If you find yourself hiking/hunting/biking/lost in the forests of Austria, and you encounter another hunter, hiker, biker, lost-er, how do you greet them?! Do you say, ‘Grüß Gott?’ Guten Tag? Hey there?
If they say ‘Waidmanns Heil’ to you what do you say back? What does Waidmanns Heil even mean?! That Heil snuck in there sounds awfully suspicious…
The Waidmanns Heil/ Waidmanns Dank tradition goes back hundreds of years in Germany and Austria and the first time I ever heard it was in the 1950’s Sissi movies, chronicling the life of our most famous empress, Empress Elisabeth (if you love kitsch and warm fuzziness you will LOVE these movies).
On the left, Emperor Franz Joseph in his hunting gear (the Habsburgs were NUTS about hunting) and on the right Sissi, who is incognito and pretending to be a regular ol' girl (first Sissi movie, 1955)
It was basically a way to greet and interact with other hunters (known as Waidmann) or non-hunters they would encounter in the forest.
Here’s the gist:
Non-Hunter in woods greets Hunter with a hearty “Waidmannsheil!”
Heil= success
Hunter returns greeting with a “Guten Tag!” or “Hello!”
Hunter greets or says goodbye to another Hunter with a hearty “Waidmannsheil!”
Another Hunter greets or says goodbye with an equally hearty “Waidmannsheil!”
Non-Hunter wishes the “Erleger” (a hunter who was successful in his hunt) “Waidmannsheil!” and Successful Hunter replies, “Thank you!” or “Danke!”
Hunter wishes the Successful Hunter a “Waidmannsheil!” and Successful Hunter replies, “Waidmannsdank!”
Got it?
Good. There will be a pop quiz administered shortly.
