Customs in May
The custom in spring has a focus with the beginning of May.
The night from April 30th to May 1st was celebrated as Walpurgis Night for centuries . This custom lives on today in the “ Dance in May ”, with which the beginning of the warm season is celebrated.
The Romans celebrated Floralien in May , a festival in honor of the flower goddess Flora , a patroness of spring and flowers. Spring was welcomed on May 1st in the Middle Ages in Europe . Various customs were rejected in the early modern period. The May Festival was banned in Scotland in 1555, and in 1644 the English Parliament forbade the erection of maypoles.
May customs in Central Europe
In many places, a colorfully decorated maypole is set up on May 1st , around which popular folk dances used to be performed. It is important to compete for the largest and most beautiful maypole with the surrounding communities. In Bavaria , for example, the maypoles are stolen by the other communities and defended by their owners. According to the unwritten law of tradition, a community whose tree has been stolen has to “redeem” it for a good amount of beer from the thieves .
In some areas, such as Bavaria, Württemberg and the Rhineland , private maypoles are also common, which young men attach to the house of their friends or loved ones. These are mainly young birch trees, mostly colorfully decorated or with a dedication. If a cherry tree (regional), a fir tree (regionally also decorated in black) or a brushwood broom (regional) is set up instead of the tree, the young lady is deemed to be a reprimand for her behavior. In some areas it is important to ensure that the sapling is set up in a safe place, so that it is difficult for an envious or competing admirer to remove the sapling by daybreak or to exchange it for one's own. In the leap year, women are asked to put a maypole on their loved one.
In Bergisch Land is usually the Pentecostal singing . Young men or men's choirs go from house to house and offer the Pentecost greeting. For this they collect eggs, bacon and other gifts, but also money.
In Northern Germany, especially in the Oldenburg and Osnabrück area and in the Emsland , as well as in the Heilbronn area, in Franconia and in East Hesse , May tours or May hikes are carried out. Mainly young people wander through the rural region , equipped with handcarts . Large amounts of alcohol are typically consumed during this process.
In some regions of Switzerland (e.g. in parts of the cantons of Aargau and Solothurn ) and Baden-Württemberg, the Maibuben or in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, witches traditionally let everything go with them from the bench to the garden gate a village is not nailed down and stacked in a central square; the owners of the objects have to look for them there themselves. In addition, the corn cut is widespread in rural parts of Baden-Württemberg. The young men move out to stick a birch tree (up to 6 m) decorated with crepe paper or plastic ribbon on the roof of their respective lady of the heart, while the youngsters of the surrounding neighborhood play tricks, such as B. Brush the doorbell or doorknobs with shoe polish . The same custom, which is also cultivated in cities, is known in Bavaria under the term “ Freinacht ”.
In the Sense District and District La Glâne in the canton of Friborg we are accustomed today the corn Ingen . It is a song that children use to collect sweets and, in the meantime, coins.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Description at osthessen-news.de 2005 , accessed on April 25, 2015