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Tickets to the Wasserspiele also include entrance to the Volksmuseum (April-Oct daily 9am-5pm; oS20/?1.46 if visited on its own), in the Monatsschlosschen , or "month-castle" - so called because it was constructed in a single month. Set on a wooded hill at the far end of the park, it holds a respectable collection of folk costumes and painted wooden furniture, but it's the section on the Salzburger Land's rural festivals that commands most attention. Pride of place goes to the towering effigy of Samson the giant, one of many that used to be hauled through towns during the Samsonumzug processions that marked Corpus Christi. In a ritual of ancient origin whose precise meaning remains lost, Samson would have been accompanied by people dressed as the Zwerglmann and Zwerglfrau ("Mr and Mrs Dwarf"). A concerted effort was made to stamp out such practices throughout Austria during the reign of Josef II, and the custom nowadays survives in only a few towns to the southeast - Tamsweg, Mauterndorf and St Michael im Lungau among them. Equally striking are the costumes donned during the Perchtenlauf processions, which take place on January 5 in the Pongau, incorporating enormous head-dresses onto which mirrors, stuffed birds and other objects are mounted. Adjoining the park, and stretching along the northern flanks of the hill, are the animal pens of Hellbrunn Zoo (daily: June-Sept 8.30am-6pm, Oct-May 8.30am-4pm; oS80/?5.81), a sizeable collection of worldwide fauna, which counts pumas, lions, jaguars, snow leopards and rhinos among its numerous inmates.
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