Plauen bird shooting
The Plauen bird shooting is the largest folk festival in the Vogtland .
The tradition of folk festivals in Plauen goes back five centuries. The guild of target and rifle shooters was founded in Plauen in the middle of the 16th century , and its members met to practice shooting. A large audience came together for public competitions. Musicians played, beer was poured, dice rolled and carousels spun; the first folk festivals arose.
At Whitsun in 1884, the people of Plauen celebrated the opening of the new rifle house, the “Treffers”, with a large rifle parade.
After the fall of the Wall, the shooters came together again in a newly founded club and since 1996 they have been celebrating the " bird shooting " every year in the week of Pentecost .
The festival begins on Pentecost Saturday with a rifle rifle, the determination of the "Plauen Eagle King" while shooting the crossbow at the wooden eagle, and is framed by a nine-day folk festival.