"An amazing little village" Axams by Beausoleil

Axams Travel Guide: 5 reviews and 20 photos

Church / Village Band at an improvised altar

Sunday, June 5, 2005 was a Major Religious Holiday

We walked to the little village church in Axams for Mass. After we were seated, a very long line of men in uniform (or native costume) carrying guns marched in and lined the aisles. They remained during the entire service. The costumed band marched upstairs to the choir loft and played the music for the service.

After Mass, we noticed everyone hanging about the church so we stayed to see what would happen. The band formed up; the men with guns formed up and village women in costume joined the line. The priest and several others came out under a canopy and followed by a huge statue of the Virgin Mary carried by four burley men. When all were assembled, the guns were fired and everyone started marching behind the canopied priest and the huge statue, all singing hymns as they marched. We decided to join them, singing what we knew and humming the rest.

The procession went down the hill to a town hall type place where an altar had been set up. There was a short service followed by firing of guns, and the procession started further down the hill. We came to another altar, stopped for another short service with more firing of guns, then marched on to the next altar. We marched around the entire village stopping at at least six altars and by the end had collected quite a crowd of onlookers.

It was an amazing experience and one that we didn't plan. It truly was one of the highlights of our trip through Bavaria and Austria.

The wonderful procession through the village

Religious procession in native dress

This is a shot of nearly the entire procession. The costumes were fascinating and every age group was well represented from an infant to very elderly folk.

BTW, they were all singing the hymns in four parts and from memory. We were impressed.

The countryside is spectacular too!