Mühlhäuser fair
The city of Mühlhausen / Thuringia boasts the largest city fair in Germany, the consecration festival, which has been celebrated by all parishes since 1877.
The Mühlhausen fair usually begins on the Friday of the last week in August and ends on the Sunday of the following week, with the first weekend being referred to as the "Big Fair" and the following weekend as the "Small Fair".
Overview
The organization of the fair is the responsibility of the traditional association Mühlhäuser Heimatfeste e. V. This is where the Kirmesgemeinden belong as members. The traditional association has a board of directors, which is chaired by the mayor of the fair. The fair communities as member associations have a board, the chairman of which is traditionally called the fair mayor. In contrast to this, the fair in rural communities is organized by unmarried fair-boys.
Currently in 2019 there are 27 fair communities, which were originally due to the districts belonging to the respective city church. However, this is no longer the case today.
During the fair week, each fair community organizes its own cultural and event program. The venues are the fair tents and Festbauden on the respective fairgrounds. Festbauden are permanent houses, which mainly serve the purpose of fair celebrations. Examples are the Schaffenbaude of the Kirmesgemeinde (KG) Schaffentorstraße and the KG Frohsinn in Arbeitsdank, the Zinkengasse, the Weinbergstraße and the Mönchgasse, which has existed since 1964 .
On the central fixed space, the Blobach, is traditionally a Rummel constructed of various Schaustellern is aligned and catering establishments, and on the on the second Fairground Saturday, a final fireworks, sponsored by the fairground takes place.
Streets and fairgrounds are decorated with pennant chains at fair time, the fair trees with fair chains. These fair chains are glued together by the children of the fair communities and also by schools and kindergartens. The fair trees are mostly spruce from the Mühlhausen city forest, which are set up in prominent places for the fair. In addition, a fair tree is set up by each fair community on their fairgrounds, around which the children can dance fair circles. These traditional carnival songs are sung and organized children's games, such as the valve stroke, a variation of the pot hitting . A fair tree that grows with the child stands on the fairground of KG Frohsinn . The fair songs that have emerged over the years, which are part of the folk music of the city of Mühlhausen and are cultivated during the fair, play a major role. They are mainly sung to the children's games, played by the marching band and taught in the Mühlhausen schools and kindergartens.
Climax
The highlight of every fair is the parade through the old town of Mühlhausen, which attracts tens of thousands of spectators every year. It is comparable to the parades of the Rhenish-Westphalian carnival . Various political and city-historical topics are presented by the fair communities and other associations involved in the parade on floats or in the disguises of the marching groups.
The uniformed marching bands play an important role in the parade and the events of the fair communities . With the loud sounds of Schellenbaum, drum whistles , drums and fanfares on the morning of the Sunday fair, they ensure that the mill houses and their guests get up on time.
As part of the move, the marching bands serenade the mayor of the city of Mühlhausen.
The music show of the local marching bands and visiting clubs on the Mühlhausen Untermarkt on the afternoon of the fair on Saturday also has a tradition. With the organ concert in the Marienkirche and the subsequent fireworks on the Blobach, the fair ends after ten days.
Culinary fairgrounds
In one of the numerous beer tents you can drink beer brewed in Mühlhausen in good company.
The menu is hearty, with pork knuckle or grilled sausage being preferred .
Since the Mühlhausen fair takes place during plum season, the bakeries traditionally offer plum cake .
Supporting program
In addition to the fair, the old town run on the fair Saturday and the craft market, which is held by the Mühlhausen museums on Kristanplatz, have recently taken place.
There is also a tradition of the children's lantern and torch parades accompanied by the Mühlhausen minstrels' procession and the mayor and mayor of the fair on the evening of the fair on Sunday.
