ZE HISTORY OF ZE FLUGTAG
Since the dawn of time, our eldest Grand-Papa had to fetch the drinking water for his entire German village. After each rainfall, he would strap on his leather mountain shoes, grab his fanny sack and begin the necessary journey. Along the way he would say “Guten tag Alonzo!” to his favorite mountain goat which brought him good luck. Living solely on a diet of radishes and his wife’s pound
cake, he would feel faint at times. But he knew he had to power through and reach the water source.
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The fresh rain water flowed in between the highest cliffs in all the land. Now, this wasn’t just any cliff. This was 22 feet high and hosted jagged rocks at the bottom that would certainly leave a weak jumper in a… messy situation.
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Grand-Papa knew the village could not survive without the water. So, rainfall after rainfall, he would complete the 3-day journey to this exact spot and begin his pre-jump ritual. After a mild hamstring stretch and a kiss of his lucky coin, he would take the leap.
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Upon landing safely into the water, Grand-Papa would splash like a baby rhinoceros before resuming to his villagely duties. No one is certain exactly how Grand-Papa managed to gather all of the village water, climb back up the cliffs, and return it all to the village people. But he did. Every time.
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To honor Grand-Papa’s leap-of-faith, every year the 40 households of the German village get together to celebrate by building crafts and jumping off platforms. The tradition continues to this day.
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For more information on the origins of flugtag, see Red Bull's interpretation of the ancestral beginnings at http://www.redbullflugtag.com/usa-pittsburgh/en/
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FYI: "Flugtag" backwards is Gat Gulf (zis eez ze passvord to Grand-Papa's Zamzung Galaxy)
