Two girls and a boy in traditional costumes of the "Werdenfelser Land" area during the one-week festival "Partenkirchner Festwoche 2015", Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany
Some background information:
In Bavaria every area and even every local community has its own garb. However, internationally known are the different traditional costumes of Upper Bavaria, like the ones in my picture.
The Werdenfels female garb is characterised by a light blue garment made from silk. This garment is composed of an apron and a bodice scarf. The bodice has a black colour and the bib is lace-trimmed. On their décolletage the girls wear red flowers. Around their necks they wear black decorated neckbands. The lace on their bodices is usually three metres long, made from silver and decorated with large silver coins. The stockings are white and hand-knit, while the shoes are black strap shoes. Finally it has to be mentioned that the girls wear their hair plaited as a crown braid.
The Werdenfels male garb is characterized by short lederhosen ("leather trousers") and a white shirt. Above that the men wear a traditional tie and a grey Bavarian janker. The lederhosen are held by wide braces which are ornamented with Alpine flowers like edelweiss and gentian. On their legs they wear hand-knit grey and green wade warmers. On their feet they wear traditional Bavarian shoes, the so-called Haferlschuhe in which they slip in bare-footed resp. without any socks. On their heads the men wear traditional Bavarian dark green hats which are decorated with edelweiss, an eagle feather or a gamsbart (shown in my picture). A gamsbart is usually made from the hair from a chamois' lower neck.
Originally the Bavarian garb was composed of nothing else but worn clothes. "Tracht", the German word for "garb", derives from the German verb "tragen", which means "wear" in English. However, the rural garb was also always a subject of fashion, just like urban clothing. The younger history of the Bavarian garb cannot be separated from the garb movement at the beginning of the 19th century. At that time the Bavarian Court was absolutely enthusiastic about garbs, just like the Austro-Hungarian Court. In 1830, Felix Joseph von Lipowsky, the registrar of the Bavarian assembly of the estates, published a "Collection of Bavarian national costumes". The royal government of Upper Bavaria also tried to promote the wearing of local traditional costumes “to enhance the sense of national identity". In 1883, the "mountain garb preservation society" was founded. And in 1890, the first umbrella organisation of societies of traditional costumes originated.
One of the most prominent wearers of garbs was Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (reigning from 1886 to 1912), the successor of King Ludwig II. Just like the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, he used to wear a short lederhose during the hunt, on cold days even with visible white long johns below.
Today Bavarian enthusiasm about garbs is still unabated. There are 23 district societies, organised in the Bavarian Traditional Costumes Society, with altogether more than 180,000 members. However, traditional costumes are usually not worn in everyday life. Only in Southern Upper Bavaria traditional costumes are worn more frequently, sometimes even in everyday life. In this region men still wear lederhosen occasionally while women wear the so-called “Dirndl”, which is the Bavarian name for the female traditional costume.
Partenkirchen, where I took this photo, is one of the two main boroughs of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The other one is Garmisch of course. Both autonomous communities were merged in 1935 because of the Winter Olympic Games, which took place here just one year later. The municipality of Garmisch-Partenkirchen has more than 26,000 residents altogether, but still has no town privilege.
The borough of Partenkirchen originated as the Roman refreshment station "Partanum" on a trade route from Venice to Augsburg, which used to be a secondary route of the Via Claudia. This road, which was called "Via Raetia", was built around 200 AD and ran across the Brenner Pass.
In 1294, Emicho, bishop of Freising, acquired Partenkirchen. At the same time the whole County of Werdenfels came under the rule of the Prince-Bishipric of Freising and was to remain so until the mediatization of 1802. The area was governed by a prince-bishop's representative known as a Pfleger (in English: "caretaker" or "warden") from Werdenfels Castle situated on a crag north of Garmisch.
In the High Middle Ages Partenkirchen was an important station for the merchant dynasties Fugger and Welser on their way to Italy. For many years the settlement flourished.
But the discovery of America at the turn of the 16th century led to a boom in shipping and a sharp decline in overland trade, which plunged the region into a centuries-long economic depression. The valley floor was swampy and difficult to farm. Bears, wolves and lynxes were a constant threat to livestock. The population suffered from periodic epidemics, including several serious outbreaks of bubonic plague. Adverse fortunes from disease and crop failure occasionally led to witch hunts. Most notable of these were the trials and executions of 1589 to 1596, in which 63 people – more than ten per cent of the population at the time — were burned at the stake or garroted.
In 1802, the County of Werdenfels was incorporated into Bavaria. After the rail connection to Munich was established in 1889, tourism business began to grow. As already mentioned, in 1935, the autonomous communities of Garmisch and Partenkirchen were forced to merge by the NSDAP in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games.
Today, the united settlement is casually (but incorrectly) referred to as Garmisch, much to the dismay of Partenkirchen's residents. Most visitors will notice the slightly more modern feel of Garmisch while the fresco-filled, cobblestoned streets of Partenkirchen offer a glimpse into times past.
