Drum woman

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The drum woman is a figure who regularly appears in groups during the carnival in Ausseerland in Styria .

All drum women are traditionally male and wear women's masks as well as a predominantly white robe, which can also be seen as night wear. The upper drum woman leads the procession, which consists of some musicians who play the traditional Aussee carnival march, as well as a large number of drummers. A very memorable rhythm is constantly being drummed, which the drumming women announce from afar.

In order to be accepted into the group of drum women, an entrance examination is planned. With the Bad Aussee "citizen drum women ", for example, the novices have to drink a quarter liter of schnapps in one go, smoke a cigar, inflate a balloon until it bursts and eat a hot chili peppers. Then the vow is made on the drumwomen's flag to follow the call of the big drum always and everywhere. The entrance exams differentiate between the individual groups. For example, novices have to eat a donut filled with mustard with the “worker drum women” . The musicians are an exception in the admission process: in order to remain capable of playing, they are spared the procedure.

In Bad Aussee there are several groups of drum women in the different villages. The two groups of the market (town in the center) stand out here with a classy tradition: The drum women on Mardi Gras represent the bourgeoisie, those on Mardi Gras the working class. There is also a small difference between the two on the outside: The Monday group is a bit more colorful (colorful aprons), which is frowned upon in the Tuesday group. Some drum women who appear in the wrong costume on Tuesday are still scolded today. During the move there are only a few stations that both groups of drum women visit.

There are also groups of drum women in Grundlsee and Altaussee . In Altaussee, however, there is a feminist modification of the tradition: The drums are exclusively women, men are only allowed to perform among the musicians.

The parades on Shrove Monday and Shrove Tuesday always start early in the morning. Various localities are visited where the drum women stay for a while and where they are fed (especially with beer and schnapps, donuts , sausages and goulash soup ).

In 2017 the Aussee carnival was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Ruppe: Chronicle of the Aussener drum women 1767 to 1953. (PDF) 2011, p. 6 , accessed on November 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Bernd Zillich: My Austria - drum women. Retrieved November 12, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Ausseer Fasching - Customs - Styrian specialties . In: Styrian specialties . February 3, 2015 ( steirische-spezialitaeten.at [accessed on November 12, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Austria Forum | https://austria-forum.org/ : Ausseer Fasching . In: Austria Forum . ( austria-forum.org [accessed November 12, 2018]).
  5. ↑ orf.at: Drum women and Flinserl rule in Aussee . Retrieved February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.