Bavarian culture

    
Fig. 17: Bavarian Lederhosen

Lederhosen (male traditional leather breeches) were originally worn by men of the alpine regions in Bavaria, and would probably have been worn by almost all the male peasants in Ludwig’s time. Men of higher status would probably not have worn them. Similarly, the Dirndl (female traditional dress) was originally worn by servant girls and peasants of the alpine regions. Upper class women would have been more likely to wear the type of gowns worn by women of their status all over Europe.

Fig. 18: Bavarian Dirndl

These traditional garments are still worn for special occasions (and particularly during the Oktoberfest, a huge annual beer festival filled with beer, Volksmusik, more beer, more Volksmusik, and … you guessed it… beer). Anything emphasising traditional values or traditional cultural aspects is prized today, but it is almost impossible to decide whether such pride in tradition was part of Bavaria in Ludwig’s time. It is known, however, that the village maypoles which bear upon them figurettes depicting various village trades were proudly on display in that period, just as they are today.

    
Fig. 19: Bavarian Maypole

In startling contrast to this treasuring of the traditional, Bavaria is home to many extraordinarily successful companies (such as BMW, Adidas, Audi, Siemens) which epitomise the modern. People of marked scientific achievement, world-famous artistic achievement, notable literary achievement and much more hail from Bavaria – Thomas Mann, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, Rudolf Diesel, Alois Alzheimer, Orlando di Lasso, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Richard Strauss, Carl Spitweg, Paul Klee, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Elder, to name but a few. The present pope, Pope Benedict XVI, also comes from Bavaria.

“Grüß Gott!” was then (and still is) the typical way of greeting someone in Bavaria. Peasants in particular would have considered “Guten Tag” an unfriendly and suspicious sort of greeting in Ludwig’s time, and this holds true today.

Folk-tales and stories of blood-curdling mediæval horrors have always enjoyed a lively dissemination in Bavaria. The gothic elements of a story would lose nothing in the telling, and therefore such tales as werewolf legends would certainly have been preserved – if anything, in exaggerated detail.

Fig. 20: Weisswurst and Brezn

When it comes to food, Bavaria is in a world of its own. The traditional Weißwurst, Bierwurst, Brezn, Schuchsen, Semmelknödel and much more ensure that books on Bayerische or Bavarian cuisine will continue to be published, that Bavarian restaurants will continue to give a unique experience, and that Bavaria will continue to hold dear its culinary traditions.

Conclusion

Bavaria’s continued status as a Freistaat within Germany both cradles it and sets it at a distance. So much of Bavaria’s history entitles it to be seen as a separate kingdom, but it is indeed no longer a kingdom. It lost that status in 1918… but the people of Bavaria continue to value those things that hold them apart, even though they are now a part of Germany.

The rich history of Bavaria made it the perfect choice for so much of the story of GK2, and the inclusion of the werewolf element is logical and explicable, as well as the weaving in of high and low culture – a lost Wagnerian opera, the torments of King Ludwig II, the frightened reactions of the modern-day peasants, the high-tech examination of evidence discovered in the course of the investigations… for Bavaria is a state of contrasts. Home to some of the most successful and sophisticated businesses in the world, and boasting some of the world’s most impressive beautiful architecture, thorough education systems, welcoming science and art and all branches of knowledge, it yet retains a deep fondness for the homely past.

Perhaps it is in these very contradictions that we find the true fascination of Bavaria.