Straw bear

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Wheat straw bear from Empfingen

The straw bear is a figure of the Swabian-Alemannic and Franconian Carnival. It was widespread in all rural villages where Shrovetide was celebrated. Its straw cover could consist of all harvested straw types . These include B. long - stemmed wheat , rye and oat straw or the straw of the field pea (pea bear).

history

"Hooriger Bär" of the Poppelezunft Singen

In terms of the history of ideas, the straw bear is derived from the figure of the wild man , which was often used in the Middle Ages , who as a carnival figure, together with the fool, started in the late Middle Ages. The wild man stood for calamity, distance from God and also representative of the devil. Originally the figure was dressed in moss or fur and can be seen as the forerunner of the straw bear. Both are assigned to the group of figures distant from God. Often the activity of the straw bear is wrongly interpreted as the expulsion of winter. The Christian context of the carnival festival does not provide any solid evidence for research; Rather, the reasons for such considerations are to be sought in the Germanic continuity premises of the Carnival of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A drastic decline in the consumption of straw bears occurred due to the technical upheaval in agriculture in the years after the Second World War. On the one hand, the cultivation and harvesting methods of the grain changed, for example the shortening of the straw length by spraying the fields with chemical stalk shorteners and harvesting with a combine harvester . The shredding and pressing of the straw, which had grown too short, made it almost unusable for tying up the bears. At the same time, the tendency to aestheticize carnival customs and appear in new carnival figures with carved wooden larvae increased.

In addition to the noble appearance, wearing a wooden mask also had the advantage of avoiding the laborious and dusty hustle and bustle. Only in a few places did the hustle and bustle survive, which meant that the knowledge of the difficult and time-consuming tie-in technique could only be sparsely passed on to the next generation. In Empfingen in the Freudenstadt district on Shrove Monday and Tuesday, a group went begging through the village and passed on the technique of tying in to the younger ones.

Unintentionally and unconsciously, the closeness to the medieval wild man was restored in Empfingen around 1980, when two people with fir branches were involved as bears after a poor straw harvest and the "brushwood bears" were born. Singen and Leipferdingen found an alternative way , they replaced the technique of tying in with the production of sewn straw costumes. On the other hand, natural bast is used for the sewn straw bear costume of the Ewattingen jester club .

Spread of the straw bears

There are still the straw bear customs scattered over large parts of the country. In addition to south-west Germany, the focus is primarily on Hesse and Thuringia. In addition to Mardi Gras, straw figures also move on other festive days of the church year . Outside of Carnival, the customs of the carnival bear play an important role. The original content of all these straw masking customs is the handling of the hay . The straw figure played the most important role within a Heische group and the actor in the straw got a higher share of the collected gifts (eggs, sausage, bacon) than the rest of the group. The gifts were very often consumed together. After walking around the hay, the actor was freed from his disguise and the sweat-soaked straw was then burned.

Figures still wrapped in natural straw (Swabian-Alemannic Carnival)

Straw bear driving in Wilflingen
Straw bear driving in Wilflingen

(sorted by working day)

Pea straw bear from Empfingen

Straw bears of the Franconian Carnival

Straw figures outside Swabian-Alemannic Carnival

(sorted by working day)

Christmas time and Shrovetide
Straw bear made of natural straw in a manger
  • Ungetsheim (City of Feuchtwangen ), Bavaria (Strohbelzi on December 24th)
  • Strohberta Trebgast (Upper Franconia), Bavaria (December 24th)
  • Pelzmärtle Sprollenhaus ( Bad Wildbad ), Baden-Wuerttemberg (December 24th)
  • Pelzmärtle Nonnenmiß ( Bad Wildbad ), Baden-Württemberg (December 24th)
  • Milbitz near Rottenbach , Thuringia (December 27th)
  • Ützhausen , Hessen (December 27)
  • Uckersdorf , Hessen (New Year)
  • Glinde (City of Barby ), Saxony-Anhalt (Candlemas in the procession through the village)
  • Fischbach / Rhön , Thuringia (Candlemas)
  • Empfertshausen , Thuringia (light measurement Sunday)
  • Kripp (Rhineland), Rhineland-Palatinate (Shrove Saturday)
  • Effeltrich (Upper Franconia), Bavaria (Carnival Sunday)
  • Frohngau (Eifel), North Rhine-Westphalia (Mardi Gras)
  • Erfurtshausen , Hesse ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Mardorf (Amöneburg), Hessen ( Shrove Tuesday ) ... the Schittebär (mdal.)
  • Muschenheim , Hessen (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Mottgers , Hessen (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Ulfa , Hessen (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Trais-Horloff , Hessen (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Roßdorf (Amöneburg), Hessen ( Shrove Tuesday ) ... the Schittebär (mdal.). This custom is currently dormant.
  • Ruppertsburg , Hessen (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Rüdigheim (Amöneburg), Hessen (originally Fasnacht Tuesday / mdal. Foasenoacht . At the moment, the parade with the Schuttebär (mdal.) Takes place on one of the weekends before Rose Monday.)
  • Münster (Laubach) , Hesse (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Orlamünde , Thuringia (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Bitburg-Mötsch (Eifel), Rhineland-Palatinate (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Pomster (Eifel), Rhineland-Palatinate (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Eichenrod / Vogelsberg, Hesse (Shrove Tuesday)
  • Apfelstädt , Thuringia (Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday)
  • Friemar , Thuringia (Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday)
  • Heldra , Hessen ( Ash Wednesday )
Pentecost
Parish fair

