Folk Culture in Salzburg

Walking in the streets of Salzburg, it is clear that Austrian people remember their traditions and national celebrations. There is a very big chance that you will see people wearing traditional clothing, for example. They are other fully dressed or at least have a small detail like a hat. For Austrian people, their culture is very important and plays a major role in their lives. They value the old traditions that originated hundreds of years ago and still celebrate them today. However, researching deeper the tradition of wearing special clothes showed that it is not "easy" to keep up with the culture. Walking into the stores and looking at the tags on different pieces of traditional clothing left me in a little astonishment because of the prices. The price of the most simple dresses started at around 200 Euros. To get the full outfit, you will need to buy a dress, shoes and special accessories for women and shorts, shirt, shoes, socks, hat and other accessories for men. There are also difference types of outfits that include Dirndl(consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron) and Lederhosen(are breeches made of leather; they may be either short or knee-length). Considering the fact that the average salary in Salzburg is around 3000 Euros, it would be pretty expensive for most families. If they buy an outfit for one person with a good quality, they would spent almost a third of their whole salary. Most of the clothes are handmade out of real wool and one piece of clothing would be at least 70 Euros. Nevertheless, people still manage to buy these expensive things and wear them on the streets enjoying the feeling of being a part of the culture.

Most of the stores that I have visited had very expensive clothes. The price is very high, but the quality is good considering the fact that the majority of the clothes are handmade in this country. However, you can find very similar clothing in touristic stores. In those, the prices start at 30 Euros. But the quality "compensates" for that. Those clothes are also made in other countries like China. In many touristic stores, most of the outfits are made for kids. It is actually a good idea because children would grow out of them very quickly and would be able to keep it clean.

During my little expedition in the streets of Salzburg, I saw numerous people wearing traditional costumes. Most of the were between 40 to 70 years old, the older part of the population. There were two older couples that I met. Both men and women were dressed fully in traditional clothes. Seeing the things they were wearing and knowing the prices of those, I would infer that they are middle-high class. Both couples were most likely Austrian and one of the reasons to think so was that they spoke German. These four people were clearly showing their sense of nationalism and being proud of their country and culture. The fifth person that I got a chance to look at was a woman, about 40-50 years old. She is also most likely Austrian(spoke German). However, the clothes that she was wearing didn't look like they were made with good quality. I would infer that she is from a lower middle class.  It was very unlikely to see someone younger, in their teens, walking around the city in traditional clothes. There are reasons for that. There is a good chance that they still might not understand everything or standing out of the ''teen population'' that has its own trends.