Tradition and conviviality: Mühlen celebrates its historic market rights

Tradition and conviviality: Mühlen celebrates its historic market rights

In the small community of Mühlen, which has around 900 inhabitants, an important festival was celebrated last Saturday. The reason for this was the memory of a historical event from 1445, when the landlord Otto von Silberberg received market rights for mills from King Friedrich. This tradition of celebrating on the Saturday after Michaelmas has been postponed by a week this year. The festivities were organized by the village community, which involved a large number of local clubs, under the leadership of chairman Stefan Panzer.

The celebrations began early in the morning. Bernd Tscharnig, the festival's drummer, was out at 4 a.m. to use his drumming to draw the locals' attention to the upcoming market festival. “I twirled all over the community,” he said with a smile. The highlight of the festival was a parade that moved through Mühlen at 1 p.m., led by the music band and the men's choir “Zirbitzkogel”. There were some notable traditions at the parade.

Traditions and customs

The returnee's wife, portrayed this year by Lukas Pahr, played a special role. His job was to keep the street clean while the Freyung was being carried out. Another highlight was the “tasting”, during which a bouquet of herbal flowers was presented to the visitors. This custom was said to bring good luck, and participants were rewarded with a small reward for accepting it. The bouquets, prepared with great care by women and even children the day before, brought not only fragrance but also joy. The proceeds from these activities go to charitable causes, this year to preserve Freyung's historical robes.

The Freyung was carried through the town by Lukas Huber, supported by Bernhard Maier, who acted as a staff bearer and was carried on the shoulders of Phillip Steinwidder and Stefan Panzer. The mayor Christian Steibl had the special honor of reading out the market survey document from 1445, which was handed over to him by Matthias Legat. A memorial plaque in honor of the late mayor Herbert Grießer was also unveiled and underlined the significant occasion of the festival.

The strong bond between the people of Mühlen was also reflected in the contributions of the kindergarten children, who enriched the festival with their performances. The music band and men's choir enjoyed the enthusiasm of the audience and were rewarded with warm applause. This made it clear once again that Mühlen is not just a place, but a community that lives its traditions with pride.

This festival is not only a celebration of the past, but also a way to bring the community together and keep traditions alive. For more information about the events in Mühlen and its deep-rooted traditions, see the current reporting on www.meinkreis.at.