Cathedral stair sweeping
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The Domtreppenfegen , also simply called stair sweeping or stair sweeping , describes one originally from Bremenoriginating, but meanwhile also in other parts of Germany, especially northern Germany, customary birthday custom. The sweeping man is a man who is single at the time of his thirtieth birthday, this includes all men who are not married or engaged. It is irrelevant whether the sweeper has a partner or is engaged; only the legal marriage and the official engagement prevent the custom of sweeping. It should be noted, however, that this must be done at least one calendar day before the sweeping person's 30th birthday. In the city of origin of the custom, Bremen, the men have to climb the stairs in front of the main entrance of the Bremen Cathedralsweep. In other cities to which the custom has spread, other stairs (or sometimes other public places) are swept as a substitute, especially if they do not have their own cathedral.
From the custom of sweeping the cathedral stairs on a man's 30th birthday, the female variant later developed, the so-called handle cleaning , in which an unmarried woman has to clean the handles of the cathedral doors on her thirtieth birthday . In some regions there is a tradition that men clean handles in leap years and women have to sweep cathedral stairs accordingly.
For men and women alike, the custom applies that the jubilee may only be congratulated on the day of cleaning. This should u. a. the meanwhile common: “fly away so as not to have to sweep” can be avoided.
Origin and Distribution
The custom, first mentioned around 1890 as sweeping the Bremer Domshof , is a regional custom in the life cycle in the form of a so-called teasing penalty . According to the cultural anthropologist Kerstin Ehlert, this birthday custom should go back to the popular belief that "people who did not reproduce during their lifetime must do superfluous work in the afterlife after their death".
The practice has been increasing since the late 1950s. In the meantime, the original Bremen custom has been adopted by other cities and is now widely used in northern Germany as "sweeping stairs", although the stairs of a cathedral do not necessarily have to be swept. In Osnabrück (Lower Saxony), for example, the single 30-year-olds sweep the stairs of the town hall, in Hamburg the “Rathausmarkt” (square in front of the town hall). In smaller towns, such as Meine near Braunschweig (Lower Saxony), the market square serves as a “stage” for traditional customs. In Minden the custom has changed to the effect that one of the many bridges over z. B. Bastau , Mittelland Canal or Weser , is swept. Such adjustments have meanwhile allowed the custom from Bremen to spread to a large number of other cities. In the course of the Europeanization of all areas of life, the custom has meanwhile also found its way into other European countries, u. a. to Barcelona, found.
| city | Stair to be swept | since |
|---|---|---|
| Aachen | Staircase of the old town hall in Aachen | 2010 |
| Achim | Market square in front of the old city library | |
| Barcelona | Staircase of the Sagrada Família basilica | 2012 |
| Bielefeld | Stairs of the old town hall | |
| Birmingham | Council House and Victoria Square stairs | 2014 |
| Blankenburg (Harz) | City hall stairs | 1980 |
| Bocholt | Market square in front of the historic town hall ; possibly in front of the entrance of the new town hall | 2011 |
| Boston | Government Center | 2017 |
| Braunschweig | Stairs of the Braunschweig town hall | |
| Bremen | Stairs of the main entrance of the Bremen Cathedral | 1890 |
| Stooping | Old market for the plastic "monk and donkey" | 1982 |
| Celle | Stairs of the old town hall | |
| Darmstadt | 2001 | |
| Dortmund | Friedensplatz | |
| Dülmen | City hall stairs | |
| Dusseldorf | City hall stairs | |
| Elmshorn | Staircase in front of the town hall | |
| Emden | Delft stairs | |
| Erfurt | 2001 | |
| gain | Ramp in front of the town hall | 2012 |
| Frankfurt am Main | Frankfurt Romans | 2001 |
| Goettingen | Staircase of the old town hall in Göttingen | 2006 |
| Grim | Market in front of the town hall | |
| Hamburg | Rathausmarkt (square in front of the town hall) | |
| Hanover | City hall stairs | |
| Hann. Münden | City hall stairs | |
| Heidelberg | Staircase to Heidelberg Castle | 2017 |
| Hildesheim | City hall stairs | |
| Ingolstadt | Staircase within the technical development department of AUDI AG | 2012 |
| Horstmar-Leer | Stairs of the Calvary | |
| Kaltenkirchen | Place in front of the town hall | 1990 |
| kassel | City hall stairs | |
| Kiel | City hall stairs | |
| Krefeld | Dionysiusplatz | 2012 |
| Kröpelin | City hall stairs | 2008 |
| Leipzig | Market square in front of the old town hall | 2018 |
| Lingen (Ems) | Staircase of the historical town hall | 1981 |
| Lübeck | In front of the town hall | |
| My | My market place | |
| Minden | Bridges over z. B. Bastau , Mittellandkanal or Weser | |
| Muenster | Stairs of the Münster town hall | 2001 |
