Figure 1.--Here we see two German boys, cerainly brothers, about to do some work in their country property. Notice that they wear their Lederhosen without a halter. They were oribably purchased without one. The photograph is undated, but would have been taken about 1970. We thought the car might be a Trabbie (a sparrk plug with a roof) meaning that this was a DDR image, but a German reader tells us that it is not and that the HH license plate means Hamburg. Click on the image to see a family outing before World War II.
A HBC reader believes that tradition is a an important factor as whether boys wear halter with their Lederhosen. He indicates that the more traditonal trachten/lederhosen are worn with halters in Bavaria and Austria where lederhosen originated and was most popular. Much of our German archive does not specify where the photograophs were taken, but it is likely that a substabtial portion of the boys see wearing Lederhosen were from Bavatia or the neighboring states of southern Germsny. We suspect that tradition may have been an important factor before World War II or even the NAZI era (because of the imprtance of the Hitler Youth). After the War, age seems to be very much a factor and tradition much less of a factor. This can be very easily seen in the photographic record. Not only do most teenager stop wearing the halter, but we see older grade school boys not weating the halter as well. This seems to change again in the late-20th century. By this time Grerman boys are no longer commonly wearing short pants as they used to do, except perhaps during hot summer days. And Lederhosen is more of a tracht garment worn for special occassions and festiuvals, most commonly in Bavaria where the tradition was stongest to begin with.
