Walhalla Oktoberfest Bavarian Dancers

one of our regulars was cleaning out her mother's keepsakes and found a hummel she said reminded her so much of our founder that she had to give it to us. and we have to give it to her. she ain't wrong. need a 5-liter blue steinkrug apparently. prost!

Edit: Fest cancelled due to weather
Join us for our show at noon on Saturday, May 4 in Walhalla!

UPDATE: Spreading joy on Main Street as we S**gged for International Dance Day! The S**g celebrates 40 years as the State Dance.
Monday is International Dance Day! Catch the Walhalla Oktoberfest Bavarian Dancers enjoying the State Dance of South Carolina at 615 on the100 block of Main St. In Walhalla!
The S**g has been around since the 1940s, but is celebrating the 40th year of being declared the state dance. Come dance with us, and honk if you love the S**g!

Its that time again! Walhalla Bavarian Dancers and Valkyries performing at the Columbia International Festival representing Walhalla and Germany on April 6. Come enjoy South Carolinas largest international festival, dancing, music, food, exibits, the Parade of Nations and a fashion show!

2023 Columbia International Festival performance by Walhalla Bavarian Dancers and Valkyries An Alpine Waltz, one of many Bavarian dances performed in our show this day.

Gemütlichkeit

describes a space or state of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer. Other qualities include coziness, peace of mind, belonging, well being, and social acceptance. The term is most commonly associated with the tenor of a German beer garden.
Gemütlichkeit derives from gemütlich, the adjective of Gemüt, which means "heart, mind, temper, feeling" expressed by (and cognate with) English mood. The German abstract noun Gemütlichkeit has been adopted into English. The current meaning of the word derives from its use in the Biedermeier period. By the second half of the 19th century, it also became associated with a set of traits supposedly unique to the German culture. In the United States, the city of Jefferson, Wisconsin uses the phrase: "The Gemütlichkeit City" as its motto.
The word can be used in descriptions of holidays. In the 1973 English contract law case Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd, a holidaymaker sued after not receiving the Gemütlichkeit promised by the promotional literature for a package holiday to the Swiss Alps.
The communal connotations of Gemütlichkeit are also emphasized in some uses of the term. For example, one academic described it as a tradition of "public festivity" (in the form of a "mixture of music, food, and drink"), which "promote community solidarity." The Harlem Renaissance was then cited as of how a sense of Gemütlichkeit arises from a "mix of music, art and politics in service of community consciousness".
Gemütlichkeit has been appropriated at least once to describe the tenor of an economic era rather than spirit of a social gathering. In analysing the "inflation dampening effects of globalization" a Georgia Southern University professor wrote that certain U.S. economic trends could "spell an end of the Gemütlichkeit — a situation in which cheap labor and money abroad as well as ever-increasing productivity at home had permitted an uninterrupted spell of controlled growth in overall prices".

Saturday Dec 9 Walhalla Wonderland!
With rain expected, our Christmas dancing at the Tree at 3 will become dancing at Stumphaus Taproom at 4!
Keep your eyes peeled for us spreading holiday cheer busking our way down Main to the Taproom from 3-4pm. Steak House, Sugabears, Bretts, Alexanders, the Boutique, and Mountain Mocha watch out, here we come!

Catch us at the fabulous
Walhalla Winter Wonderland
Saturday December 9!

On October 21, 1959, Oscar Hammerstein II finished his 1,589th and last lyric, written for The Sound of Music. "Edelweiss" was completed and went into the show during its pre-Broadway tryout in Boston. 🥲 Pictured here is one of the many lyric drafts that didn't make the final cut.

Polka with us at Walhalla Oktoberfest Saturday at 11am and Sunday at 11am in tbe tent! Prosit!

Catch us dancing at the Steak House Walhalla on Saturday at 1pm!

Sumter Oktoberfest back in full swing with the Happy Musicians, dance lessons and performance!

A beautiful day for the Walhalla merchants Mart and our first Walhalla performance of the season! Bravo dancers!

Oktoberfest in Walhalla October 20-22, 2023
Since 1979 visitors have flocked to Walhalla every October to celebrate the town’s German heritage. Click our link for more details! https://visitoconeesc.com/walhalla-oktoberfest/

Covered with flowers...

Bacharach am Rhein, Germany
Photo By: [IG]

The hills are alive once again, as The Sound of Music's soundtrack is set to be re-released with a wealth of previously unreleased songs — including actor Christopher Plummer's original recordings that weren't used in the beloved 1965 film.

A new compilation album will feature remastered versions of iconic tunes from the Julie Andrews-starring film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, including "The Sound of Music," "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things," and "Do-Re-Mi." It will also include 40 previously unreleased tracks, instrumentals of each song, and 11 never-before-heard alternate takes.

Though Bill Lee's singing voice was dubbed over Plummer's in the Oscar-winning movie, the upcoming set includes Plummer himself performing songs from the film.

Among the previously-unreleased songs are "The Little Dears" — a combination of "I Have Confidence" and "My Favorite Things" — and "New Governess," which wasn't used in the film.

Mike Matessino, an associate of director Robert Wise who remixed and remastered the album, wrote in-depth liner notes for the release.