| Nordhorn | Town hall stairs | |
| Osnabrück | Town hall stairs | |
| Paderborn | Town hall stairs | |
| Roadstead | Square in front of the town hall (Rheder Ei) | |
| Rheine | Town Hall Square | |
| Rostock | Place in front of the town hall | |
| Vechta | Europaplatz at the bronze sculpture of the jumping horse "Warwick Rex" | |
| Wolfenbüttel | Town hall stairs | |
| Wolfsburg | Town hall stairs | |
| Wurzburg | At the four-tube fountain in front of the town hall and on the Old Main Bridge | 2012 |
Original cathedral stair sweeping in Bremen
Men who are still not engaged or unmarried on the day of their thirtieth birthday have to sweep the stairs in front of the main entrance of the Bremen Cathedral until a maiden comes along and kisses the sweeping man. An official engagement is only effective in exceptional cases - a successfully completed bachelor party - relieving you of the duty to sweep. The event is usually initiated in a circle of friends; the date is agreed (free of charge) with the cathedral chancellery (since official acts, concerts and concert rehearsals in the cathedral naturally have priority) and traditionally announced in advance in a humorous, often rhymed advertisement in Bremen daily newspapers . For some time now, however, advertisements have often been dispensed with so that the birthday child doesn't know what to expect.
The sweeping of the cathedral stairs is then celebrated among friends and relatives. You bring music and drinks with you, but the music is traditionally "made by yourself" using a barrel organ . It is customary for the respective bachelor to wear a top hat and, in some cases, a tailcoat , although other types of costumes have also been increasingly used in recent times. Together they walk to Bremen Cathedral. Once there, the friends provide plenty of bottle caps to ensure that there is enough to sweep. In many cases, a broom that has been prepared by friends is brought along for sweeping purposes, so that it is very difficult for the birthday child to sweep. Another variant is that the bachelor starts with a small sweeping style (cotton swab or toothbrush) and by answering questions or completing tasks, he gets a “better” sweeping style. The birthday child then has to sweep open the crown cap again and again in Sysiphos manner until a virgin kisses him free. Therefore, prudent friends also bring a virgin - namely a little girl - with them on occasion, who finally redeems the birthday child. Since this is not always possible and a "real" Virgo did not always kiss the jubilee boy free, this condition was usually softened over time, so that it can also be a woman with the zodiac sign Virgo or an unmarried woman of marriageable age. In the Celle area and the northern Hanover area, free kissing is also permitted by a married woman. When the birthday boy has finally been kissed free, the cathedral stairs are finally cleared of all props, and afterwards it is usually returned to a restaurant.
If the birthday child avoids the actual date (e.g. due to vacation, other obligations that cannot be postponed, etc.), an alternative date is often set.
More recently, the custom has also been extended to unmarried women. You don't have to sweep the stairs, however, but polish the door handle of the cathedral gate until a young man kisses the polisher.
Since the beginning of the twenties it has been a tradition in northern Germany to hire a stripper for the unmarried birthday child after sweeping the cathedral stairs or polishing the handles. As a background to this special "reward", research has shown that the unmarried person should be made aware of the advantages of the opposite sex.
Web links
- Everything to do with the custom of sweeping stairs
- Sweeping the cathedral stairs and cleaning handles on bremen.de
literature
- Klaus Behrens-Talla: Sweeping the cathedral stairs . In: Festivals and Customs in Bremen. Contributions to the cultural and social history of the Hanseatic city. Festschrift for the hundredth birthday of the Focke Museum . Ed .: Die Wittheit zu Bremen; Ed .: Hans Kloft, Martina Rudloff; Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 2000, ISBN 3-89757-042-4 , pp. 247-249.
- Kerstin Ehlert: Thirty - single - funny? Modern customs on 30th birthday . Schmerse Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-926-92037-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bachelors sweep on their 30th birthday ( memento of the original dated February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Report by Dieter Thierbach in the Rheinische Post from March 6, 2007.
- Jump up bridge attracted many viewers : Report on 'Leben in Hahlen - das Online-Dorfblatt' from April 23, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h On the distribution of cathedral stair sweeping at Wer-Weiss-Was.de ( memento from October 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Report on Kröpelin Aktuell on the sweeping of stairs celebrated there ; Retrieval. April 8, 2008.
- ↑ The sweeping for the thirtieth birthday at BrauchWiki