Fair communities
| Fair community | Consist | first fair mayor | acting mayor of the fair |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activist Ring II | since 1965 | Jens Strohschein | |
| On the Kruchenplan | since 2018 | Volker Schröder | |
| Ammer Bridge | since 1928 | Jörg Breitbarth | |
| At the Rimbach | since 1877 | Uwe Anhalt | |
| Workers welfare | since 1928 | Marcus Ahner | |
| Arndtstrasse / Prof.-Berger-Strasse | since 1950 | Heinrich Windolf | Klaus Perlett |
| Feldstrasse / Sondershäuser Strasse | since 1898 | Sebastian Bachmann | |
| Happiness | since 1948 | Mathias Spiller | |
| gardenstreet | Since 1993 | Roland Boettner | |
| Coziness after work | since 1948 | Willi Heese | Peter Albrecht |
| Herbal Street | since 1909 | Hans-Ullrich Thurau | |
| Fairground | since 2005 | Frank Bellstedt | |
| Mittelstrasse | since 1974 | Marion Schmidt | |
| Middle Wanfrieder Strasse | 1948–1968 1978–1986 since 2010 |
Annemarie Klein | Sylvia Biebrach |
| Mönchgasse | since 1947 | Volker Zieger | |
| Obere Grünstraße | since 1888 | Kerstin Braun | |
| Lower Rosenstrasse | since 1985 | Bernd Pumpkin | Peggy Augener |
| Saint Jacobi | since 1834 | Andreas Huck | |
| Schaffentorstrasse | since 1877 | Wieland Eisenhardt | |
| marching band | since 1962 | Jens Bardelle | |
| Viktoriastrasse | since 1929 | Andreas Schreiber | |
| Vogteier place | since 1947 | Mrs. J. Kleinschmidt | Peter Bellstedt |
| Webergasse | since 2019 | Thomas Tschacher | |
| Way to own home | since 1955 | Simone Schanda | |
| Weinbergstrasse / Graßhofstrasse | since 1939 | Daniel Probandt | |
| Reversible rifle / white mice | since 1947 | André Lehmann | |
| Zinkengasse | since 1883 | Dietmar Kroh | |
| Zöllnersgasse | since 1883 | Max Burghardt | Rainer Mülverstedt |
Mayor of the Fair
The mayor of the fair is elected by the fair mayors of the Mühlhausen fair communities as head of the Mühlhausen town fair. In the recent past these were or are:
- 1972–2010: Günter Würfel
- 2010–2019: Helmut Mey
- since 2019: Steffen Gretsch
particularities
- The long-time mayor of the fair was Günter Würfel . He held the office from 1972 until his death in 2010. In 2004 he was made honorary citizenship of the city of Mühlhausen for his services. For years he was at the head of the fair parade. In 2010 a larger-than-life portrait was carried there in his honor.
- The 132nd fair in 2009 was postponed by one week due to the traditional election for the Thuringian state parliament, so it only began on the first weekend in September.
Say
A legend widespread in Mühlhausen and the surrounding area, which is often depicted as a motif wagon at the Mühlhausen fair, reports that the city was to be attacked by a Hessian army and by robber barons from Eichsfeld.
The mill houses did not want to spoil a festival taking place at this time. That is why the Mühlhausen women had come up with a ruse. As a deception, they placed heavily armored pegs on the city wall. The Hessians examined the city from afar. When they found them in apparently full defense and well manned, they decided not to attack the city and to move on. Since then, people in Mühlhausen have spoken of the " blind Hessians " and since that day the mill houses are also called "mill houses pegs".
Web links
- Home page. Traditional association Mühlhäuser Heimatfeste e. V.
swell
- ↑ Heike Vogel (text), Manfred Steinig (photos): Mühlhausen (= Small Thuringia Library. Volume 18). Verlag Progress, Erfurt 1992, ISBN 3-86087-018-1 , p. 17.
- ↑ Kirmesgemeinden. In: traditionsverein-mhl.de, accessed on March 26, 2019.
- ↑ Kirmesgemeinden. In: traditionsverein-mhl.de, accessed on April 29, 2018.
- ↑ Glenn Meyer: Long evening for the election of the board of the traditional association Mühlhäuser Heimatfeste e. V. In: meinanzeiger.de, December 8, 2014, accessed on March 26, 2019 (re-elected for four years in 2014).
- ↑ Thomas Essiger: Election of the board of directors in the traditional association Mühlhäuser Heimatfeste e. V. In: meinanzeiger.de, February 11, 2019, accessed on March 26, 2019.
- ↑ Harald Rockstuhl (ed.): The great Unstrut saga book. The most beautiful legends from the source to the mouth. Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2007, ISBN 978-3-938997-81-9 .