Straw figures in other European countries

See also

literature

  • Werner Baiker, Klaus Warnke, a. a .: Oh Latschaboo, oh Schaluschee - a colorful foray through the historical receptive carnival. Self-published, Empfingen 2001
  • Hermann Bausinger (Ed.): Village carnival between Neckar and Lake Constance. Tübingen Association for Folklore. Contributions of the Tübingen working group for carnival research (Volksleben. Investigations of the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute of the University of Tübingen on behalf of the Tübingen Association for Folklore, Vol. 12). Tübingen, Verlag Horst Bissinger KG, Tübingen 1966
  • Thomas Naumann: The Walldürner straw bears. Observations and comments on a carnival custom. Current publishing group, Obrigheim 1987
  • Wulf Wager: Swabian-Alemannic carnival in old pictures. Silberburg-Verlag, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-87407-568-0

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pea Bear, Straw Bear, Brushwood Bear and Stuffed Bear
  2. ↑ Narrenverein Ewattingen ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; The text there is an example of the scientifically long outdated derivation of the straw bear as a pagan winter expulsion ritual (accessed on February 18, 2014) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.narrenverein-ewattingen.de
  3. ↑ Alte Beisdorfer Fasnet for the first time away from home
  4. ^ Walter Welte et al .: Heimatbuch Bubsheim. Geiger Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-89570-812-7 .
  5. ^ Peter Schröder: Carnival custom in Frohngau
  6. ↑ Erfurtshausen Association (Ed.): 1150 Years Erfurtshausen 844 - 1994 . Edited by Dr. Alfred Schneider. Print: Joh.Aug. Koch, Marburg 1994, p. 395 (p. 370, p. 372, p. 392 = The "Schittebär" is wound up (1977)).
  7. ↑ Irmgard Bott (Ed.): Easter egg painting from Mardorf and Erfurtshausen . Karl Robert Langwiesche successor Hans Köster KG, Königstein im Taunus, 1981, ISBN 3-7845-6541-7 , p. 48 (p. 11, 12 = article by Alex Fischer, including on the Schittebär on Shrove Tuesday).
  8. ^ Karl Anton Müller: Around Wall and Defense Tower; The 1200 year old Mardorf past and present . University book printing company JA Koch, Marburg ad Lahn 1955, p. 292, 293 (Brief description of the Heischebrauchs Schittebär = pea straw bear (mdal. Schitte = high pod / pea pod). The parade with the straw bear on Mardorf in Upper Hesse in earlier times. (Note: The pea straw was soon followed by wheat straw)).
  9. ↑ Renate Schütz, Amöneburg - Roßdorf (Ed.): We poor, rich children - stories about lived customs and childhood experiences . 1989, p. 101 (p. 13, p. 14, chapter: February - roast day, Schittebär (pea or straw bear)).
  10. ↑ Günter Slany: Rerrekim (Rüdigheim) ... a village in Upper Hesse, history - Customs - everyday . Ed .: Parish of St. Antonius d. E., Rudigheim. 1st edition. Printing: Buch- und Offsetdruckerei Julius Schröder GmbH, Kirchhain 2002 (description of carnival customs in Rüdigheim in Upper Hesse (mdal. Rerrekim): In the chapter "Broredoag èn Schuttebär" - Roast Day and Pea Straw Bear - two old children's customs, actually mythical customs, are reported in the neighboring villages).
  11. ↑ Marburger Neue Zeitung (ed.): The village youth keeps the custom alive - on Sunday the 25th the rubble bear will go from house to house . Volume 5, No. 41 , February 11, 2001 (half-page article, illustrated).
  12. ↑ Günter Slany: Rerrekimer wrap the Schuttebär at carnival time . Old custom turns into a small move. Ed .: Marburger Neue Zeitung. March 4, 2003 (quarter-page report, illustrated).
  13. ↑ Erwesbär , NordhausenWiki, accessed on May 9, 2019.

Web links

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