Lauffener May Day

The Lauffener Maientag was one of the traditional May days in Baden-Württemberg . The May Day in Lauffen am Neckar was first mentioned in 1652. From the early 18th century until the German inflation in 1922/23 at the latest, there was a local May Day Foundation. The tradition of Lauffen May Day is continued today in the Lauffen Children's Festival .

history

The Lauffen May Day was first mentioned on June 18, 1652 on the occasion of the archival record of a dispute during May Day . Due to the loss of most of the city's archives in the fire of March 11, 1707, no other documented sources are available prior to 1707. It is documented for 1714 that dragoons decorated the fountain for the Lauffen May Day. 1715/16 can be read for the first time from leading into the Maien , which means the procession usual for May days. At that time it led to the fairground in Forchenwald and back again. In 1719 musicians are recorded on May Day.

As elsewhere, the festival probably went back to the students' parades after the school visit. Over time, certain traditions developed. The children were festively dressed. The girls wore the namesake May (birch twigs with colorful ribbons), the boys wore decorated staffs, rapiers and the like. The city and the church were festively decorated. The festival began in the morning with the children's procession to church and a service, then they went through the city with music, where they had lunch. In the afternoon, the procession continued from Talheimer Tor over the Chaussee to the fairground in the Forchenwäldchen. The most diligent student led the procession as the “May King”, who chose his “May Queen” from among the girls. When they arrived in the Forchenwäldchen, sayings were recited, after which a race took place and finally the May dance began, in which adults also took part and whose loose manners were criticized on various occasions. At the same time as the dance, people began to eat and drink in the tents that were set up. When it got dark, people went back to town, where they continued to dance and drink in the inns until morning.

The May days were not without problems. On the one hand, they caused costs, because the supervising teachers had to pay the May money, the participating schoolchildren received paper, the city guard had to be paid for their services, and the participating musicians also received remuneration. The costs were taken from the Eberhardinian Gestifft , a foundation by Eberhards III. from 1664, which should primarily benefit the poor, so that there were repeated disputes between the city council and the saints care about the use of the foundation funds. From around 1710 a civil May Day Foundation existed. The May days were also a thorn in the side of the church leaders, as they had a very secular character with extravagant drinking and dancing. The drink in particular was probably the reason why the numerous soldiers billeted at Lauffen kept going over the top on May day and that from 1788 a separate dance area was created in the town hall for notables, away from the common people.

From 1757 the general synod of Württemberg tried to stop the May days in Württemberg. May Day 1761 was canceled due to pressure from the Oberamtmann Hofacker in Lauffen. In 1763 adverse circumstances (collapse of the churchyard wall and billeting of a strong garrison) prevented May Day again. May Day was also canceled in 1775. In 1778 the Lauffen May Day was mentioned in detail in David Christoph Seybold's novel Hartmann, a Wirtemberg monastery history , a dance scene during the May dance is one of the key scenes of the novel. Whether Seybold's descriptions are all realistic is questionable, but based on some very accurate details, it is considered certain that Seybold took part in a May day and at least some of his descriptions are realistic. In 1784, May Day was also described in the journal from and for Germany , and the Lauffen wine was also particularly praised. The Wirtembergische Hof calendar from 1790 also praised the festival. In the late 18th century, May Day only took place every two years, before Lauffen felt the troubled times of the coalition wars against France from 1794 and instead of a festival there were only annual paper allocations for school children.

In 1822, the General Synod determined that the May days should only be celebrated as pure children and youth festivals, which not all places adhered to. In Lauffen, where the festival started again that year, it was decided to celebrate May Day again as in previous years with drinks and dancing. The May Day Foundation, which still existed, became a pure paper foundation, since from the middle of the 19th century it was only used to allocate paper for school children. The inflation of 1922/23 finally wiped out the foundation's capital.

The Lauffen May Day lives on today in the regular Lauffen Children's Festival .

literature

• Norbert Hoffmann: Lauffener May Day and May Day Foundation 1652–1922 . In: Lauffener Kinderfest 2008 , pp. 14–33.