Bahkauv
Bahkauv (from Bachkalb , also bath calf , dialect also Bakauf , Baakauf , Bahkauf or Bakauv ) is a legendary figure from Aachen . It is said to resemble a large calf with sharp teeth and scaly fur and to live in the sewer of the thermal springs on the Büchel , the so-called Kolbert .
The Bahkauv legend
The monster is supposed to frighten drunk men at night and ask them to carry it on their shoulders so that the men have a hard time going home. If the drunken men pleaded or prayed, the bahkauv became heavier. If they cursed or cursed, the burden became lighter. The Bahkauv never bothered women and children.
According to a variant of the legend that is said to date from the 17th century, the brook calf is said to have been exposed as a mugger in disguise at some point. When the monster accidentally attacked a powerful blacksmith, he threw it to the ground and beat it until a gatekeeper, wailing with pain, crawled out of his costume, who had used his professional position to rob drunk passers-by unrecognized and without arousing suspicion . Allegedly this event is recorded in the city chronicles, but the place is nowhere to be found. The story of the brook calf is fused in this variant with a wandering legend widespread in the Rhineland, according to which a courageous farmer or blacksmith exposed the crouching monster (e.g. the Hackestüpp in Düren - Merzenich or Sürthgens Mossel in Bergstein ) as an ordinary mugger.
It is said that Pippin the Younger , the father of Charlemagne , also fought against the Bahkauv and killed it with a sword strike one morning at a steaming spring. This assertion has been found with regularity in the Aachen collections of sagas since the 19th century and could be an invention of local patriotic homeland poets from Aachen who, in view of the many haunted calves in the various parts of the Rhineland and Siegerland , tried to find this monster especially for theirs Seize the city and give the legend an inadmissible historical depth.
It cannot be completely ruled out that this story is based on an actual observation, such as can still be found today at other thermal springs of this type. Since the thermal springs flowed freely on the Büchel at that time and suppressed as needed, i. H. blocked, a yellow-brown to red film of algae, the so-called glarine , formed in the standing warm water . When the spring was reopened, the red-brown algae slime probably also spilled into the sewer, the Kolbert, which must have caused great astonishment and disturbance among the population. The association with “slimy blood”, which is said to have spilled through the streets while killing the monster, could be traced back to this film of algae.
The Bach calf is an interesting figure in the history of myths, because in the Rhineland there are numerous legends about demonic beings who crouch by a brook at night, ambush lonely or drunk hikers and jump on their backs. In the area around Aachen and Düren there are mainly two fiends, one the werewolf , who is called Stüpp here , and the calf. Overall, the Bachstüpp and the Bach calf belong - on the border with the Netherlands and canal calf called - to the class under the name aufhocker known ghost stories and Plage beings. Behind these spooky beings, which are not ghosts, but very physical fiends, presumably hides the idea of revenants , ie deceased who return from the afterlife or from the grave to plague the living. Why the undead wandering corpse was transformed into an animal is a question that has not yet been resolved by research into myths .
In his historical novel Das Untier von Aachen , the writer Günter Krieger adapts the theme with the legend variant from the 17th century.
The fountain
On April 18, 1902, the city council decided to erect a fountain memorial instead of an old running fountain ( Büchelpiefe ) that had stood on the site since at least the 17th century. The necessary financial resources were granted from funds from the Blees Foundation. Karl Krauss was entrusted with the planning and execution . The fountain was inaugurated on November 18, 1904. Like almost all monuments, railings and fountains in Aachen, the metal of the Bahkauv fountain was melted down during World War II in 1942, only the stone rock was left in place.
After a controversial discussion among the population of Aachen, the old fountain was not restored, but a modern fountain system based on a design by Kurt-Wolf von Borries , which was inaugurated on September 27, 1967. The water in the new fountain no longer flows out of the mouth, but from nozzles in the tail of the animal sculpture.
See also
literature
- Peter Kremer: Where horror lurks. Terrifying stories of bloodsuckers and headless riders, of werewolves and revenants on Inde, Erft and Rur . PeKaDe-Verlag, Düren 2003, ISBN 3-929928-01-9 (annotated collection of sagas from the western Rhineland).
Individual evidence
- ↑ The singing Aachen Carnevals-Florresen hymn book for singing, in different chants, or collection of all collections of all collected Florres songs from all kinds of masters and other spirits, small or large, bold or loose . Aachen 1833 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ Johann Ferdinand Jansen : Collection of various poems in the Aachen vernacular for the benefit of the local poor institute . CA Müller, Aachen 1815 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ Joseph Müller , Wilhelm Weitz: The Aachen dialect. Idioticon with a poetic appendix . Aachen 1836 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ FW Bredt: Fountains and monuments in Aachen . In: Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Heimatschutz (Hrsg.): Communications of the Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Heimatschutz . Vol. 7, issue 3, November 1913, p. 226.
- ↑ Alexander Barth: Das Bahkauv. Wacky excuse for Aachen's drunkards . In: 111 places in Aachen and the Euregio that you have to see . Emons, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-89705-931-3 , p. 22.
- ^ Bernhard Poll : Geschichte Aachen in Daten , Aachen 2003, p. 242.
Web links
- The Bahkauv (brook calf) on aachen-markt.de
- The Bachstüpp on haben.at
- Aachen fountains and monuments - Bahkauv on aachen-stadtgeschichte.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 '32.8 " N , 6 ° 5' 9.5" E