Women's Shrovetide
Weiberfastnacht - also called Weiberfasching , Wieverfastelovend ( Kölsch ), Fettdonnerstag ( Aachener area ), Heavy Thursday ( Koblenz ) or Weiberfasnet ( Swabian ) - marks the transition from meeting to street carnival on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday . It is also known as Altweiberfasching , Altweiberfastnacht or simply Altweiber ( Krieewelsch : Aalwiewer ) and in the Alemannic Carnival as Schmotziger Dunschtig .
history
What is common to all the customs of Weiberfastnacht is that women are given power for one day. This idea, that on one day on Shrovetide, women are allowed to rule, has been around since the Middle Ages . At a time when women were subordinate to men in everything and men exercised gender guardianship over women, it was considered a "wrong world" for women to be given power. In many places, this Weiberfastnacht also developed from the Weiberzechen , where women were invited to wine by the rulers.
Much evidence suggests, however, that in the Middle Ages in many places today's Ash Wednesday was the day on which women celebrated their Shrovetide. With the removal of Sundays from Lent and the postponement of Carnival to today's date, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday established itself as the day of Women's Carnival in the Rhineland, in the area of Swabian-Alemannic Carnival , Women's Carnival is celebrated on different dates or was completely lost.
Weiberfastnacht in the Rhineland
Traditionally, women disguised and masked themselves as old and ugly women, left the house and children to the men and celebrated among themselves. Out of this tradition, the Möhnenvereine were founded, in which women increasingly no longer make themselves old and ugly, but rather walk in the dress of the bourgeois woman in the 19th century. The Greesen in Saarland are dressed similarly .
The main distribution area of Weiberfastnacht today is the Rhineland , the Eifel and the Hunsrück . Cologne is considered the stronghold of the Rhenish Wieverfastelovend ; on this day the street carnival opens.
“The pre-Carnival celebrations began with the so-called Weiberfastnacht on the Thursday before it. Then the very peculiar custom prevailed that women and girls tore off each other's hoods, which was called Mötzenbestohl . In the afternoon the Bellegeck , a real Cologne mask, hung with many bells, moved around the streets [...] "
The forerunner of today's Wieverfastelovend is the Mötzenbestot of the market women on the old market in Cologne in the 18th century . Market women and workers took part. Punctually at 12 noon, the women tore their bonnet, the Mötz, off their heads and threw it around - often together with cabbages. This meant that the women were no longer “under the hood” and allowed themselves some freedoms.
In the Beuel district of Bonn, women traditionally celebrate the Beuel Women's Carnival. Work in the Beuel laundries stopped for one day a year, on the Thursday before Carnival. In 1824 the Beuel laundresses joined the Old Ladies Committee of 1824 e. V. together to gain participation in the previously all-male carnival. While the Weiberfastnacht is only a preliminary celebration elsewhere, it was and remained the main thing in Beuel. Even today, after a large women's carnival parade, the Beuel washer princess storms the Beuel town hall with her women's committee and symbolically takes over power. The storm on the town hall is broadcast live by WDR television . Storming the town halls by women has become a tradition in many cities and communities in the Rhineland and Westphalia .
In the entire Rhineland, Weiberfastnacht is an unofficial holiday, and most workplaces no longer work after midday. Celebrations usually begin at 11:11 am. In contrast to Rose Monday and the other days, there are usually no parades on Weiberfastnacht , it is celebrated in costumes in the pubs and on the streets. It has been the custom since the middle of the 20th century for women to cut men's ties as a symbol of male power. So the men only walk around with a stump of ties, for which they are compensated with a little peck (kiss). If the wearer of the tie has not previously consented to the cutting, there may be an infringement of property, as the Essen District Court ruled in favor of a plaintiff whose tie was cut as a customer of a local travel agency. The consent could, however, be assumed if he was in the carnival bustle and celebrated - and had to know that this custom is widespread on Weiberfastnacht.
Alemannic
In the area of Swabian-Alemannic Carnival, Weiberfastnacht is celebrated on different dates. For example, on the second weekend in January in Meisterschwanden and Fahrwangen in Switzerland there is the Meitli-Zyt, where women rule for three days and capture the men with their grass bows. In various Swiss cities, the arrival of the Wyber (women) is celebrated, who is motivated to annoy by sayings or the like. The Ih-Huttle is celebrated in the municipality of Mels , and there are Röllis in Walenstadt .
In some places, women’s coffee gossip has developed from the women’s quarries. This is the case in Überlingen or Bad Säckingen , for example .
In the Black Forest and in the Waldshut district , events are held in many places on different days that only allow women access. The Wiiberfasnet evenings with a program are designed by the women themselves and are often organized by Catholic women's communities or rural women's associations. One of the largest and most famous women's evenings, the Gluggere Obed, takes place in Feldberg -Altglashütten.
The Thursday before Ash Wednesday, on which Weiberfastnacht is celebrated in the Rhineland, is called Schmotziger or Fettiger Thursday . The name is a reminder that Thursday was the main slaughter day, on which people slaughtered and baked before the celebrations of Carnival and before Lent.
date
In the Rhineland, Weiberfastnacht always takes place on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday , i.e. on the 52nd day before Easter Sunday . The earliest possible date is January 29th, the latest possible is March 4th.
- 2020: February 20th
- 2021: February 11th
- 2022: February 24th
literature
- Renate Matthaei : Matrones, holy virgins and wild women. On the history of the Kölner Weiberfastnacht. Landpresse, Weilerswist 2001, ISBN 3-935221-05-3 .
- Petra Pluwatsch: Weiberfastnacht. The story of a very special day. KiWi, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03805-7 .
- Elisabeth Skrzypek: "The women were great ..." Women celebrate the fifth season , Reutlingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-88627-691-2 .
Web links
- "Weiberfastnacht" map of Germany from ZEITmagazin, February 23, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elisabeth Skrzypek: "The women were crazy about it" Women celebrate the fifth season . Reutlingen 2016, p. 232 f .
- ↑ Hans Moser: Urban Carnival of the Middle Ages . In: Volksleben . tape 18 , 1967, p. 189 .
- ^ Rainer Müller: Our Faasenacht. 400 years of foolish activity in Saarland . Saarbrücken 1984, p. 15th f .
- ↑ Petra Pluwatsch: Weiberfastnacht. The story of a very special day . Cologne 2007.
- ↑ Compensation for a cut tie on "Weiberfastnacht" - free-urteile.de
- ↑ Home - Meitlison Sunday Association Fahrwangen. Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Women's Coffee - Home. Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Elisabeth Skrzypek: "The women were crazy about it" Women celebrate the fifth season . Reutlingen 2016.
- ↑ Gluggere Obed Feldberg in the Black Forest on February 26th, 2019 - Carnival. Retrieved March 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Badische Zeitung: Gluggere with many crazy ideas - Feldberg - Badische Zeitung. Retrieved March 3, 2019 .