The Coopers' Dance () is a

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

dance of coopers originally started in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Since early 1800s the custom spread via

journeymen A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

and it is now a common tradition over the Old Bavaria region. The dance was supposed to be held every seven years."Gründungsmythos der Schäffler: So wahr wie die offiziellen Abgaswerte der Autoindustrie"
'' Sueddeutsche Zeitung'' ("Cooper's founding myth: As true as the official emissions values of the automotive industry"), February 19, 2017

History

Early documented cases of are dated by 1702 when the Münich magistrate approved the performance of the dance as a well-established tradition. However, for a long time the date 1517 was prevalent in the literature, following the 1830 book Anton Baumgartner
''Der Schäfflertanz in Münchhen''
1830, (public domain) by Anton Baumgartner (1761–1831), who originated the discredited legend that the tradition started after the 1517 plague, to revive the spirits of the people, "to lure them out of their houses", although other authors tried to suggest other dates. But there are no records in chronicles about any plague in Münich at this period of time. Still, the 500th anniversary was celebrated in 2017. There is no clear indication of the origin of the seven-year cycle.

Dance and music

The choreography of the dance was standardized in the 19th century."Schlange, Laube, Kreuz, dann kommt der Kasperl"
("Snake, arbor, cross, then comes the puppet"; the second part of "Coopers' founding myth") After marching in various formations and performing standard figures, the final number is the barrel hoop swinging. The hoop swinger holds two hoops with shots of ''

schnapps Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to ...

'' on the inside. The idea is to swing the hoops in intricate ways without spilling the schnapps (relying on the

centrifugal force Centrifugal force is a fictitious force in Newtonian mechanics (also called an "inertial" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It appears to be directed radially away from the axi ...

). Of other traditions of the dance, only the costume survived: white shirt, white waistcoat, red jacket, leather apron, knee breeches, sash, brogue shoes and, a green cap adorned with

down feather The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and p ...

s The author of the current standard tune (the so-called the ''Second'' or ''New Münich'' , 1866) is Johann Wilhelm Siebenkäs (1826-1888). The ''First'' or ''Old Münich'' (no longer used) was by ."1992 - Tanzmusik um 1850 in Oberbayern"
In: ''Volksmusikarchiv des Bezirks Oberbayern''.

References

{{reflist Dance festivals in Germany Events in Munich German traditions Culture in Munich