hill gets too step to walk and blow at the same time.


After mass, the happy couple troop back down the hill to be greeted by whatever club the groom belongs to – in this case the guys of the Krampusrunde (see Monsters on the Rampage blog) who put on a sketch involving men in skirts and wigs, schnapps, tractors and mowers – one of those things an incomer won’t ever get a grip on.

The stolen bride
At this point the band grabs the bride and marches off with her while, in a rather newer tradition, the groom is stolen away by all the single girls. It is never revealed quite what happens because other guests are entertained in the intervening hour or so with coffee and a table groaning with cakes, but Fritz certainly looked a little flushed on his return. Finally, the band marches up with the bride and the couple are reunited.


The bride is returned by the village band

Inside the hotel, guests are entertained with music while everyone enjoys a meal and of course there is no end of gossip just like weddings everywhere.

The great line up
At some point, almost unconsciously, everyone has formed a long, long line. And everyone is clutching gift-wrapped boxes, envelopes, plants – even a cherry tree adorned with Mon Cheri chocolate balls. This is the formal time for everyone to personally wish the couple many years of happiness – and to give a wedding gift.  Half the village is in the line and a conveyor system is set up to store the gifts safely and transport them back home – envelopes go into a special locked, wooden box with a slot in the side.

More music and dancing. Here one feels the outsider again. Everyone can dance! They whizz round in the fastest polkas, looking so cool – leather shorts and dirndls – young and old, as natural as walking.

The Gedicht
The formal proceedings are not quite complete. Beware, if you are an Austrian from this part of the world. If you intend to get married, lead an entirely blameless life or your sisters will compose and read out a poem which exposes every daft thing you ever did. Between the verses the couple whirl around to a piece of music which was obviously designed for this occasion.

Finally, it is every man for himself – after almost 12 hours, formalities are over and the dancing continues into the night.

The fairytale is only just beginning. Family M will now be visiting Embach at other times of the year, not just for skiing. Freddy will be getting to grips with some of the things a farmer’s wife has to do and Fritz will one day take over the reins of the farm from the generations (of Fritzes) who have gone before.


As with all fairytales, no doubt, they live happily ever after.