Every year at the 24’th of August when night falls the good people of Oberammergau are starting celebrating the birthday of Wittelsbacher King Ludwig II. (25’th August) who was very popular in the area. He brought a lot of business at his time to the village which is only 15 km away from Castle Linderhof, Ludwigs most liked castle. He also promoted the famous “Passionsfestspiele” who take place every other 10 years.
So the people of the village (a purely male event, „Die Feuermacher„) put up some fires up on the mountains or in the sheer mountain walls in the form of crosses, a crown on top of Kofel Mountain and a “L II” on the other side of the valley. The tradition started 1888. It is a men only event.
The men of the brass band too climb into the sheer mountain wall and play some traditional songs but also the Bavarian Anthem “Gott mit Dir Du Land der Bayern”. And enjoye one or another beer after the dangerous climb. Everybody is roped up propperly, no bad accidents had happened all those years.
Though Dieter is no official “Feuermacher” he insisted he should assist in the event and check if the preparations up on Kofel Mountain were proceeding as they should. So he insisted to walk up on Kofel Mountain. I thought it is a good idea to also enroll the Ducktor for this challenging expedition starting at 840 m height and dragging us up to the summit 1342 m and have ourselves checked when we reached the summit as Dieter had problems with breathing. After the Ducktor finished the examination he said we are only sissies who had put up too much weight. Maybe be had too many Great Romans in Regensburg. And Blackforest Cake. We saw Feuermacher passing us fast with heavy loads on their backs, so the Ducktor might be right.
The summit cross reminded us of the “Franziskusmarterl” (Christian way sign at the planned but by public resistance stopped site of the before planned recycling plant for nuclear waste in Wackersdorf.
The foot of the Kofel mountain, the Döttenbichl (Hill) was site of the famous (well, maybe not too much) „Schlacht am Döttenbichl“ 15 BC. (Battle, Romans vs. Raeter)
Funny is, that the 19’th Roman Legion was fighting and defeating a Rheatian tribe here, the Legion which was defeated two decades later in the Teuteburger forest by Arminius “the Cherusker” in the “Varusschlacht”.(„Quinctili Vare, legiones redde !“)
Sissy joined too. Sissi was a cousin of King Ludwig II. but became a bit camera-shy now that she is older and after her name and the one of Luggi, her favorite cousin had been exploited too much lately in historically incorrect cartoon movies. The original producer SIP Sarban International Paris, a Frensh animation studio was meanwhile taken over by The Walt Disney Company which already had copied the idea of Wittelsbacher Ludwig II. fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein. Luggi too avoids too much public attention and stays in his modest private pool and garden these days.
Credit: Maps Icons Collection, thttps://mapicons.tmapsmarker.com
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