Ox pizzle

An old fern tail with a strap, like the ones innkeepers had behind the counter

More recent bull pizzle, length 90 cm, weight 315 g

Bull pizzle made of wood, 83 cm long

A Ochsenziemer (regional also Ochsenpesel , Ochsenfiesl , ox-tail , Parreschwanz , Hagen tail or in the Switzerland Munifisel called) of medium high German ziemer ( "tail, penis , tail") is a blunt instrument , consisting of a parched ox penis is prepared. It has a finished length of 80–100 cm, is very elastic and heavy.

Use as a baton

The bull pizzle was once used to punish people and animals, but is rarely used in this function today. However , it is still used in horse races such as the Palio di Siena . Some innkeepers still keep an ox pizzle handy for self-defense , so that they can defend themselves against drunken rioters and the like.

The impact of the blow is significant and can cause severe injuries. Ox pizzles were used, among other places, in Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps to mistreat prisoners.

Use as animal feed

Today they are almost exclusively produced as feed for dogs , which is primarily used as a chew toy for the dog's occupation.

Like most hard chew toys, the bull pizzle is also suitable for cleaning the dog's teeth on its own. However, most people find the smell of a chewed bull's piz to be unpleasant, so that more and more synthetically produced, odorless food for dogs for self-cleaning teeth is becoming established.

Other uses

• On Platten , traditional wooden ships in the Salzkammergut , the side-mounted drive rudder is elastically connected to the ship with a bull pizzle.
• As a farr's tail, it is used in various fool figures of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival . Among other things, it is worn by the figure of Bändele and Welschkornnarro together with a pig's bladder.

Web links

Wiktionary: Ox pizzle  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• "Manufacture of Ochsenziemern" (1968) - film by Elfriede Lies from the collection of the Federal Institute for Scientific Film (ÖWF) in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German dictionary . Volume 15, p. 1114.
2. ^ Pierer, entry Ochsenziemer
3. ↑ Wormser Zeitung Wirt used to swing the bull pizzle
4. ↑ Association for Social and Political Science Studies e. V. ( Imprint ): The murder of Ernst Jakob Goldmann (PDF; 994 kB), 7 pages, accessed on October 17, 2008
5. ^ Website of the fool's guild in Zell am Harmersbach