Queens of the Pastures: Almabtrieb
Each year at the end of September, an unusual parade wends its way down the country lanes, mountain roads and village streets of the Berchtesgaden area. Crowned with brightly-colored headdresses and streaming ribbons, the cows return from their summer pastures on or around St. Michael's day, September 29th. The milkmaids (Sennerin, pl. Sennerinnen) and cowherds take great pains making the beautiful globe-shaped headdresses out of small larch or spruce treetops and adorning them with up to two hundred colored rosettes made out of wooden ribbons and often highlighted with gold glitter.