Wreath riding

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The wreath riding in Weitensfeld in the Gurktal is one of the oldest traditional festivals in Carinthia . The event, which takes place at Whitsun and is framed by a fair, attracts several thousand visitors every year.

The wreath riding to Weitensfeld was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in 2016 .

Historical background

Pentecost Sunday: Horsemen move to the neighboring villages

According to a legend, in the years when the plague raged in Weitensfeld , only three citizens' sons and a noblewoman from the nearby Thurnhof survived the plague. After a race, the noble lady shook hands with the winner to form the covenant of life. This is said to have resulted in wreath riding as a memory custom and must be held annually. If it did not happen one day, legend has it that disaster would break into the market. On the occasion of such a case, according to this legend, the dead of the plague rode at night, which the Weitensfelder could see the next morning from the market street, which was churned by hoofs.

The oldest report on wreath riding that is still available today comes from Carinthia from 1814, which was then published as a supplement to the Klagenfurter Zeitung ; This report already mentioned a centuries-old custom. According to reports from 1867 and 1891, this custom was mentioned in a document as early as 1567, but the historical documents were destroyed in the many fires that struck Weitensfeld.

The winner of the Kranzellauf can kiss the stone maiden, a living one every 25 years (most recently in 1997). Until 1922 there was only an anniversary maiden every 50 years, since after the Second World War in 1947 another such event was "inserted", maidens of flesh and blood are kissed every 25 years while riding the wreath.

In March 2016, the Austrian UNESCO Commission included this culture as Kranzelreit zu Weitensfeld in the register of national intangible cultural heritage in Austria , in the section on social practices, rituals and celebrations. The purpose of this designation is binding protection as a living cultural tradition.

procedure

The stone virgin on the Weitensfeld main square

The festival, which attracts several thousand visitors every year, takes place on the two days of Pentecost. The original custom, the race for the bride on Whit Monday, has been supplemented over the past hundred years.

On Pentecost Sunday at 12 noon, the Kranzelreiter meet in the Herzelehof , while the Weitensfeld brass band marches from the upper to the lower market and plays local marches. The riders then move at a leisurely trot - changing annually - to the neighboring villages of Altenmarkt and Zweinitz to invite the people for the following day. At around 3 p.m. they return to Weitensfeld, where the population awaits them at the market gate, so that they can move from house to house. In every house, the leader cheers the residents, and the riders are entertained with wine, schnapps and pastries. The events that occurred in the house during the past year are sung about in a humorous way with Gstanzln , funny quatrains.

On Whit Monday, a large fair forms the framework for the highlights of the event, the competition and the race. The riders gather at 2 p.m., the entire main square is densely packed with people, the crowd around the stone market maiden standing on the stand of the market fountain is densest. The sculpture was made in 1977 by the Feistritz sculptor Konrad Campidell and replaced the older wooden figure. The figure, festively decorated for this occasion, waits for the winner of the race on this day. She wears a white dress and a red sash , her head is adorned with a bridal wreath, in her left hand she carries a bunch of keys, in her right a peony .

From the upper market square, the riders ride their decorated horses three times the route to the stone maiden at a gallop, which is supposed to represent the escape from the plague or its expulsion. Then the three runners, dressed like the bride in white clothes and with a red sash, line up. Three of the best riders jump ahead to make room and the other riders gallop after the runners. The race winner then mounts the winning horse and rides, flanked by the other two runners, to the Jungfrau at the market fountain, climbs up to the Jungfrau with the help of a ladder, hugs and kisses her. Then the runners dance the specially composed waltz Jungfrauenkuss (Gurktaler Waltz) with the girls standing in front of the Jungfrauenbrunnen .

literature

  • Weitensfelder Kranzel riding in: Kurt Grafschafter: That's the custom in Carinthia . Verlag Johannes Heyn, Klagenfurt 1999, ISBN 3-85366-899-2 , pp. 146-149
  • Franz Pirker, market town of Weitensfeld in the Gurktal (ed.): The Weitensfelder Kranzelreiten . Self-published by the market town of Weitensfeld im Gurktal, Repacopy Klagenfurt, without year, without ISBN [40-page brochure]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Course of the wreath riding. Weitensfelder-kranzelreiten.at
  2. ↑ A kiss that you will never forget. ( Memento from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kleine Zeitung online, May 18, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kranzel riding to Weitensfeld. Austrian Commission for UNESCO: List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria. immaterielleskulturerbe.unesco.at (accessed March 31, 2016).