Oelder Pentecost wreath

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Dance around the Whitsun wreath in front of St. Joseph's Church

The dance around the Oelder Pentecost wreath is a Pentecostal custom in Oelde . Every year on Pentecost Sunday and Whit Monday, people dance around Pentecostal trees that have been set up together.

How the custom in Oelde, which is several centuries old, could have originated, developed and survived is unclear. In the Oelder Whitsun wreath booklet, published in 1950 , the customs are explained as follows:

“ The Whitsun wreath comes from the time of the Wotan cult of our ancestors, where the 'May and Flower Festival' was celebrated every year in the bliss month.
Wotan was the main god among the gods of the Germanic peoples , the god of harvest, agriculture and livestock. The maypole , in its original form a birch tree decorated with ribbons and flags (the symbol of health and fertility, Freya's sacred tree ), played the greatest role on the May Festival, which was supposed to express joy at the awakening of nature In many areas it was carried from house to house with singing and was finally set up on the town's market square and danced around by young and old until late at night.
This maypole is a Pentecost chair. Over the centuries the maypole took on a Christian influence, and the ancient songs used to worship nature were mixed with songs of the Christian religion. "

- Oelder Whitsun wreath booklet 1950


No one has been able to clarify clearly whether the origins of the Pentecost wreath can be found here or where. This age-old custom has been preserved in Oelde; the Whitsun wreath is not known anywhere else in the area. However, there are striking similarities with the Lambert celebrations that take place every year in mid-September in Münster and in the Münsterland region .

Whitsun and the Whitsun wreath have always been a household name for Oelder . Young people in particular have always found this tradition easy, as it is they who can express their joie de vivre here in high spirits. The older generation behaves a bit more reserved, mostly when a youthful exuberance wants to interpret the old customs in its current way. Nowadays everything is different in Oelde, of course. Only the Pentecost wreath has remained that pyramid-shaped tripod, perhaps two to three meters high, made of three Fitzean bean poles or wooden beams, which is tied together at the top and given stability by crossbars. The wooden frame has been made in this way or similar since ancient times, before it is wrapped in birch green (today mostly fir green), decorated with flags and hung with torches that illuminate the Pentecost wreath in the evening.

Everything is surrounded by a secret, because nobody knows for sure how this structure came about and what statement it makes. In the afternoons, it is mainly the children who dance around the Whitsun wreath and sing songs that are otherwise largely unknown. Oelder children already learn these songs in kindergarten and elementary school, provided that the educators and teachers are familiar with the needs. In the evening, everyone who feels young enough to take part in the games.

De Uelske Pinxenkranz

The Pentecost wreath songs

  • O Buer, what is the price of ju Hei?
  • O farmer, do you have any money?
  • Schönhannchen in the mill
  • We are now opening the pigeon house
  • Anyone born in January ...
  • Good friend i ask you
  • The Tyroleans are funny
  • Kroup, Füörsken, düör den Toun
  • Laot us sing'n dat niee Leed
  • I am the prince of Thoren
  • Girl, quick on the wreath
  • Three lilies, three lilies
  • Das Oelder Lied (In a wide valley)

literature

  • History of Oelde: Whitsun wreath songs; Folk songs. edited and edited by Christoph Rose, Oelde: Holterdorf 1950
  • Hans Rochol: The Whitsun wreath - a festival: its story - its songs. Oelde: Heimatverein 1986
  • Hans Rochol: Does the Pentecost wreath no longer exist? About an old Oelder tradition. In: Heimatkalender des Kreis Warendorf (1991) ISSN  0932-3864 , pp. 61-63

Sound carrier

  • O BUER, WAT KOST 'JU HEI? - Pentecost wreath songs ; Location manager: Dr. Wolfgang König, 2009

Web links