By Molly Berghold

(Editors Note: Only two generations removed from the Heimat and steeped as I am in Burgenland lore, culture and tradition, it is almost impossible for me to look at today’s Burgenland with new eyes. My wife, however, an American descendant of Pennsylvania German immigrants from the mid 1700’s, has no such problem. On our recent trip, she compiled the following list of items which to her are typically Burgenländisch. Taken together they form an American visitor’s word picture.) 

Burgenländische Vignettes 

	„Grüß Gott“ (God be with you) as a greeting
	Shaking hands with everyone - entering and leaving
	„Wiedersehen“ to all when leaving a room, store or gasthaus
	Welcoming visitors with drinks and snacks - sitting in a kitchen nook
	Cold cuts and cheese for breakfast (American luncheon items)
	Wonderful bread and rolls
	Clinking glasses – “Prosit“
	Leaving nothing on plates - wasting no food
	Clanking soup spoons when finishing soup
	Mehlspeisen! - desserts of strudel, knödel, palatschinken, gugelhupf
	Large lengthy meals three times a day Doilies and hand embroidery on tables Plants in lobbies, hallways and stairways Window boxes with ivy geraniums
	Oleanders in courtyards
	Lots of swallows
	Men playing cards in taverns
	Aggressive drivers (like young people in the US)
	Fields of sun flowers
	Vineyards
	Small villages - each with gasthaus, church or chapel
	Nesting storks on chimney platforms, Roosters crowing
	Church bells ringing
	Flower planted cemeteries
	Red tile roofs
	Whitewashed farm buildings
	Castles on distant horizons

Edited by G. Berghold <GBerghold@aol.com>