Mai Fest Adventure

I finally had time to update the blog again.  Since my last time to Frankfurt I have been extremely busy attending the Maitanz and 50^th anniversary celebration of the chapter DANK Chicago-West.  After that I went back on a trip to Frankfurt and lo and behold it’s Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension) which is a Catholic and official holiday in Germany with no stores open.  If you have been reading the DANK Journal, you will know that Germany celebrates Fathers day on that day.  It’s just a bit different than in the US, actually known as the drunk-fest to the wives.  In downtown Frankfurt on the Roemerplatz one of the local University fraternities set up a hospitality area and had a fundraiser selling beer and brats to the local fathers.  Their frat brothers really got into the celebration which was tempered in the afternoon by a few Thunderstorms.

University Students enjoying the festivities on Fathersday

Also not far from the Roemerplatz, on the Liebfrauenberg, there was a Mai and Wein Festival.  Germans, always finding a reason to celebrate, ate Wurst and drank beer & wine, listening to the latest entertainers singing 1970’s American music, which seems to be the music of choice at these events.

Mai and Wein Fest next to Liebfrauen church in Frankfurt

(My name for this stuff is 70’s wedding music.)  For the Mayfest in Chicago a few years ago, organizer Joe Matuschka  brought over a band from Germany which we heard at Karneval in Loerzweiler that year.  They were very good but started out playing this type of music at the festival and folks got very upset.  They expected German style music at a German style festival in Chicago.  A real culture shock for the band since they thought that Americans liked 1970’s music.  What they did not know was the idea that folks in the US have about what Germany is like and some how expect the local traditions of Bavaria and their music at German festivals in the US.  (Bavaria is a great place and I love it there, but there is so much more to Germany than Bavaria).  As I walked back to the hotel that day, I ran across quite a few posters about a political rally from chancellor Merkel that was held in Frankfurt with a poster of the left party underneath.  I could not believe my eyes!  As part of this rally, they featured a band called the “Polkaholix.”  Anyone belonging to the DANK Chicago chapter might recognize the name since many of their members are fans of the American Polkaholics that often play at the DANK Haus.  You can check out the websites of both of them and compare their music.  Very interesting!

Political rally poster featuring the German Polkaholix Band

I also met some interesting ladies that afternoon.  If you ever heard of hen-night, which is a popular event for brides to be in the UK and is an all-afternoon to evening bachelorette party, you will understand.  These ladies were taking their friend, the bride to be, out for a hen-night fundraiser.  They just don’t call it hen-night in Germany since they usually have a family and friends gathering, called Polterabend but the pre-Polterabend parties are getting popular.  Anyway these girls dressed up the bride to be as a queen to be and sold shots of popular German liquors to raise funds for their party.  So they told me anyway and I had to contribute.

Bride to be on the Right with 2 donors for hen night in return for a Jaegermeister shot

German Hen Night Shirt

Well that’s all for now.  Look for an update from my next trip.  I flunked bidding my May schedule and have to work on Memorial Day.  It would not be all that bad but it also happens to be my 30^th wedding anniversary.  So my wife Darlene and I have worked it out.  She will come along on my Frankfurt trip and we will celebrate our anniversary in Germany.  Dinner reservations are already in.

‘Til next time,
Captain Bill

Find more like this: Captain Bill's Travels