Auskehren

Trial of strenght

Auskehren (“sweeping out”) can be seen as small a Fasnacht. In absence of Roller and Scheller, the Hexenmuatter (mother of witches) bears all the responsibility, her witches practice the so called Zurfen. Boldly, a witch points her broomstick at one of the spectators, asking them to measure their strength, while the witch herself is holding the broom by its crooked handle (which is additionally equipped with a leather noose). The two opponents lean back and start pulling, trying to decide who’s stronger.

No more locked up witches

Normally it’s the witch, who, in case of defeat, used to be locked in a stable for the night in the old days – a matter of much ridicule, as can be imagined. Nowadays, this no longer happens, either because of the superior strength of today’s witches or because there are no more stables in the town center. Who knows?

Zinter & Purjatzl

Also Sackner and Altfrankspritzer take part in Zurfen. However, they leave their Spritzen (spray guns) at home and bring small sticks instead, which they also use to measure their strength in Zurfen. The Altfranken are carrying lanterns with them to illuminate the Zurfen of the witches, because of this they are called Zinter on this day (zünden = lighting up). The procession of Auskehren is lead by the Purjatzl, who wears the costume of a Turesåckner. They are equipped with wooden rattles, which can be heard from quite a distance. Also the bears take part in Auskehren and appear even more frightful at night than during the day and still more so because of the hollow shouts of their drivers.

Labara at Auskehren

Imagine about two dozen of men, with a joined passion for singing, who take lots of time practicing, and an overwhelming delight in mockery. Some of them are playing instruments - guitar, accordion, bass, saxophone etc.. What your are visualizing is one of Imst’s typical Labaras: during Auskehren, they wander through town on Fåsnåchtserchtig (Shrove Tuesday), moving from one inn to the other, reciting poems, mocking all kinds of events and slip ups that have occurred to locals during the past year.

Pure mockery

There are four Labara groups in Imst: the Zylinderlabara (cylinders), the Göglselabara, the Junglabara, and the Labara Vier. At Schemenlaufen, however, there is only one of them wandering about town. The center of each Labara is the Deklamator (declaimer), a man who is very dramatically and graphically telling his story in rhyme. To assist him he has a big poster with a cartoon visualizing the story he is telling. The Labaras are sure to be met with loads of applause, as their stories are always entertaining, and often the victims of their mockery are present in the audience.

Soaking trousers, speeding tickets and the like

Some examples for such a performance: a businessman receives four tickets for speeding within only 60km; the executive of one of the town’s businesses clumsily wets his trousers on the toilet, and when he hangs them out of the window to dry, they slip and – embarrassingly – fall right into a river; two men, transporting logs of wood in their car, have to stop several times to prevent their car from catching fire – reason – they forgot to release the car brake. Mistakes, mix ups, greed and avarice, excessive drinking and almost every other sort of human vice are the stuff that Labaras are made of.