Staufner Fasnatziestag
The Staufner Fasnatziestag (of Shrove Tuesday ) is a local customs in Oberstaufen in Oberallgäu .
origin
The custom is supposed to remind of the plague year 1635. This disease was brought in by imperial soldiers during the Thirty Years' War . In Staufen, more than a third of the population of around 2,000 at that time, 350 children and 356 adults, including entire families, died during the epidemic, which lasted more than half a year. The survivors were plundered by the soldiers and impoverished. At that time, Count Hugo von Königsegg-Rothenfels was the owner of the Staufen estate, which belonged to the County of Königsegg-Rothenfels . He is said to have invited the sons of the remaining Staufner households to his castle and entertained them. He handed one of them a flag and ordered it to be carried through the town in a procession on Shrove Tuesday. The day should be celebrated as a happy holiday, as a sign of a new beginning and courageous cohesion of all survivors, despite the hardship.
The original flag has not survived, but a replica from 1765. It shows the alliance coat of arms of the imperial count and his wife, Maria Renata von Hohenzollern-Hechingen.
procedure
The Staufner Fasnatziestag is annually on Shrove Tuesday . On this day, however, the market town does not have the usual carnival bustle and disguises, but traditional traditional costumes are worn and flags are hoisted on the houses. The traditional process is precisely defined.
From eight o'clock in the morning the unmarried young men of the place, as well as the senior ensigns and senior vice-ensigns and the reigning flag section with the Föhla (young girls), initially gather in the ensign's house. The so-called "Butz", a figure dressed in a harlequin style with the "Fleckenhäs" , symbolically cleanses the arriving party and the house corridors of the plague with his broom. The traditional “morning soup” is served to the invited guests. If the ensign does not come from the area - that is, the town center - the "Einkehr" traditionally serves as an ensign. Meanwhile, the old chargers and the brass band meet in a café.
At ten o'clock the pageant is put together with brass music and drumming corps at the ensign's house. From there the parade goes through the market place, under the guidance of the broom-swinging and dancing "Butzen", who again symbolically cleans the street, festival participants and onlookers of the disease. Behind them march the drum major, the drummers, wind musicians, senior vice-ensigns, senior ensigns, the ensign with the flag brothers, the Föhla and the unmarried boys of the place.
In front of the parish church of St. Peter and Paul, after a drum roll with the flag lowered, the ensign in the "prologue" commemorates all Staufner citizens who died in past wars and those who in the past centuries were loyal to the flag, their homeland and the old traditions stood. Then the ensign waves the flag three times in both directions over his head and reminds of the origin of the custom and its founder. At the end he calls: "Today we should unite according to the old Staufner custom: happiness, friendship and honesty". This is the sign for the participants to go to the party hall, where a morning pint with brass music begins. To the amusement of the visitors, the “Butz” travels to the music in the bars.
At 12 o'clock we have lunch together at a festive table, only the boy sits at a small extra table and has to eat from a simple clay pot. This gesture is intended to remind of those afflicted by the plague and therefore avoided as lepers. After the meal, the section performs the traditional Française , a ballroom dance.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the young boys and married men move through the village together. At the church they meet the Föhla (girls) waiting there, who then choose one of the married men. The couples then go arm in arm to a restaurant where the “Matour” (men's tour) is celebrated. Since 1919 there has also been the reverse process: the Buebe move on and meet the married women. In this “Wibertour” (women’s tour) the boys are entertained by the married women in a dance hall. The whole thing is called the “Ma and Wibertour” (men and women tour). Meanwhile, the Butz guards the two festival halls and does not allow unauthorized persons in. After 5 p.m., all participants meet to dance together.
This is followed by another parade with drummers to the church. There a circle is formed around the Butz. This runs three times the round and then "dies" at the same time as the ringing of prayer in the evening at 6 p.m. on a brush pile, suddenly plagued. After a drum roll he is carried away. Led by the drummers and the ensign with the traditional flag, all participants march with torches to the ensign's house in the falling darkness. In the Kurhaus there is a general dance fun that concludes the Fasnatziestag until midnight.