Harkemei

Harkemei , also Hakelmai or Hackemei , is a harvest thanksgiving custom from the time of the Kurkölnischen Sauerland , was and is still celebrated in Westphalia when the last straw wreath decorated with a harvest wreath was brought in.

Since the previously common sheaves were not allowed to be brought in completely dry (in order to keep the grain losses as low as possible and perhaps also to protect the harvested harvest from fire damage), the last load was symbolically splashed with water or water was poured over the one that covered the wreath fortified over the entrance to the threshing floor. This type of blessing should also provide sufficient moisture to crops at the time of sowing and as they grow.

literature

• Johannes Bödger: Harkemei, harvest cock and wreath of ears of old harvest customs in the Sauerland region of Cologne. In: Marsberger Heimatbund (Ed.): Events and Memories, Vol. 11 (1998/1999). Marsberg 1999, pp. 148-149.
• Christa Lob, Reinhold Lob: About “Bewispeln” and the harvest “Harkemei” - superstitions of the old days; old customs from rural Grevel. In: Heimat Dortmund, Vol. 3. Dortmund 1987, pp. 15-17.