 Because it is a group dance, the number of these exclusively male dancers is always a multiple of eight.This tradition goes back to the Plague year of 1517, when in Munich the members of the coopers’ guild were the first to go back into the streets, to spread some lust for life.Beginning about 1830, journeyman coopers brought the dance to other places such as Eggenfelden, Frontenhausen, Geiselhöring, Mainburg, Mühldorf, Murnau, Kelheim, Landshut, Partenkirchen and Wasserburg.