July 2008
Kocherlball
In the 19th century, dancing parties were reserved for the nobility and the rising bourgeoisie. Service staff had no entertainment of their own, and their brutal working schedule did not allow nightly dancing events anyway. Undaunted, Munich’s domestic servants invented a festivity of their own: Each Sunday morning during the summer, they met before work at the Chinese Tower for a servants’ ball. By 1904, city authorities feared a lack of morality at these daybreak events and prohibited the ball. Luckily, the unique custom has been revived over the past two decades. On each third Sunday of July, Munich residents in traditional servant costumes meet at 6 am for the Kocherlball. More than 12,000 early risers waltz and picnic around the Chinese Tower in one of Munich’s most popular and unusual spectacles, which will take place on July 20 this year. To secure seats in the beer garden area, plan on arriving at the ungodly hour of 4 am. The traditional costumes, the view of extraordinarily twisted whiskers and the exceptional atmosphere at dawn will be certainly worth the struggle to get up or stay awake. <<<
