Booger (warning sign)
A booger is a veiled figure that was attached to the battlements of the city walls during the Thirty Years War as a warning sign. The figures, visible from afar, were intended to warn their own population of approaching enemy troops and at the same time have a deterrent effect on the enemy. When they advanced against the city walls, the straw figures were set on fire to set a visual signal for the occupation of the walls, and finally thrown down on the enemy. Based on these figures, the scarecrows were called "boogers" or "barley poples" , especially in the Silesian dialect . To this day, booger means to cover something up or to do something in secret.
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Weinhold: Contributions to a Silesian dictionary. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1855, p. 72.