"You will hear what you've heard before, famous songs with the mellifluous tones of Dame Julie Andrews leading the way," Matessino wrote. "But the experience has been transformed beyond what the 1965 soundtrack album offered — with extensions to the songs, a brilliantly arranged underscore, and even some segments not used in the completed version of the film."

The Sound of Music's deluxe edition is set for release in various formats on Dec. 1, and is now available for pre-order.

The beginning of the season in Bavaria!

Get ready for Walhalla Oktoberfest!

It's that time of year...the herds are coming down from the Alps to the valleys! Get ready for Oktoberfest!

Guten Morgen und einen schönen Spätsommertag. September ist Viehscheid-Zeit im Allgäu. Die Alpen ziehen mit ihren Herden wieder in die Täler runter und die Rinder werden ihren Besitzern übergeben. Es kehrt Ruhe ein den allgäuer Alpen ein. Es ist schön anzusehen und auch sehr imposant. Einige Gemeinden machen Volksfestmäßige Veranstaltungen daraus, manche eher traditionell und gemütlich. Für jeden das passende dabei.

Ich freue mich, wenn du diesen Beitrag teilst. Vielen lieben Dank 😊

̈uliebe
̈uer_herzschlag de

Did you know.....?

The First Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest’s roots can be traced back to 1810 in Munich, which is in the Bavarian region of Germany. On October 12th of that year, the future King Ludwig got married and invited the entire city to attend the celebration, which included a large feast and horse races.

It was such a hit that they decided to repeat the horse races the following year, and the tradition of an annual October gathering – now known as Oktoberfest – was born.

The Growth of Oktoberfest
In the early years, an agricultural fair was added to the horse races to help boost the economy. By the end of the 1800’s a carnival aspect was added to the gathering, which made the event more attractive to families. Over time the horse races stopped, but the event continued to grow. As for Oktoberfest’s association with beer, the early gatherings were peppered with beer stands but in 1896 they were replaced with large brewery-sponsored beer tents.
Oktoberfest Today
While Oktoberfest celebrations are popular around the world, the original Oktoberfest continues on in Munich. And despite its name, it actually starts on a mid-September Saturday, runs for 16 days, and ends on the first Sunday in October.
The current iteration of Oktoberfest is a celebration of German culture, food, and (of course) beer. The only beer served at the event comes from the original 6 breweries in Munich, and the celebration gets kicked off with the mayor tapping the keg in as few swings of the hammer as possible.
Besides the food and beer, the festival is full of traditional Bavarian music, open-air performances, a grand entry and parades, vendor tents, carnival rides, a shooting competition, and traditional German outfits. The two-week fair wraps up in dramatic fashion with a boisterous brass band and a gun salute.

Grüß Gott is a greeting, less often a farewell, in the Upper German Sprachraum especially in Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia, Austria and South Tyrol.
The greeting was publicized in the 19th century by the Catholic clergy and along with its variants has long been the most common greeting form in Southern Germany and Austria. The salutation often receives a sarcastic response from Northern (and thus mainly Protestant) Germans such as "If I see Him" ("Wenn ich ihn sehe") or "Hopefully not too soon" ("Hoffentlich nicht so bald").
Grüß Gott is the shortened form of both (Es) Grüße dich Gott and its plural (Es) Grüße euch Gott ('may God greet you'). The verb grüßen originally had a meaning similar to segnen ('to bless'), although it now means 'to greet'. The essential meaning of grüß (dich) Gott is therefore 'God bless you'. Such a religious expression in a greeting only exists in a few countries. For example, people wish one another a simple 'good day' in Poland (dzien dobry), Spain (buenos días), and Portugal (bom dia), while in Gaelic-speaking Ireland the popular greeting is Dia dhuit ('God with you'), similar to the English goodbye, a contraction of God be with ye; today, goodbye has a less obviously religious meaning. Also similar to the Catalan formal expression Adéu-siau ("Be with God", in archaic Catalan). A religious origin is still obvious in French adieu, Spanish adiós, Italian addio, Portuguese adeus, and Catalan adéu ("To God", probably a contraction of "I entrust you to God"). In Finland, a religious group named laestadians says "Jumalan terve" (greet God).
Like many other greetings, Grüß Gott can range in meaning from deeply emotional to casual or perfunctory. Popular variations are Grüß dich (Gott) and its plural form Grüß euch (Gott), literally meaning 'Greet you (God)'. The greeting's pronunciation varies with the region, with, for example, Grüß dich sometimes shortened to Grüß di (the variation Grüß di Gott may be heard in some places). In Bavaria and Austria griaß di and griaß eich are commonly heard, although their Standard German equivalents are not uncommon either. A common farewell analogous to grüß Gott is pfiat' di Gott, a contraction of "Behüte dich Gott" ('God protect you'), which itself is not common at all. This is likewise shortened this to pfiat' di/eich or, if the person is addressed formally pfia Gott in Altbayern, Austria, and South Tyrol (Italy).
In its standard German form, grüß Gott is mostly stressed on the second word and in many places is used not only in everyday life, but is also common in the official communications of the aforementioned states. Use of the greeting guten Tag ('good day') is less prevalent, but there are those who dislike grüß Gott on account of its religious nature. In Bavaria, guten Tag is considered prim and distant and sometimes leads to misunderstandings; however, if the person addressed is from Northern Germany, it can be seen as a friendly gesture.