Free night
Nowadays, the night from April 30th to May 1st is sometimes referred to as Freinacht , also called Witches ' Night, in southern German-speaking countries . It is often used by young people to steal the maypole of neighboring communities or to hang garden doors and carry them to the maypole. Since the 1980s, probably earlier, the free night has also been increasingly used for all sorts of pranks , which, however, have nothing to do with the custom of the free night. Wrapping cars with toilet paper, spraying doorknobs and cars with shaving foam or hiding things are popular. In addition to these harmless pranks, property damage and vandalism are also increasing on the free nights .
In Switzerland and parts of southwestern Germany is under free night one night with officially extended or unlimited hotel and catering service in restaurants or solid economies understood (without curfew ).
origin
In today's free night, different, formerly independent customs presumably converge. The term free night originally comes from Upper Bavaria and referred to the night before a certain holiday. Unlike today, there were other dates in addition to the night of May 1st. For the district of Fürstenfeldbruck west of Munich, the nights on April 1 , from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday , on Georgi ( April 23 ) and from Whit Saturday to Pentecost Sunday were considered free nights. Since it was considered improper in the rural environment to have movable inventory around on the following holiday, this was "cleaned up" by the village youth. Hiding open gates or dismantling a hay wagon standing around and then assembling it on a barn roof or inside the house was popular.
additional
There are similar Mayan customs in rural areas in Switzerland. The somewhat coarser free nights in Zurich on New Year's Eve or on Halloween (October 31st) are not of the same origin .
See also
swell
- ^ Working group culture, customs, history (ed.): Puchheim. The church in old pictures, maps and plans. 2nd Edition. Geiger-Verlag, Horb am Neckar 1999, ISBN 3-89-570428-8 , p. 185.
- ↑ Anton Birlinger: Volksthümliches from Swabia: Bd. Sitten und Gebräuche . Herder, January 1, 1862 ( google.com [accessed April 24, 2016]).