Tasty Easter

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Schmackostern (in eastern Germany, formerly German-speaking areas in Poland , Silesia and Transylvania ), also Schmagostern and Stiepern (in northern Germany ), is a rural custom at Easter that, like Easter itself, is related to old fertility cults and spring celebrations. Other names are Smaganie in Poland, Šibačka in Slovakia and Pomlázka in the Czech Republic .

At Schmackostern, young men beat young women and vice versa on the first or second day of Easter with the rod of life . The custom is supposed to celebrate the reawakening of nature after winter and to transfer the vitality of the plant shoots to the woman in order to ensure youth, fertility, strength and efficiency.

Origin of name

The Germanists and historians describe this custom as follows: “taste it, taste it, taste it, taste it. Whip the late risers with a braided willow whip on Easter Monday according to age-old customs. - The word is a derivation from taste, taste: hew, whip, and besides Silesia it occurs in northern Bohemia, Upper Lusatia, Upper Hesse and East Prussia. The derivative syllable has nothing to do with Easter (pascha) ”.

In East and West Prussia, Schmackostern is called the "blow with the rod of life", which occurs on Easter Monday, rarely on Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday. The word is derived from Polish smigac, smagac (to whip) or from Low German smack = blow.

There are various regional names for striking with the rod of life , such as B. tickle, freshen up, fudge, feed, feed, beat healthy, childish, piss, schapen, schapruatn, pound.

practice

Today's application

Around Easter in the Czech Republic, many shops sell rods that consist of a stick with several colored ribbons attached to the end. With these the beloved is sometimes surprised and (lovingly) spanked on the street.

Original application

Usually the Schmackostern was practiced on the 2nd day of Easter. In preparation long before Easter, long thin juniper branches ("Kaddickhusch", for the Schmackostern) or birch twigs (for the Stiepern) had been brought to the green in the warm room. These rods were used to go from house to house early in the morning and distribute light pranks to the individual housemates. Whenever possible, one sneaked up to those who were still asleep, lifted the covers and shared the blows on the bare bottom. The children especially visited their parents and the young men the young girls.

The regionally varying practice of tasting Easter goes hand in hand with a certain variety of the so-called "motto" that was said about it. Examples are:

  • "Ostre, taste Ostre, gren Ostre, fif Flade, sesz eggs e stick of bacon, because gö öck glik away."
  • "Tasty Easter, green Easter, five eggs, a piece of bacon, a corner of the cake, a Dittche for beer, then I won't come any more!"
  • "Tasty Easter, green Easter, five eggs, a piece of bacon, a corner of the cake, we are not likely to leave!"
  • "Easter, taster, piece of cake, a few eggs, piece of bacon, otherwise we won't go away."
  • "Easter, Schmackoster, give eggs and bacon, otherwise we won't go away."
  • “Easter taster is here! Three groschen with the beer, three beers and a piece of bacon, then we'll go away! "
  • “One, two, three, here comes the fodder. If you don't give me an Easter egg, I'll break your shirt! "
  • “I'll come here for the tasty Easter, I wish you 'good morning', give me the colored eggs, may be whatever you want: lightning blue, thunder green, chalk white; I take 'them all' with thanks and diligence. "

In the meantime, the tormentors had to hurry, because: once the people got up, they wrested their rods and in their turn started beating the intruders.

Trivia

Significantly, the custom is described in Thomas Mann's story Die Betrogene , where the themes of spring and fertility are closely intertwined with death.

Similar customs are also handed down from Roman antiquity (cf. Faunus ).

See also

literature

  • Paul Sartori : taste easter. In: Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume 7, Columns 1234 to 1236.
  • Volker Schmelzeisen: Schmackostern - word, custom and popular belief. In: Yearbook for East German Folklore. Volume 16, 1973, pp. 104-136.
  • Edward Schröder : Schmackostern In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, Volume 76, Issue 3/4, 1939, p. 303f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Adolf Gottwald, Helmut Rössler: Freudenthal and his district communities. Documentation of a district in the East Sudetenland . Esslingen 1990.
  2. ^ Karl Weinhold: The spread and origin of the Germans in Silesia (=  research on German regional and folklore . Volume 2 ). Stuttgart 1887, p. 157-244 .
  3. ^ Sartori, column 1235.