Sonthofen/Bischofswiesen (dpa/lby) - Traditional customs spectacles with wild fellows attracted hundreds of onlookers in southern Bavaria on Monday. In Sonthofen and other places in the Allgäu, at the beginning of December, the Bärbele and Klausen celebrations traditionally take place, during which the participants parade through the streets in ragged robes, aprons, headscarves and creepy masks.
First, unmarried women and girls from the age of 16 take part in the Bärbele celebrations on the memorial day of St. Barbara (December 4) in order to drive away winter spirits and demons according to an Alemannic custom. In the days that followed, single men roared through the villages as gruesome figures during the so-called Klausen hustle and bustle.
In Bischofswiesen, Upper Bavaria (district of Berchtesgadener Land), a similar spectacle by the Bundeswehr, which has been held for 60 years, was the focus of interest on Monday. St. Nicholas moved from the mountain infantry barracks to Berchtesgaden with his entourage - the Buttnmandln, Kramperln, the servant Ruprecht and Engelln. The Buttn, the clattering of large bells, was originally intended to reawaken winter nature at this early point in time.
