A Very Special Moment

I was home cleaning the other day when suddenly a very special event began on the streets right outside my window.   I heard the sounds of a brass band quintet and saw a crowd start to gather around.  Then these men in costumes starting to do a very unique dance with hoops decorated like reefs.  It took me a moment but then I realized this was the famous Schäffler Tanz (dance) which I have heard about briefly but I did not know much about.   

Brief History
This dance is only performed every 7 years for a short period of time around different parts of Munich.  It originated in the 1515 when the city was burdened with plague and people were inside, off the streets.  A brave person or a group of people decided to spread cheer in the streets with music and dance to help lure people back outside and bring life back into the city.  As a result of their success the Schäfler dance has been recognized and performed every 7 years since 1760- the exact reasons for 7 is not entirely clear (lucky number, plague cycle, other).  
Source- http://www.schaefflertanz.com/ 

Witnessing this spontaneously, from my bay window, and realizing its rarity makes this one of those incredibly special moments.  I was so lucky to see this (especially since poor Julie was away at work).

For anyone who is curious, you can see some neat pictures and read more about it at http://www.schaefflertanz.com/ (you can translate the web-pages if you copy/paste the links into translate.google.com).  Or you could come to Munich in 2019 to see the next performance!

Oh by the way, we are off to Frankfurt later today and we pick up the dogs tomorrow morning!!!