Auskehren

Trial of strength

In a way, Auskehren („Sweeping out”) can be seen as a small Fasnacht. Without the protagonists, Roller and Scheller, the mother of the witches takes up all the responsibility as her witches engage in a practice called “zurfen”, which involves challenging the curious spectators’ strength by teasing them with their brooms. The chosen one now takes hold of said broom with all their strength while the witch holds the broom at its handly (which is equipped with a leather loop!), the two contenders each pull at their ends. 

No longer locked up

The goal is to resolve who is the stronger of the two – usually the witch. In olden times, a witch losing this trial meant she had to spend the night in the barn – an embarrassing matter, involving a lot of mockery, obviously. This is no longer the case today; whether it be for the witches’ strength or the fact that there aren’t any barns left in the town center.

Zinter & Purjatzl

Not only witches, but also the Sackner and Altfrankspritzer, who have replaced their spray gun with a small stick, take part in this activity. Since the Altfrank carry a lantern with them as well in order to illuminate the battles, they are also called “Zinter” (deriving from the term “zünden”, meaning to light up). In the front of the procession, the “Purjatzl”, wearing a Turesackner costume, can be spotted. They’re equipped with a wooden rattle; its grating noise can be heard from all over town. Another big part of the night are the bears, appearing even more intimidating than during the day – the dull shouting of their masters reinforcing this impression even further.

“Ausantere” – Mocking 

Imagine around two dozen men, connected through a mutual passion and joy in singing, taking time out of their day to practice and add their relentless delight in mockery to the mix. Some of them play instruments such as the guitar, the base, saxophone or accordion. What now appears in front of you is a typical Labara from Imst: on the “Fasnachtserchtig”, the day of the Auskehren, they travel from pub to pub and present their audience an embarrassing or funny mishap which happened to a citizen of Imst.

The declarator

The four Labara groups that take part in the Auskehren are currently the “Zylinder-” (Top hats), “Gögsle-“ (a traditional headdress) and “Junglabara” (young Labara), as well as the “Labara 4”. In the center of each group is their declarator, the man who dramatically narrates the story within a rhyme scheme. He is supported by a large poster illustrating the story with caricatures and other silly drawings. After the monologue, the entirety of the story is retold by the whole group in form of a short song. Applause is ensured for the groups, especially since their victim is usually made to stand on stage with them as the Labara mocks them mercilessly.

About wet pants, speeding tickets and co

A few examples for such presentations: a businessman manages to receive a total of four speeding tickets within a 60km span! The CEO of a county institution has a mishap on the restroom and leaves his trousers out to dry on a windowsill where they fall down into a nearby river – embarrassing! Two men transport wood home from the forest but have to stop their car from burning down multiple times. The reason: they forgot to release the handbrake. From misunderstandings, confusions, greed, excessive drinking and (almost) every other human weakness are the fuel which powers the Labara