German Fest & Irish Fest Recaps

[ferrumaeternum]

There isn’t really a lot to say about German Fest that I didn’t mention last year. All the performers there played polka and at least I could understand the performer from Austria, since it seems all the German speakers I’ve been meeting use different dialects than I’m used to. Everything was still very stereotypically Bavarian. I ended up buying a set of six shot glasses with various Bavarian/Oktoberfest-related sayings and pictures on them for only $15. There were also $3 desserts, which I generously indulged in. I didn’t remember the Dachshund Park, though, which was really cute. There were a couple of longhaired ones there and now I want one really bad. I also noticed a lot of Edelweiss-related things, including the flower itself you could purchase. Although they were a ton of vendors there and I mainly went for the shopping (and because admission was free), it’s still disappointing that there are more people in Milwaukee of German descent than anything else and yet other festivals outshine it every year. I didn’t take any pictures, since there weren’t a ton of people and those who were there were all locals. Irish Fest on the other hand had a crowd that made it seem like I was at Summerfest, and on a Sunday evening, too! I don’t know if it was because Gaelic Storm was filming for their DVD that night or what, but there were thousands of people there. However, there were much more drunk people at German Fest, but that’s probably because once you bought a boot, you could refill it all night for free.

Although more expensive than any other lakefront festival in Milwaukee (including Summerfest), Irish Fest is always a great time. Once again, it was another hot day and I didn’t go until later in the afternoon. I got there just in time for the parade and only saw two of the dozens of bands playing - the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, who were actually from Scotland, and Gaelic Storm - but both put on amazing shows. There’s nothing like hearing the guitar intro to “Thunderstruck” being played by three pipers! I was really impressed with RHCP’s choreographed dancing and ability to work the crowd. Those guys were as hilarious as they were talented. If I see them again, I’ll stick around for their entire set. I really would’ve liked to, but I wanted to get a decent spot for Gaelic Storm. They even had a piping competition and their frontman said the only reason he didn’t win was because Kevin MacDonald (pictured below) invited all his Irish relatives to cheer for him. It’s funny because it’s true! Other than my mom and I, I’m sure there were plenty others from Clan Donald representin’. ;) I also had to laugh that among the numerous rows of vendors, you could actually purchase dirt and peat moss from Ireland! Absolutely ridiculous.

Anyway, here are some of the better shots from the day. Not very dial-up friendly, I’m afraid.




The Triple Goddess Brighid and St. Patrick


The Shamrock Club of Milwaukee


Shamrock Club Pipers


County flags of Ireland


Anybody know who they’re supposed to be? By their dress I can tell they’re supposed to be medieval royalty, but I’m not sure whom.


Irish Setters


Irish Terriers


Irish Wolfhounds


Éomer, look out! :O


A skirmish breaks out on the meads of the Riddermark!

Seriously, what kind of warrior is he supposed to be? From the mail coat he’s wearing, I want to say Germanic, but I don’t think they wore helmets with horsetails. I know Greek warriors did, but I don’t think he is one based on the rest of his outfit. The cult of Freyr may have, since horses (particularly white ones) were sacred to them, but I think that’s too obscure. The guy on the left vaguely looks like a Celtic warrior, but I have no idea what the guy in the blue shirt is supposed to be or if they’re all supposed to be Celtic warriors or just warriors in general. If you ask me, he could pass for a Dunlending. XD Regardless, the one with the horsetail looks more like one of the Rohirrim (which I know are based off the Germanic peoples) than anything I’ve seen. But then again, I’m more familiar with Iron Age European history and prior.


Celtic Nations pipers


I have no idea what this is supposed to be either. Her clothing seems to be from pre-Christian times, but I’m not positive. The necklace reminds me more of what Scandinavian women wore, so I have no idea who she is supposed to be or from which period.


Creepy Irish Fest mascots


Don’t know what this is referencing either, although I have a feeling it’s Finnegan’s Wake.


Greater Milwaukee Fire & Police pipes and drums. If my father and uncle had enough coordination to play a musical instrument, I’m sure they’d be in this.


Strangest-looking civil war group I’ve seen. The kid with the skateboarding shoes was dragging his ass and he wasn’t even halfway through the parade, and check out the sunglasses on the one carrying the flag.


Part of the crowd ahead. Skyglider FTW!


Celtic Nations flags










The mascots showed up to dance.


The lone metalhead who kept on throwing up the horns at the guitarist/bassist.






Eight of the Highland dancers came out to dance on either side of the stage. Unfortunately, they were not as well synchronized as the various local Irish dance groups.


This crazy old guy sitting next to me during the end of Dargle’s performance had this staff he was waving about. He actually got up right before Gaelic Storm and hopped across the rows of benches to the spot I was going to take. :/ Never underestimate old men with staffs.


Patrick at the onstage bar, looking a lot like my grandfather before church. I know they dressed up for the DVD, but come on!








Trinity Irish dancers who were excellent as always.








Derp derp


:D


Hurr durr


Drunken middle-aged woman dancing with the mascots


:o & :|


Yep, he was the only one doing the wave.

It was also pretty hilarious listening to Patrick try to pronounce ‘Oconomowoc’ when a fan handed him a letter saying their friend couldn’t be there because they were ill (which he thought at first read ‘111’).

Comments

[getgetoverit.livejournal.com]

AWESOME!!! that looks like so much fun.
btw - equilibrium :D

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

Gotta love Equilibrium! They have such an epic sound.

[seafoamgreen.livejournal.com]

Great Gravy, those mascots D: , scary business right there.

