Ass leather
The ass leather , even mountain leather or driving leather called, counted in mining for clothing of the miner . It served as protection against the bottom of the pants being soaked through and against floor moisture and cold when sitting. In particular, the retraction in tonnlägige shafts when the miners down slipped on the leather the Vertonnung. The ass leather is a mostly semicircular piece of leather and was worn on the waist strap . The design of modern ass leather is regulated in DIN 23307 buttocks leather for mining (ass leather) .
history
The ass leather came from the Slovak mining region around Schemnitz (Banská Štiavnica) to the German mining regions in the 15th century . Early pictorial representations can be found on the title page of the “Bergbüchlein” by Ulrich Rülein von Calw (1505) and on the mountain altar of St. Anne's Church in Annaberg (1521). Georgius Agricola wrote in his book De re metallica (1556):
"So sitting the mountain hawks on their arskin, which is tied around their loins and hanging down behind them."
Only miners and mining officials were allowed to wear the ass leather. In this way, analogous to mallets and irons, it represents a unifying symbol of the miner's status. Later it was also worn outside of work in ornate versions of the mountain habit (parade uniform) at mountain parades . This utensil is also used for the so-called " leather jump " at traditional mining events.
Entrance into folk art and music
The miner's ass leather has been incorporated into the design of smokers and nutcrackers from the Ore Mountains . It has also found its way into mining songs. So it says in the last stanza of the version of the Steigerlied sung in the Ruhr area and on the Saar :
"The miners are very good people
because they wear the leather on their asses at night
because they wear the leather on their asses at night
and drink schnapps and drink schnapps."
Other uses
In the stunt kite sport , the ass leather is used especially for power kiting with powerful kites. The pilot sits down on the bottom of his pants, which is protected by the ass leather, and lets himself be pulled over suitable ground (meadow) by the kite.
literature
- Walter Schellhas : The miner's ass leather . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 6/1987, pp. 280–281
- Carl Friedrich Richter: The latest mountain and hut lexicon. First volume, Kleefeldsche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1805