A family from Trostberg left their traditional costume club because their sons had long hair - and were spoken to badly for it. Experts don't see the strict regulations as being that strict.
Trostberg - Evi Heigermoser and her husband Markus grew up in Trostberg and were members of the traditional costume club as children. They got married in traditional costume, “not in a dirndl,” says the 39-year-old, but in the black skirt costume. She was secretary, her husband was a board member and youth leader. “We lived it.” But the family left the traditional costume club. Father, mother, all four children, grandma. The reason: the hair of the sons Simon (5) and Anton (15).
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“We lived it”: Couple from Bavaria leaves the traditional costume club
The two boys have blonde, longer hair. The older one, called Done, is a talented plattler; he often came first in competitions - although he still had short hair back then. Since he wore it neck-length, his mom says, he got points deducted for it - and only came in fifth place in October 2023. “And this despite the fact that we braided his hair and pinned it under his hat so that it didn’t hang over his ears,” says Evi Heigermoser. This is what the statutes stipulate and they have always adhered to it. But that apparently wasn't enough.
For her family, it was never about the ranking, but about the injustice. And about the strange sayings. “Someone kept saying to him, how come you are so sloppy, that doesn’t work, it looks like shit,” says the trained nurse. The 15-year-old reacted in a teenage way: After finishing fifth in October, he walked past the judges who were eating snacks, took off his hat and gave his hair a hearty shake. But the little brother, called Simmerl, also had to put up with comments. “He didn’t understand what he was supposed to have done wrong,” says Evi Heigermoser. She teaches her children that appearances don't count. And then came the scandal at the annual general meeting in January.
Uproar at the annual general meeting: family leaves the traditional costume club
When it came to the agenda item “Wishes and Requests,” an honorary member stood up and asked Heigermosers to cut the boys’ hair. “I heard words of approval from all corners,” remembers Evi Heigermoser. In response to her objection that the club's statutes did not say anywhere that long hair was forbidden, the answer she received was that it did not say anywhere that it was allowed. “I replied that my children could choose,” says the 39-year-old. The answer was a question: whether you were “already with the diverse group”. Evi Heigermoser stormed out of the hall angrily and slammed the door. The next day she quit.
The contempt for everything that is a little different – that is what bothers the Trostberger woman so much. When a priest once railed against gays and lesbians in front of thousands of people at a local festival, “I felt really sick,” she says. Or that she was forbidden from taking part in the parade when she was pregnant because she didn't fit into the required skirt: “That didn't give me peace of mind.” The hair thing was just too much now. The big guy, who used to always step in at performances when there weren't enough people, now plays more ice hockey. The little boy was sad when he had to give back his leather pants. But he definitely doesn't want to cut his hair.
Conflicts in traditional costume clubs
The Trostberg traditional costume association could not be reached for comment; a BR report declined to comment. It quotes the responsible district chairman Michael Hauser, who also could not be reached for our newspaper: The long-haired boys are of course allowed to continue taking part, but they would have to accept the deduction of points in the Preistlattln.
There are always arguments in traditional costume clubs because of appearances. At the end of 2022, three Plattler children wanted to perform at the Gaujugendsingen in Farchant (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district). They practiced for weeks. Then a rejection: Because her singing teacher has short hair, she is not allowed on stage; that does not correspond to the statutes of the Oberland Costume Association. She could have put on a wig, but because she didn't want to, the group was banned from performing.
Erich Tahedl, deputy chairman of the Bavarian Costume Association with 165,000 members, had also heard of this story. “That went too far for me personally,” says Tahedl from Regensburg. But he also says that each regional association sets its own rules and the association cannot interfere. Some of the rules were set many decades ago, but they were determined democratically. He considers himself liberal and says: “'It's always been that way' is not a saying for a traditional wearer. He didn’t understand the system of traditional costume.”
Alexander Karl Wandinger, traditional costume expert for the Upper Bavaria district, sees it similarly. “It is important to continually renegotiate the meaning of traditional costume,” he says. “A boy or man with long hair is something completely normal today.” Until around 1850, men with long hair and short leather trousers were not an unusual phenomenon. It is understandable that a traditional costume club sets up rules. But they should not be burdened with restrictive moral concepts. “There is no real, correct costume,” says Wandinger.
The Heigermoser family has been looking for a new traditional costume club so that the boys can dance again. But it's not easy. “You only change traditional costume clubs when you get married and your partner is in another one,” says Evi Heigermoser. When a friend asked at her club, she got a laugh in response. “As if she had told a joke,” says Evi Heigermoser, a little bitterly. Maybe they will soon go to Munich to the “Schwuhplattler”, which also has homosexual members. “Everyone is welcome there.”
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