Bochsel Night
The Bochselacht is celebrated on the Thursday of the last full week before Christmas by the residents of Weinfeld in the canton of Thurgau . The children of the 1st primary to the 1st secondary class, after dark, move with their "Bochseltiere" (hollowed, carved and candlelit beetroot ) on a set route through the village center of Weinfelder.
Details
All children of the primary school classes and the 1st classes of the secondary school move with their decorated Bochseltier on a set moving route through the village. Interspersed in between are the pupils of the 2nd secondary class carrying their large cardboard and tissue paper lanterns on their shoulders. At the end of the parade, the middle school classes gather in front of the town hall and sing the song “ Rejoice in life ”. The local parliamentarians, who are meeting at the same time, interrupt their traditional Bochsel Night session to listen to the singing on the balcony of the council chamber. Afterwards, the students return to the central Pestalozzi schoolhouse to receive a pretzel.
The pupils of the 3rd secondary class then perform the Bochsel Night Theater in the old gym of the Thomas Bornhauser school house. Traditionally, a fairy tale is performed. After the performance, the adults go to the inns in the village and enjoy a “Böllewegge”, a yeast pastry filled with onions, or a Salziss (a kind of boiled sausage) with potato salad and at midnight and later a flour soup.
In recent years, the old custom has been upgraded with some innovations. For several years now, the neat lanterns of the 2nd secondary class with their diverse and artistic subjects have enriched the parade. The pastries with cold sausages that were previously distributed at the end of the parade have been replaced by a pretzel because on the one hand the sausage was often too big a bite for the little ones and on the other hand because the Muslim children participating in the parade do not consume pork. As a special feature from far and wide, all children from Weinfelden were allowed to smoke in the afternoon and evening in Bochsel. However, teachers increasingly expressed concern that this did not fit in with the prevention efforts being carried out at the school. More and more parents also found smoking to be out of date and a wrong signal. As a result, smoking has not officially been allowed since 2004. The old custom has also survived an adjustment of the moving route unscathed. A few years ago there was a discussion about replacing the song “Rejoice in life” with something more contemporary. But here tradition has prevailed.
Custom
In the whole of the Rhineland, in all of southern Germany and in various Swiss communities, parades of the young people take place on the Thursdays before Christmas. Attempts were made early on to stop this hustle and bustle. In Basel, Schaffhausen and Zurich, for example, ordinances were issued as early as the Middle Ages that "ban Bogschlen (..) sol".
The term “bocheln” is related to “posseln” or “pochen” and means knocking, making noise or playing jokes. In times long past, this noise was supposed to have served to drive away evil spirits and demons. The Bochelnacht also reminds of old customs for the dead, whose origins lie in Celtic and Germanic customs mixed with Roman customs. Skulls are still carved into beets today.
See also
literature
- Hermann Lei : Weinfelden. The story of a Thurgau village. Bürgergemeinde Weinfelden and others, Weinfelden 1983.
- Hermann Lei: The Weinfelder Bochselacht. 1998, online (PDF; 780 kB) .