Fishing day

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Fishermen fishing out the stream at the inlet

The fishing day is a traditional festival of the city of Memmingen . The city stream is fished out in order to be drained and cleaned, and at the same time a fisherman king is identified among almost 1,200 fishermen . Every year 30,000 to 40,000 people come to the festival as participants or spectators.

history

The fishing day has its origins in the Middle Ages. The Memmingers have been fishing the Stadtbach empty every year since 1465. Until 1955, the fishing day around Bartholomä (August 24th) took place. Since 1955 it has been held together with the Memmingen Children's Festival in the last week before the summer holidays. In the past, the Memminger Ach served as an irrigation and drainage system for the Memmingen craftsmen. The tanners in particular needed the water to process the skins. The stream was also used to dispose of tannery waste, faeces and remains from the slaughterhouses. Once a year it was drained to clear the rubbish from the bed of the stream and to repair the bridges. Switching between the guilds, the journeymen have been allowed to fish the brook every year since the 16th century.

The festival was reorganized around the turn of the century. This included the founding of the Memmingen Fisherman's Day Association , to which the city entrusted the overall implementation of the Fisherman's Day in 1919. Due to the sharp decrease in the number of male club members to around 550 after the First World War, it was decided that not only those who are entitled to the home but also young men have the right to fish out. At that time it was also determined that only "bears" could be used for fishing. The bear is a semicircular fishing net made from a fork of a branch or, more recently, from more durable metal. Since 1980, in addition to the Fisherman's Day, the association has also organized the Wallenstein Festival every four years as the Great Fisherman’s Day for a week .

Festive course

The focus of the annual festival is still the stream fishing on Saturday morning. Traditionally, however, a whole weekend of events has long since emerged, from the proclamation of the fishing day on Friday evening to the home hour on Sunday.

Fishermen's meeting

On Wednesday, a week before the fish harvest, all fishermen meet for the fishermen's meeting in the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Haus. There you will be informed about innovations or changes and the exact course of the festival will be announced.

Fisherman's Day Theater

In the week before the festive days, the Fischertagstheater has been performed by the theater group in the Fischertagsverein since around 1950 (except in the Wallenstein years). Local or classical pieces are played in Swabian dialect.

Fisherman's eve

The fishing fountain on Schrannenplatz

On the eve of Fisherman's Day (Friday) at 6:00 p.m. on the market square of the Stadtbüttel, the Stadtgarde in traditional costumes proclaims Fisherman's Day. Then a pageant leads through the old town to Schrannenplatz, where the figure is dressed on the fishing fountain created by Max Pöppel . The streets and pubs of the city celebrate until the early morning. In the meantime, the night watchman and his henchmen take the historic night watchman path through the old town. The curfew ends between three and six o'clock.

Fishing train

As early as 6 a.m. on Saturday, the Stadtbach fishermen meet in the Realschulhof in front of the Westertor. Every fisherman has to have his fishing license stamped here. Without this stamp the card is not valid. The fishing procession then moves from there shortly after 7 a.m., accompanied by numerous chapels, across Zangmeisterstraße, Marktplatz, Kramerstraße (pedestrian zone) to Schrannenplatz, where the fisherman's saying is read out. The traditional fisherman's day song, the Schmotzmarsch, reads: "Schmotz, schmotz, dirt on dirt, Schellakönig, washed pig!". This is played up and down by all bands on Fisherman's Day. It was composed in 1903 by the then Stadtkapellmeister Ostermayer.

Fisherman's saying

Here, at around 7:30 a.m., the chief fisherman speaks the fisherman's saying on a huge wooden barrel in front of the Löwen inn, referring to what happened in the city last year. At around 7:50 am, the fisherman's saying ends with a triple "Hö" and the fishermen rush to their place on the Stadtbach, where the bucket carriers are already waiting. The bucket carrier is the most important person besides the fisherman and is responsible for ensuring that the bucket for the caught fish is sufficiently filled with fresh Stadtbach water. Before the end of the fisherman's verdict, fishermen are prohibited from taking a seat on the Stadtbach.

Stream fishing

Video of brook fishing on Fisherman's Day 2008

Stream fishing is the highlight of the annual fishing day. At eight o'clock the fishermen then itch (jump) after a gunshot with their "bears" into the city stream and begin to fish out. The goal of every fisherman is to catch at least one of the brown and rainbow trout. The fishermen and spectators always cheer when a trout lands in the net. In order to preserve the centuries-old tradition, the fishermen must be male, born in Memmingen or registered with their first place of residence in the city for 5 years and be members of the fishing day club. Furthermore, the participants must be in possession of the state fishing license or have attended the club's internal fishing course and behave properly while fishing. It is only allowed to fish with a stamped fishing license on the hat. Numerous stream supervisors, together with the official veterinarians, ensure proper behavior when fishing out, both in and outside the city stream. Large trout can be handed in for weighing at the scales in front of the large guild on the market square and at the Frauenkirche. The heaviest trout ( king trout ) is then determined there.

Coronation early pint

The Fischer King Trout is the subsequent coronation brunch crowned the new Fisher King at 10 am in the station hall. His predecessor is dethroned by kicking his ass with a loaf of bread, a radish, a giant stick and a liter of beer . Afterwards, the new fisherman's king is carried onto the stage accompanied by the town guard and fishermen's group during the Schmotzmarsch (see below), where he takes his place on the birch throne. Furthermore, the city band plays there and there are performances and interludes by numerous groups. In addition, every year six fishermen with particularly beautiful clothes are selected early in the morning when stamping their fishing cards and then awarded a prize here.

