Dreams Do Come True

Tracht -- traditional costumes (think Dirndls, Lederhosen, and the funny hats you wear while yodeling) --- is a huge point of social division in Austria. As my work colleague Marlene explained to me, "You either wear a Dirndl all the time, or you've never worn one."

And there are indeed people who wear Tracht just because they feel like it. My favorite example of this was at Donauinselfest, where I saw a teenager wearing a Slipknot t-shirt and a Lederhose. I just cannot fathom what went through his mind as he ruffled through his closet that morning: "Ok, so I'm going to a concert. I'll wear my heavy metal T-shirt, of course, but what should I wear on the bottom? Oh, right, my Lederhose! Great idea!" But such thoughts occur in the minds of Austrians more commonly than one would think, and I find that simply hilarious.

When I realized that Tracht has not disappeared from everyday life in Austria, it became my secret dream to see someone I knew in the traditional costume. My hopes were not very high: Sometimes a friend of mine from the dorm would come back from a weekend in their village with tagged photos of them on Facebook at some Dorffest in a Dirndl or Lederhose. But someone I knew, in Tracht, in the flesh? As my work colleague Andreas told me, "Wrong Bundesland." Tracht is conservative, traditional, rural -- everything Austrians are trying to avoid when they come to study in the Big City.

But at the Department of Psychology's summer festival two weeks ago, when I was asked by a work colleague what I still wanted to do in Austria, I decided to answer honestly. "I want to see someone I know in Tracht," I said. "That's been my dream for almost a year now."

"Wait," said my supervisor Evelyn, who was also sitting at the table, "We can definitely do that!" And so it was that a week later, I was sitting in her apartment with seven or eight of my work colleagues, each of us in some form of Tracht.

Marie-Therese demonstrates how, exactly, one correctly wears a Dirndl

"Who wants a Schapserl?" asked Evelyn in the Oberösterreichisch Dialekt she takes pains not to use at the Uni, especially not around me.

The party was everything I could have hoped for, and more. After grilling on Evelyn's balcony, we had a fashion walk in which everyone showed off their Tracht. Since the party was really in my honor, I had a cushion at the end of the balcony as one by one, my work colleagues model-walked towards me in their Tracht to the pumping sound of a Schlager record.

Evelyn, Gregor, Anne (who is from Norddeutschland and wearing sailor clothes from the Ostsee), and Maria 

I learned quite a bit about Tracht that evening. Tying your apron on the left means that you are available, while tying it on the right means that you are married. Each village has its own style of Dirndl in terms of color, pattern, and cut, which makes the Dirndl an even deeper representation of Heimat than I had previously thought.

"But the main thing," said Gregor (another work colleague at the party), "is that Tracht has a history and a story behind it. It means something." And if that's the core principle of Tracht, my party outfit (the Harvard sweatpants I wear for all-night paper-writing sessions and the Kirkland Housing Day T-shirt from this year) certainly fit the bill:

American / Harvard Tracht

I felt a little silly riding the bus in what for all intents and purposes is my sleepwear here. But I didn't catch nearly as many strange looks as my friends wearing Dirndls and Trachtenjacken did. I was really touched that they were willing to go to such lengths (most of them don't even own Tracht, so they borrowed their pieces off of friends, neighbors, and relatives) to fulfill a wish of mine. Austrian Gastfreundlichkeit is real.

And now I have a new dream: wearing a Dirndl myself. But I'm not just going to go into some store and try one on. Just as a good Lederhose is inherited, not bought (another cool Tracht factoid I learned at the party), my first Dirndl is going to be lent to me by someone I know. And when it happens, it will be another sign that I'm becoming more and more connected to life here.