Guarding the Maibaum

So last night after practice our coach came to us Ami's with a proposition. How would we like to make some money? Of course our first reaction and immediate answer was duuuhhh! "So what's the gig?". "How would you like to guard the May Tree?" We had heard about this tradition before but were curious to learn more about it. Basically, for those who do not know, the Maibaum, or May Tree, is a tree that is put up for the celebration of May Day in cities around Germany. It is decorated with ribbons by the townsfolk and is a symbol of pride for the city. It is also somewhat of a tradition to steal other town's May Trees, not unlike stealing a rival's mascot or trophy for a Homecoming Week in the U.S. Check out the wikipedia page on the topic here if you are interested!

The tree we had to guard!

So to do this service for the town of Schwäbisch Hall, the three amigos would have to stay near this tree in the middle of the city from around Midnight, until the sun rose. Sounds like an adventure to me! So we agreed, of course. 80 euro to split for a night to hang out, sleep in a car, anndd fight off any ninjas that come sneaking in the night? haha. Done deal.

Our enemies

We decided to bring as much entertainment as we could so that we didn't get bored. We brought our guitars, the cribbage board and cards, blankets and pillows, some snacks, computer for some music, and a little bit of alcohol to keep us warm! We started our shift by makings some drinks and playing some cribbage, of course yours truly beat Nish by one point on a peg. (Learn about cribbage here). Then we took some time to swap some stories and eventually we were playing some "Welcome to the Hotel Schwäbisch Hall", making up new lyrics for the old classic Eagles song. At one point an older lady who was very intoxicated came and chatted up Justice for a while. She apparently wanted a ride home in our car haha but we couldn't do that! Luckily there wasn't any group of people carrying chain saws looking to chop down our tree! So our mission was a success!