Re-fishing

At 1.30 p.m., the fishing group (not to be confused with the Stadtbach fishermen) begins to fish in the Stadtbach from the Eichbrücke to Schrannenplatz. The remaining trout are caught here when the water level is significantly lower, before the city stream is completely drained in the days after the fishing day.

Train of the Fisher King

In the evening at 6 p.m., the new fisherman king is presented to the audience during a parade. Numerous groups from the Fisherman's Day Association accompany the procession as an entourage of the Fisher King, along with several chapels. The move usually begins in Kempter Straße, then continues via Schrannenplatz, Lindentorstraße, Waldhornstraße, Salzstraße, Kalchstraße and Marktplatz until it is closed on Ulmer Straße.

Fishing evening

In honor of the fisherman king, the fishermen's evening takes place on the market square (in bad weather in the town hall), where various groups entertain the audience with entertainment, music, performances and dancing. Every four years, the Wallenstein Festival begins in the city on the Sunday after Fisherman's Day . They are considered the largest history festivals in Europe.

criticism

The festival has been criticized by animal rights activists because they consider it a competition-oriented fishing campaign. They describe the participants as abusers of animals and demand that the event be banned. Basically, however, the fishing day serves to clean the city stream, which is completely drained and cleaned after it has been fished out. In the last decade the association implemented many measures to refute the allegation of animal suffering. Every Stadtbach fisherman must have a state fishing license or have attended an internal fishing course. Only buckets with a capacity of at least 14 liters are used and the trout are killed promptly in separate supply tents. Stream fishing is observed every year by official veterinarians and numerous instructed stream supervisors. Small to medium violations are usually punished by the board of directors with warnings, club penalties or life-long club exclusion. The festival was already disrupted by sit-ins on the route of the fishing train. The animal welfare organizations Animals United (formerly Animal 2000) and PETA have also tried to abolish Fisherman's Day without success. Numerous criminal charges were dropped by the public prosecutor. Overall, according to surveys in Memmingen and the surrounding area, the majority of the population is in favor of the festival going on.

For some years now, the organizers have been accused of sexism. While both women and men can join the club, according to the statutes, only male club members with their first place of residence in the city are allowed to fish out of the brook. The Articles of Association provide for written exceptions to this, but have not yet been issued. Younger people advocate updating the customs with the participation of women and girls as being up to date. To this day, it cannot be clarified without a doubt whether women were ever present when the brook was fished in the history of Fisherman's Day. City archivist Christoph Engelhard, however, considers it “unlikely that women were there when the brook was fished out”. However, some women themselves counter that they are by no means excluded from the festival, as, among other things, they play an important role as "bucket carriers" and do not want to "itch" in the cold city stream. A female member of the Fischertagsverein had sought to amend the statutes twice (in 2018 and 2019), which were rejected by a large majority. The initiator then filed a lawsuit at the Memmingen district court for discrimination. The hearing was postponed to August 2020 due to corona. In order to emphasize this concern, a group of women used the fishing day, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic , to jump into the Memminger Stadtbach forbidden and to demonstrate for the right to participate in the fishing day.

Web links

Commons : Fisherman's Day  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christoph Engelhard: From the custom of chopping off the brook Part 3 Customs . Ed .: Memminger Zeitung, Spiegelschwab. tape 3 . Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen July 2019, p. 10 .
  2. ^ Michael Ruppert: Fischertagsverein Memmingen. Retrieved July 23, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Theater group in the Fischertagsverein Memmingen eV Accessed on July 21, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Burghart, Christoph Engelhard, Reinhard Heuss, Rolf Kurringer, Joseph Neudegger: 100 Years of the Memmingen Fisherman's Day Association - Festschrift . Ed .: Fischertagsverein Memmingen eV Memmingen May 2000, p. 79 .
  5. ↑ a b FOCUS Online: "Tierquälerstadt: Peta puts all of Memmingen in pillory - what madness!" Retrieved March 2, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Fischertagsverein Memmingen: Regulations for fishing out the city stream and obtaining royal dignity. In: Association statutes. Retrieved March 3, 2019 .
  7. ^ Fischertagsverein Memmingen eV: Association statutes. In: §10 club penalties. Retrieved July 23, 2018 .
  8. ↑ In Memmingen there is a dispute as to whether women can catch fish. In: Tagesspiegel Online. Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH, February 16, 2019, accessed on February 27, 2019 .
  9. ^ Fischertagsverein Memmingen eV: Association statutes. In: §8 Paragraph 3 Other rights and obligations of the members. Retrieved February 27, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Memmingen: Were women allowed to itch in the Stadtbach earlier? Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Stephanie Eßer: Video survey: Memminger Fischertag: Should women also be allowed to "itch" in the brook? In: all-in.de. Allgäuer Zeitung, February 27, 2019, accessed on March 2, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Verena Kaulfersch: Heimatfest: At the Memminger Fischertag only men “itch” in the stream. In: all-in.de. Allgäuer Zeitung, March 21, 2018, accessed on March 23, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Peter Allgaier, Christine Kellermann: Stadtbachausfischen in Memmingen still only for men. In: BR24. Bayerischer Rundfunk, March 21, 2019, accessed on March 23, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Lisa Duhm: Why a woman fights to be allowed to jump into the brook. In: Der Spiegel . August 9, 2020, accessed August 9, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Memminger Zeitung: Are women allowed to itch in the Stadtbach? Trial at Memmingen District Court in April
  16. ↑ shifted process of Memminger fishing day: rt1-suedschwaben.de
  17. ↑ news-fact.eu: Rally of young women on the occasion of the Memminger Fischer Tags