Bird shooting

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Parrot shooting in Avignon , 17th century

The bird shooting , regionally also called eagle shooting , is an old shooting competition in which the aim is to shoot a wooden bird on a high pole, the bird pole, with a firearm or crossbow . The bird, which is partly made of artistically turned or sawed out and painted wooden parts, is often referred to as a papagoy . Bird shooting is usually accompanied by a village or rifle festival . The competition area is often referred to as a bird meadow .

history

The Düsseldorf artist's bird shooting in the Grafenberg Forest , 1842–1844

The custom arose in the Middle Ages in Central Europe, when larger parts of the male city population were still used to defend the city as part of their military service and had to practice shooting. The historical roots of the vigilante groups , which gained new political significance in the course of the March Revolution in 1848 , also lie here in Germany . Bird shooting became popular in the early 19th century as a bourgeois men's sport and leisure activity. That it served to social contacts within professional and social circles among his peers festive maintain, shows about Friedrich Bosers painting The bird shooting the Dusseldorf artist in Grafenberg forest .

The children's bird shooting emerged at the end of the 19th century when there was an increasing number of school festivals, which were often based on the model of the "adult festivals". However, air rifles or a bow and arrow are used here. The custom is still widespread in rural areas, for example in Dithmarschen , Stormarn , other parts of Schleswig-Holstein , the Wesermarsch , the old district of Wittgenstein , the Sauerland , Upper Lusatia , in Braunschweig, but also in parts of the Münsterland and Hamm.

Depending on the region and custom, whoever either splits the body of the bird or shoots the last part of the bird becomes the rifleman king. Fragments that have been shot up to then are either used according to their numbering to determine the further places or given to the king as mementos . Alternatively, point systems are also used. The shooter king is the one who achieves the highest number of points, the further placements are determined accordingly.

Shooting clubs also organize bird shooting in order to determine a rifleman . The bird is mounted 29 meters high at the end of a long pole and the individual parts are shot down with a small-caliber, shotgun or air rifle, but also with a crossbow. Due to modern safety regulations, the rifle is attached to a stand (mount) that only allows aiming in the area of ​​the bullet trap in which the bird attached to be shot is located.

During the eagle shooting of the high school students at the Rutenfest Ravensburg , a crossbow is shot at a wooden imperial eagle , whose insignia and feathers can be shot individually; The rifle king is the rifleman of the Reichsapfel (when shooting the boys) or the similarly designed "city seal" (when shooting the girls).

Others

The bird shooting (1822) is a comedy in five acts by Heinrich Clauren .

photos

  • Parrot shooting in Bern 1801

  • Wooden bird for bird shooting ( Museum of Thuringian Folklore Erfurt )

  • Double-headed eagle for a Brunswick bird shooting

  • Eagle shooting at the Rutenfest Ravensburg

  • Donning the crossbow to shoot the birds

  • Crossbow archer badge

  • Cross of Honor of the Crossbow Riflemen, Herman Gerner, Honorary President of the Crossbow Rifle Guild Braunschweig

See also

literature

  • Carl Jakob Durheim: Historical communications on the history of the "aristocratic Flitzbogen-Schützengesellschaft von Bern," from its origin to the present time 1856. In: Berner Taschenbuch on the year 1857 , pp. 79–121 doi : 10.5169 / seals-119725 . - Especially pages 111–113, description of a "parrot shooting".
  • Jürg A. Meier: The parrot or bird shooting in the Waadt, 1515-1798 and at the beginning of the 19th century with special consideration of Grandson ... , different cover title The parrot shooting in the Waadt , brochure with 56 pages as a special print from the Zeitschrift Waffen- und Costumekunde - Journal for the history of weapons and clothing , Volume 54 (2012), Issue 1, [Zurich]: [Jürg A. Meier], 2013

Web links

Commons : Bird Shooting  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Compare the information from the German National Library