It also bugs me a bit when people don't dress according to the fest. I know at the renaissance fair there would be people all out of whack with their costumes. I can't say I'm any better (because I normally don't dress up), but... I don't know. Weird.

And lol at the Oconomowoc. WI has such cool names :D.

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

For some reason, all mascots/characters in parades give me the creeps. I don't know if you've seen any in the Falls, but the Cookie Monster and Pink Panther are even more disturbing than these guys.

I know what you mean, but pretty much no one dresses up for the cultural festivals. For German Fest there's always a few people wearing dirndls or lederhosen, but that's pretty much it. At least the Renaissance Faire deals with a specific time period, but I'm sure you're right that a lot of people get it wrong and end up looking silly. I think that if you're going to be in a parade that you should at least get the clothing close, though. I bet half those warrior costumes were from Halloween ones.

Yeah, he was like, "Oconomocomocawoc?" XD

[rurouniyuudai85.livejournal.com]

equilibrium ftw! :D i sometimes get blut im auge stuck in my head for literally days at a time. i think that one and snuffel are my favorites.

meanwhile this looks so awesome! i don't think this area really has any cool cultural fests like this...wish we did though!

and also lmao at that name... i probably would have said something similar and/or totally butchered it XD

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

Other than Summerfest and the cultural festivals, there really isn't much to do here. Bands rarely play here since they'll get bigger crowds in Chicago and Minneapolis. Most people spend their time getting wasted, ice fishing, hunting, and watching the Packer game, usually all at the same time. XD

Yeah, most towns in Wisconsin have really long Algonquin names, but at least they're pronounced exactly how they're spelled. This one is O-con-o-mo-woc.

[emperorkefka.livejournal.com]

> at least I could understand the performer from Austria, since it seems all the German speakers I’ve been meeting use different dialects than I’m used to.

ha! This reminds me of the last time I was in Vienna. I was killing time at an anti-fur booth and some strange old guy said something to me with an accent that sounded very Bavarian. I couldn't understand a word he said and I mentioned this to him, as well as that my German isn't very good. He then lectured me about something and the only thing I caught was "das ist seine eigene Schuld". haha. The girl at the booth also looked quite baffled, though I didn't ask about what he was saying.

I find the easiest accents for me to understand are the Viennese and northern German ones. The hardest are the Sächsisch and Bavarian/rural Austrian ones. I have mixed results with the Berlin accent.

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

Haha! Sounds like he may have been a bit out of it as well. I can hardly understand Bavarians at all. I totally agree with you about all of this. Unfortunately, the Germans I see every now and then are each from Bavaria and a small town near Heidelberg. Although they can understand me, I never know what they're talking about, and I've taken German for seven years. It's got to be bad when I can understand a German-speaking Finn better than I can understand most Germans! All the people I've met from Berlin tend to talk faster than the other German-speakers I know.

I also just noticed you're wearing an Einstürzende Neubauten shirt! Very cool. :D

[emperorkefka.livejournal.com]

Haha! While staying in Berlin I watched a lot of TV, since it was actually educational then. I learned two things: 1) it takes me about an hour to understand a new accent or voice style (German Homer Simpson for example). 2) Hollywood movies are better when they are dubbed in German. The dialogue is simplistic enough that you can generally follow it, but you don't understand absolutely everything so it somehow comes across as better.

Now when I was in Copenhagen, I couldn't understand a thing that the Danes said. At all. The only Danish I could understand was spoken by immigrants in the falafel and internet shops. Though while in Oslo I was able to understand a significant amount of Norwegian. The Danes have such a crazy accent and Copenhageners speak so quickly.

Yeah! The wreath on my shirt is the DDR wreath. They played a concert in the remains of the half-deconstructed Palast der Republik (the DDR parliament), which is now completely gone, sadly. I love it, though I might feel weird walking around in Germany while wearing it.

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

Hollywood movies are better when they are dubbed in German.

I completely agree! I've seen a few when I was taking German classes and not being able to hear the actor's voice you're used to helps focus on the character more.

That's really odd that Danish was more difficult to understand than Norwegian, since Norwegian is closer to Old Norse than German. From what Danish I've heard/read, I've noticed a lot of similarities between it and German when it comes to verbs. Then again, I'm basing it off a few Danish songs, so I could be wrong. I'll definitely keep all of this in mind if I ever get the opportunity to visit Scandinavia. It's my goal to one day learn all the Germanic languages.

[emperorkefka.livejournal.com]

Well there are really two norwegian languages - bokmål ("book language") and nynorsk ("new norwegian"). Bokmål is what is spoken in Oslo and in the southern areas. Nynorsk is more rural and is more common on the north and west coasts. When most people say they speak norwegian, they probably mean bokmål.

Bokmål is incredibly close to Danish, such that they are basically mutually intelligible, if one can understand the accents. It's also really close to Swedish. Often I cannot tell the difference between written danish and bokmål. When I was in Copenhagen, I would speak bokmål at people and they would understand me clearly, I just could never understand their responses.

Nynorsk is closer to old norse and icelandic, though it is still quite similar to bokmål. If you've ever listened to Gåte, they sing in nynorsk. If you know Lumsk, they sing in bokmål. If you've heard Kaizers Orchestra, they sing in a local dialect of bokmål. I can't think of any more bands that sing in a norwegian language.

[emperorkefka.livejournal.com]

Oooh, have a look at the examples under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language

[emperorkefka.livejournal.com]

Oops. Lumsk sing in nynorsk :D

[covermewithskin.livejournal.com]

happy birthday, megan!

[ferrumaeternum.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D