Central Texas & German Festivals

[plinsenmayer]

Hi --

I had mentioned the many Central Texas German festivals, including
WurstFest in New Braunfels.  

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., Dinah *** <bludger_witch at y...> wrote:
> 
> *groans* Just what is it with Americans  and
> pseudo-german culture? I mean, embracing foreign
> culture and experiencing new ethnic traits is alright,
> but this completely baffles me. What you are
> celebrating over there is here only interesting to the
> generation of over 55 and up to 100. 
> Dirndls are not sexy, they throw all kinds of really
> disgusting things into the Weißwurst (I swear it's
> probably mainly made up of eyes and nostrils) and
> beer... well, there's a salvaging point. But you do
> have beer overthere, too, don't you? And the Polka is
> evil and Dirndl do nothing for you - especially when
> you have hips like a horse because it'll magnify that
> effect. I'd rather do the cha-cha or a waltz.


Central Texas was heavily settled by German (and Czech and Polish)
immigrants in the mid to late 1800s.  Many of these communities are
*still* highly German in culture.  In fact, in many of the homes,
German is still spoken as the primary language, several generations
later.  My sister's roommate is from New Braunfels and is bi-lingual.
 It's not so much celebration of a "foreign" culture in those
communities; it's a celebration of their ongoing heritage.  They've
retained a strong connection with Germany all these years.  It's also
not something that is limited to the older generation.  When you
attend the German festivals in Central Texas (mainly in the fall),
it's quite obvious that a huge number of the residents, even the
younger ones, speak German and continue to identify strongly with
German culture.

Amanda may be able to comment further.

Penny