From Upper Bavaria across the Allgäu to Lower Bavaria and Franconia, the tree stands in thousands of places, and almost everywhere it is a little different.
Why Bavaria in particular
In its present form the maypole is found above all in the Bavarian and Alpine regions. The white-and-blue paint takes up the state colours, and the dense landscape of clubs, young men's clubs, folk-costume clubs, fire brigades, carries the custom from generation to generation. The tree is thus also a piece of Bavarian identity.
Regional differences
The basic idea is the same everywhere; the execution is not. In some places the tree is raised anew each year, in others only every few years. Sometimes the trunk is left natural, sometimes it is boldly painted white and blue. The rules of maypole stealing, too, differ in detail from place to place, though the core, a ransom in beer and food, is widespread.
The maypole in the city
That a village custom survives in a city of over a million is no matter of course. In Munich it has held on, at the Viktualienmarkt as a landmark and in many districts. It is precisely this urban variant of the Bavarian custom that Maibaum München documents.