The venerable custom of bathing is still practiced in the Chiemgau today. This prayer ringing gives a rhythm to the daily routine, because the church bell tells the time with a few strokes every quarter of an hour, it rings in the morning and at midday, and the evening Angelus ringing depends on the sunset: “‘s Gebädleidn is bessa ois a Wecka”, say Students from Rimsting from experience. But they also experienced that old customs are no longer accepted by everyone. “There were already a few cases where it went to court because some of the buildings weren’t used to,” they say in a recording that can be heard on the new Chiemgauer Mundartweg. In particular, people who have recently arrived quickly feel compelled to take this acoustic “nuisance” to court.
In the Chiemgau, too, the world is changing, established habits are beginning to falter. Even the local dialect is becoming more and more obsolete in the wake of influx, tourism and the zeitgeist. The dialect path, which has just been presented, is an innovative project to sensitize people to this cultural asset. It is remarkable that the project is supported by many young people, more precisely by the pupils of the Franziska-Hager-Realschule in Prien.
The school created the dialect trail in collaboration with seven municipalities. The idea for this came from the Prien teacher Franz Wagner and from Herbert Reiter, the head of the tourist information in Aschau. The company quickly developed beyond the school into a major project in which each community received its own dialect path, each with its own topic. While in Aschau, for example, terms related to enjoyment can be found ranging from Mongdratzerl to Semmeknödl, in Eggstätt the festivals of the year are discussed (Antlass, Kirta). In Rimsting, on the other hand, it’s about Bavarian customs (Weisertwecken, Scheitlknian), in Prien it’s about agriculture (grupfte Hehn, Millibitschn), and in Bernau everything revolves around music (Ziach, Klampfn). In Breitbrunn, on the other hand, the dialect trail is dedicated to what is happening at the creek (Heihupfa, Brozn), while in Gstadt flora and fauna dominate (Impen, Bleame).
On the seven themed trails, dialectal terms and expressions are impressively illustrated on 61 display boards. The Breitbrunn graphic artist Sebastian Huber illustrated the texts on the display boards with humorous drawings. The pupils of the Franziska Hager middle school explain the terms in dialect as well as in standard language with the help of audio files, which can be called up via a QR code on the cell phone.
When Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) opened the Chiemgauer Mundartweg a few days ago, he was not stingy with his praise for the Prien school. He spoke of a flagship project for dialect maintenance and language education in schools. Further information, including illustrations and audio files, is available on the Internet at Mundartweg.bayern available.