Biikebrennen

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Biikebrennen in the North Frisian community Risum-Lindholm , 2008
Biikebrennen outside North Friesland on the beach near Wassersleben , near Flensburg , 2014

Biikebrennen (from North Frisian : biike , High German Bake or fire sign ) is a traditional folk festival with fire in North Frisia ( Schleswig-Holstein ) that is celebrated on February 21, the eve of the Petri chair celebration in Antioch , or Petritag for short. It partially replaces the otherwise widespread Easter fire .

history

North Frisian Islands and Danish Wadden Sea Islands

The origin of the festival is unclear; probably the fire in the Middle Ages was supposed to drive away evil spirits and protect the new seeds. On the islands, the biike fire later served to say goodbye to the whalers . The women lit the fires along the beach in order to keep the traveling men safe for a long time. According to a Sylt legend, this signal was also sent to the Danish men on the mainland and was intended to convey to them that the island women were now alone on the farm again and needed help with their work and “other things”. The beginning of the annual whaling season on Petri Day was related to a resolution of the Hanseatic cities from 1403, according to which shipping should be suspended between Martini (November 11th) and Petri chair celebration. Petri Day on February 22nd was an important date for medieval shipping (end of winter break, beginning of spring).

The beacon still existed in the 17th and 18th centuries from primitive light beacons to the beaches , which the sailors and whalers as a navigation aid served. The large bursts of fire that are common today probably did not arise until the middle of the 19th century. The uniform definition of the biike burning on the evening of February 21 was only introduced at the end of the 19th century.

heritage Site

The Conference of Education Ministers announced on December 12, 2014 that the Biikebrennen had been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage in Germany .

distribution

Biike and Petritag (North Frisian piddersdai and piadersdai ) are still important holidays today, especially on the North Frisian islands and the Halligen . The Biikebrennen is also known as Pers awten or Pers aften (“Peter's evening”) on the Danish Wadden Sea Islands . In the meantime, the Biikebrennen has also spread in the Schleswig-Holstein inland, for example in Stapelholm . Here, however, it is called Beekenbrennen and is traditionally celebrated on February 2nd.

It was celebrated on the North Frisian mainland well into the 19th century, but then fell more and more into oblivion and was only slowly brought back to life after the Second World War . The cultivation of customs now also includes (again) children who recite poems in one of the North Frisian dialects .

Occasionally, Biikebrennen also take place on the Schleswig-Holstein Baltic Sea coast , even if there is no cultural tradition there. For example, on February 21, 2014, the northernmost Biikebrennen took place on the Baltic Sea in Wassersleben near Flensburg for the tenth time.

layout

The Biikefeuer today mostly consists of old Christmas trees and arrangements that were kept until the Biikebrennen. Many use the occasion to cut bushes and burn them at the biike. Each village community and many homesteads have their own biikefires, which are the focus of festive activities such as singing or drama. On the islands of Föhr , Amrum and Sylt , other traditions such as the early lighting of the fires in neighboring villages emerged.

In some villages a straw doll is burned in a fire. The so-called weever has, so is the assumption, nothing to do with Saint Peter , but with the Pope (i.e. the Peter's office ) and the associated Christian faith, which was rejected. On the following day, February 22nd, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Kathedra Petri , i.e. the chair of the Pope, or the primacy of the Petrine office in terms of teaching . A relationship of Peter male , which is thrown into the Bonfires, with the Office of the Pope in Rome is close thus. The straw doll also symbolizes the winter that is now being driven out.

Elsewhere, an old wooden barrel or bucket is placed on the top of the Biike, with the fall of which winter is over. On Sylt, before the biike is ignited, a speech is given in Sylt Frisian , which is often repeated afterwards in German translation. Often a pastor or mayor speaks; In many cases it is citizens who know Frisian who give the speech: It ends with the request “Maaki di biiki ön” (“Turn on the biike”).

After the biike there is traditionally a kale meal . On Sylt and Föhr the schoolchildren have the next day off.

  • A biike pile that has not yet been inflamed

  • The fuel

  • Inflammation of the pile of bicycles

  • Inflaming biike pile

  • Inflamed biike pile

  • Burned down biike pile

See also

literature

  • Bartholomäus Figatowski (Ed.): When the Biiken burn. Fantastic stories from Schleswig-Holstein . Verlag 71, Plön 2009, ISBN 978-3-928905-76-3 .
  • Carl Häberlin : Biiken in North Friesland . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1935 ( Föhrer Heimat-Bücher 19, ZDB -ID 842334-9 , special print from: Die Heimat . Volume 45, No. 5, 1935, pp. 145–154).
  • Albert Panten : Mardi Gras fire . On the history of the Biike Burning. in "Nordfriesland", issue 105, p 11f, 1994
  • Albert Panten , Hubertus Jessel: The Biikebrennen of the North Frisians . 3. Edition. Husum Verlag, Husum 2010, ISBN 978-3-89876-160-4 ( local history writings of the North Frisian Association ).
  • Nordfriisk Instituut (ed.): Biikebrennen , in the series "Nordfriesland in der Schule", Bredstedt, 2013 ( [1] ).

Web links

Commons : Biikebrennen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on the holiday , accessed on August 11, 2010
  2. ^ Society for Schleswig-Holstein History: Biike ( Memento of February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Biikebrennen der Frisians becomes a cultural heritage, ( Memento from December 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) ndr.de, December 12, 2014
  4. ↑ Report at archiv.rhein-zeitung.de , accessed on November 27, 2015
  5. ↑ See Aktivbus: Bikebrennen . From: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag , February 19, 2011, accessed on October 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ A fire sign against the winter spirits . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , February 20, 2012, accessed on October 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ Biikebrennen on Sylt at sylt-kompass.de, accessed on April 1, 2018
  8. ^ Walter Fiedler: Sylt. 13th edition. Breklumer Verlag, Breklum 1990, ISBN 3-7793-1101-1 .
  9. ↑ Information on the Biikebrennen at oevenum.de , accessed on January 16, 2014.