Geigen Gwand Goiserer GamsBart

Englisches Blog mit deutscher FussZeile.
Today I was visiting an exhibition ('Geigen Gwand Goiserer') in our village here which is more and more turning into a cultural centre with a lot of visitors coming from all over. I'll just share some pics I took recently so you can catch a glimpse of what life is and was in Austria. I'll not get into any details but you can trust that I'll post some stuff like this in future with a lot of additional short informations as there's truly a lot to tell.

The above photo I took close to where I live.
In the background you see the 'Ramsauer Gebirge'.

Just a few 100 meters upward you get quite a view.
If you like you can sneak a peek through a webcam:
WebCam Bad Goisern

Model of a typical traditional house of this area.

And LIVE ...

Hm, from what I know, no witch is supposed to live here :)
but who knows

Spending the last Sunday at a nearby fleamarket, these wheels were sold.

There is and was a lot of wood-working in this area here.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen ..., the hats.

The things that you see in the background and which are put on hats are the so called "GamsBart" which means beard of a "Gemse", an animal for which I didn't find an English word to translate to. Another time I'll tell more about that.

GamsBart and wilbau (I'm not on this photo) in action.

GamsBart from the black & white times.

As you see ... for valid action a GamsBart is not required. GamsBart is more necessary for spirituality, ceremonial proceedings, ... part of ancient costumes, a signal that old traditions are not disappearing and ... an element of folk culture. If you want to know a bit more on lively folk culture in Austria you might like to have a look at my post on putting up a maypole with photos and YouTube videos. And there's more to come here on this blog.

Some traditional costumes ...

Yes, living folk culture is when living people wear this kind of clothes and they do. Usually on Sunday when visiting (or attending) the church or at festivities which happen throughout the year in this area which is called "SalzKammerGut", a part of Upper Austria, situated geographically pretty much in the middle of Austria. The next major airports are in 1. SalzBurg 2. Munic 3. Vienna.
This is a brand of shoe that get's worshipped in this area. It's called the "Goiserer" and made this village, this community here world-famous. Well the hype around this shoe is already a while ago, so you might have not heard about this kind of shoe. It is THE shoe that made it possible to climb the highest mountains on this planet ... tralala ... our EARTH.
And of course there are a lot of specialists here to make all kinds of wood-mountains, then and now. The last storm Orkan Emma was an unwanted specialist. Another famous constructive specialist (on wood transportation by water and some other amazing stuff) was Victor Schauberger about whom I will soon might do some posting. His grandson is living a few miles north from here and I got to know him some years ago.

And what would be YOUR caption for this mountain of shoes?

-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-

Hope, you enjoyed this. Please stumble, digg, bookmark this post and leave a comment.
Thanks for coming by. In the same way that I report on my world here, I really enjoy hearing from you and how you do.

German: Die oberösterreichische Landesaustellung "Geigen, Gwand & Goiserer" ist in Bad Goisern, OberÖsterreich im Schloss NeuWildenStein vom 29. April 2008 bis 2. November 2008 geöffnet.