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5 November 2018
Sex, mountains, love and fashion in Austria
Alpinism time travel from the 1830s to nowadays
I. Sex and mountains: Satirical song from the 1870s
II. Love to mountains: Tyrol's first travel guide with clothing tips from 1837
III. Mountain fashion in Austria: Protection of skin, eyes and around 150 years old sunglasses
I. Sex and mountains at a 19th century memorabilia, a satirical song dedicated to the tour of an alpinist from South Tyrol to the summit of Grossvenediger (transl. Great Venetian, 3666 meters altitude) in East Tyrol/Salzburg
Recently, Fashion.at looked through a private archive located in Bruneck, South Tyrol and found the satirical song with illustrations from the 1870s with the title 'Der böse Venediger und der gute Onkel Ferdinand' (translated: 'The evil Venediger and the good uncle Ferdinand') about mountaineer 'uncle Ferdinand' who hiked from Dietenheim (first image at the satirical song's artwork) and climbed (like a fly - 2nd image) to the Prager Hütte (3rd image) where he had sex with the waitress of the hut, before he continued in the early morning the tour to the summit of Grossvenediger (4th image). The sex affair and the ascent to the summit are described with one word, the German term 'Besteigung' which can be translated as 'ascent; the German word 'Besteigung' has a double meaning in the song - 'having sex' as well as 'ascending a mountain'. Both, having sex and ascending a mountain summit are described as 'things' which were done driven by love and provide the evidence of the alpinist's virility.
fig. below: Route South Tyrol direction Lienz, East Tyrol; photo captured in early November 2018.
Even when the text isn't in all parts politically correct in our times, it has to be read in the time context of the 19th century when similarities like the mentioned weren't considered as offensive; views on the relation women - men under #metoo perspectives are the result of a changed society and hard-won rights of equality. Only to set a time stamp like the introduction of women's right to vote; the equality between the sexes concerning political elections was written into the constitution of the new declared Republic of Austria (article) one hundred years ago in 1918; around 40 to 50 years after the satirical song was written. By the way: In the same year as the women's right to vote was included into the constitution of Austria, South Tyrol was occupied by Italy and became after World War I. in 1919 officially part of Italy.
The author of the satirical song text with illustrations visualizing the story of a mountaineer who started in Dietenheim (town next to Bruneck) and walked to the North-East to the mountain hut 'Prager Hütte' (built 1872 on 2489 meters at Venediger mountain range, Lienz, Matrei in East Tyrol) for climbing to the summit Grossvenediger (first ascent 1841) isn't definitely authentified. The illustrated text doesn't carry any signature or hints who the creator was respectively if there were more authors or illustrators involved; but it's unlikely that the work was created by a group of people. Very possibly that the author lived in the 19th century in Bruneck in South Tyrol and was a friend or even a relative of the mountaineer whose name is know but here in this context of no relevance as this 'Sex and mountains' episode is primarily about the 19th century fashion to dedicate creative work with satirical tone to a specific person. The text of the song contains refrains for a chorus which means that it had to be shared with others and was intended to be co-performed to develop its full potential; an early form of 'social media'.
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