Bavaria’s heraldic animal is of course the lion. But storks would fit much better. They show what is going on in society. This is shown, for example, by the Ramspau Storchengate.
The Bavarian heraldic animals are more of the frightening kind. Lions especially, the kings of the beasts of course. We Bayern don’t do it underneath. And Bavaria is indeed at the top of many a table: highest per capita income, lowest unemployment, highest accumulation of overhead projectors in schools that are still in daily use.
In the past, however, heretical voices have also remarked that another animal would suit Bavaria much better: the cow, for example. There are definitely more cows in the Free State than lions. Every fourth German cow is in the Free State. They are also likely to have contributed more to prosperity, which is particularly widespread in Bavaria, than big cats. A golden cow as the Bavarian state animal would be the least. On the other hand, you might have to call a Munich football club “the cattle”. Not exactly glamorous.
But now, with spring approaching, a completely different creature is emerging as a secret star: the stork. In the media and also in real towns, people are hyperventilating because “the white storks are back!” They are possibly even closer to us than cows. This is shown by old stories that are now being rehashed and updated, such as that of the Storchengate in Ramspau.
A few years ago, in the idyllic little town not far from Regensburg, the parish itself removed a stork’s nest from the church roof, because the faithful otherwise always had to cross the flight path of the stork’s droppings when entering the church. The feces then flew somewhere else, for example in Ramspauer Facebook groups, between Team Storch and Team Kotavoidance.
Even now, not everyone is equally happy about the return of the storks. As a “plague” as one describes the animals in a comment column. Whereupon another replies that he would rather exchange his AfD neighbors for four stork nests on the roof. From the way the local stork is treated, one can see perfectly how things are in a village community, yes, in the entire society of the Free State.
By the way, village peace has been restored in Ramspau. Nest and stork are back on the church roof – and churchgoers now use the side entrance.