Last week, I visited Munich and stepped into the Bavarian Region.
While experiencing beer, made in accordance with beer purity law, at the most famous beer garden in Munich, I met another cultural element that I really liked.
“Stammtisch”
Translated literally, this word means Regulars’ Table, but it was much more than a table.
Stammtisch means two things. A group of several people who meet regularly to eat, drink and talk in a tavern, bar, etc., and also usually the marked table around which this group gathers.
As I passed by the area reserved for them in the authentic atmosphere of the Hofbräuhaus, which has been serving for 500 years, I saw people of all ages sitting at these tables with the original Bavarian or modern clothes.
I had the urge to pause for a moment and choose one to join. However, I proceeded to our table with my group.
When our guide explained that some “Stammtisch”s met regularly for 30–50 years, this atmosphere seemed more magical to me.
I remembered some related patterns that I heard before
A few years ago, I read an interview with one of my favorite journalists. The elderly journalist was telling that every month for 30 years, she and a close friend met at the same table in the same restaurant and had lunch together. I remember that she specifically mentioned how good it was for her health.
This experience of hers was quite utopian but also appealing to me.
I also remembered that I had read articles about regular meetings at the table (which is famous now) in the tavern in İstanbul, that I wished I could join.
A group of poets and writers, who were not so well known at the time, had met at the same table in the same tavern once a year on March 26, from 1981 to 1985.
Those who were there, catching and writing the words spilled out during the meal. They also ensured that some of the poems and sentences from that beautiful conversation reached the next generations.
When I saw the “Stammtisch” in Munich, I felt that I had encountered one of the most rooted examples of these kinds, which I did not realize I had collected with admiration.
What makes them special?
I especially liked that space was reserved for traditional Regulars Tables, and they were usually marked with the group’s names.
In Bavaria, there was even a tradition of marking the seats of regular attendees at a Stammtisch with a name tag screwed to the table.
Over time, even, the walls next to the table were decorated with photographs or mementos of that table.
In the past, belonging to such a “Stammtisch” had been associated with a higher social status, but now this concept seems open to everyone.
Of course, today, “Gatherings”, “Coffee meetups”, “Clubs”, and “Interest groups” can be considered a kind of “Stammtisch”.
However, that night, at the Hofbräuhaus, I felt that the “Stammtisch” spirit was more than that.
It is not enough to overcome the obstacles that can be created by time, place, health, and material conditions to be together regularly, perhaps such a continuity is only possible with those who have the same dream.
My “Stammtisch”
At my dream “Stammtisch”, there would be a bit of nostalgia, a bit of history, a bit of philosophy, current developments, a bit of literature, and a bit of humor.
On the way to the table, the members would take off the troubled moments in their own life like a jacket and leave them in the cloakroom. Not to escape from their problems, on the contrary, to make room for life energy by getting strength from being together at that table at regular intervals.
It would be possible to enjoy the food and drinks more together.
It would be like anchoring myself in the safe harbor of a familiar place and its team without having to constantly explore new places.
I realized that I have experienced it on a respectively small scale. Maybe one day it happens again hopefully on a larger scale.
For you
Maybe the only action you need to take is to find the right place and the right people to be regularly together. Who knows how long it goes but I know it will be a special period in your life.
Or maybe you have already this kind of experience. If so, please share.
I wish everyone who could dream find their “Stammtisch” one day.
What could be better than spending time with an intimate group that continues to make sense in the lives of its members, in such a beautiful format and for such a long term?
Sincerely
