Neptune Festival
The Neptune Festival is a kind of fun baptism for children and young people. The baptized are accepted into the kingdom of Neptune . The Neptune Festival takes place mainly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the Baltic Sea or at bathing lakes in children's holiday camps , in city and outdoor pools or at general beach festivals. A Neptune Festival is often the program highlight of a children's camp stay.
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The course of the festival is not subject to any fixed rules and takes place differently from place to place, but it often begins with a man or supervisor disguised as Neptune, usually painted green with a beard and trident, together with his assistants, the so-called captors , "Marched in" or arrived by boat. The captors are also painted green and clad in seaweed or seaweed-like fluttering material.
Before that, some children are selected for baptism. These are mostly unsuspecting among the waiting spectators. Sometimes all first-time participants are baptized.
After some general statements, Neptune calls out the name of the person to be baptized, whereupon he often tries to escape. The captors catch the baptized person and bring him to Neptune, where he has to have a pre-mixed drink while the captors hold him. This mix of drinks appears unsightly and tastes strange to unpleasant (water with Maggi, lemonade with vinegar, bread rolls dissolved in salt water, etc.). Sometimes a poem, a “prayer to Neptune”, has to be memorized and recited. Then the person to be baptized is "given to the sea"; he is thrown into the water. After the baptism he receives a certificate with a baptismal name, e.g. B. Slimy Sea Cucumber or Round Dolphin .
The ritual is based on the equatorial baptism known from seafaring .
See also
- Neptunalia , the Roman festival of Neptune on July 23rd
