Viehscheid: When the Cows Come Home

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Vanda's experience

The phrase "until the cows come home" took on real meaning today. While surfing the Internet to plan for this trip, I stumbled across a local custom in the south of Bavaria called "Viehscheid." Viehscheid is when the cow herds return from the Alpine meadows to their owners at the end of summer. The cows are herded from the mountains into a local village, which has its own Viehscheid celebration. The village celebrations, akin to fairs, are staggered so that two neighboring villages do not schedule this on the same day. I searched for a Viehscheid on the route through Bavaria to Switzerland to be held on our last day in Germany, and found only one - in a village called Kranzegg. So we made sure we incorporated this local celebration into our last day's activities.

It was definitely a highlight of the trip!!! This was not a festival put on for tourists; in fact, we never saw a tour bus at Kranzegg. It was the real deal with local folks dressed in wool sweaters, Alpine hats, dirndls, and lederhosen. The little children, bundled up in similar fashion, were adorable. During our four hours in the village, we heard English spoken only once by someone who was probably from the UK. If there were any Americans there, we didn't run into them.

Eight separate cow herds paraded past the little church and down the main street of the village to the festival area, which was lined by booths where one could purchase beer (lots of beer!), sweets, crafts, Alpine clothing, leather goods, grilled sausages (wurst), etc. In the middle of the area was a huge tent filled with tables at which folks sat drinking beer and eating. In the front of the tent was a brass/wind band (see photos) with lots of "oompah." The band, which played traditional Bavarian music, was quite good. And the weather was great - a bit cool and breezy, but no rain and plenty of sun. We were happy for the locals that their day was not marred by bad weather.

We have lots of cow photographs, taken mostly by Rob. I concentrated instead on taking pictures of the people there, and tried to not attract their attention as I clicked the shutter. Unfortunately, the movie we made of the last herd rounding the curve coming out of the village did not turn out; the OFF button must have gotten pushed. :-( But we do have a short video of the cows in the coral, decorated with flowers and garlands for the Viehscheid, and you can hear the loud cow bell concert! The bells certainly look heavy, and I imagine they are expensive, but every cow had its bell. Enjoy the photographs of our bovine friends making music!!

Rob's experience

Having been to a number of different festivals in Germany during the course of my two assignments there, I can truly say that this was the most unique and the least touristy. Must have been 700-1000 people there and all were in a festive mood. School had to be out for the day. The herds were not large by any standard, anywhere from 12-30 cows, but as they came through the narrow streets, bells clanging, herded by men, women and children dressed in tradional Bavarian garb, they were indeed a sight to behold. Just imagine standing along the side of the road watching these animals parade, each one wearing a large bell around its neck adorned with some type of ornamental collar, leaving a trail of cow dung in their wake - and no one caring!

At the end of the procession the cows were herded into a roped-off area for inspection by the audience (if you can really call the spectators that) and a photo op by one and all. As for the cows, they were too busy chomping on the grass to really care. This occurred eight times and each herd was greeted warmly and the same big to-do was made all over again.

Vanda and I had a great time and this was the best way to end our Flitterwochen. There is nothing like it in the States and for those of you who visit southern Germany, we encourage you to get off the beaten path and visit these fun and unusual events. By the way, this will not be out last post. We still have some blog catching up to do and want to share more photos with you that we took on the "Romantischestrasse."

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