Tanzlinde

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Dance under the linden tree - contemporary representation, 18th century
Langenstadt

Tanzlinden are artistically guided linden trees that used to be the focus of village festivals and customs in some regions. Today they are only found in a few villages.

  • Tanzlinden in the narrower sense are a special form of guided linden . Originally, only guided linden trees were referred to as dancing linden trees, which carried platforms so that people could dance in the treetop. The supporting pillars of the guided dance linden trees are, like the other constructions, often artistically crafted.
  • Dance linden trees in the broader sense are guided linden trees, where people dance around on the ground under the linden tree or outside the branch area.
  • Other dance linden trees are linden trees that are or have been the focus of dance customs without having been given a special shape and without scaffolding.
  • There are also guided linden trees, which are very similar in shape to the classical dancing linden tree (and are therefore often referred to as dancing linden trees), but were never associated with dance customs (e.g. some step linden trees).
  • For the sake of completeness, other forms of guided linden such as B. Linden arbours listed.

General

Peesten
Tanzlinde in Galenbeck
Germany's southernmost dance linden tree in Wald (Hohenzollern) , new plant

In both main forms of the dance linden tree, a framework is built around the trunk of the linden tree at the level of the lower branch wreath, which, among other things, serves to warp the branches. In Tanzlinden the trees are usually natural monuments , the supporting structures are usually also architectural monuments , which together serve as part of village culture, mostly as the center of local traditions and dance customs in connection with church feasts ; The unique cultural significance of the Tanzlinden, which goes far beyond the local villages and regions, is based on this unique interplay of three elements.

The German Tanzlindenmuseum is currently under construction in Limmersdorf , in which, in addition to a comprehensive inventory, a classification and typification and a comprehensive library are to be carried out for the first time.

Since 2014, the Lindenbaum Museum in Neudrossenfeld has been using models to show over 40 examples of guided linden trees in Europe, many of them dance linden trees. The exhibition was written down in the form of an accompanying publication.

Tanzlinden in the narrower sense

With the Tanzlinden in the narrower sense, the branches of the lowest wreath of branches grow, usually at a height of between two and three meters, along under a frame made of massive wooden beams and then upwards again outside on arbor-like (over) man-high trellises with window cutouts or on balustrades so that it looks as if the branches carry the beam construction; actually, the branches are hanging on the beam structures. In fact, the structures are then mainly supported by pillars made of sandstone or wood (sometimes also metal), which are arranged on the edge of the tree crown in a ring around the trunk with radii between three and five meters; Depending on the static requirements, columns are sometimes set up within the ring. The horizontal beam position is either permanently or only covered with boards at dance festivals; this dance floor can be reached by stairs. This creates imposing, airy tree pavilions that offer space for dancing couples and sometimes even the music bands, in the past supposedly sometimes even spread over two levels.

The “classical” linden trees that are (can) still be used for dancing today are in

New linden trees, which are led to Tanzlinden trees, are in the making

  • Bärstadt (Hessen, new planting 2004)
  • Leeden (Westphalia, new planting 2005)
  • Limmersdorf II (Upper Franconia, 1990), replanting and demonstration object in the German Tanzlindenmuseum
  • Limmersdorf III (Upper Franconia, 1991), demonstration object in the German Tanzlindenmuseum
  • Selbitz (Upper Franconia) , first planted in 1997 by the school year 1946/1947
  • Forest (Baden-Württemberg), new planting in 2008
  • Rudolstadt (Thuringia), new planting 2014.

Tree veterans, who in the past were probably Tanzlinden in the narrower sense, are available for example. B. still in

Trees that are shaped like "real" dance linden trees, but are not associated with any dance tradition:

Pedestal without a wreath of branches

  • Galenbeck (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), private ownership

Platform without central trunk and without support frame

  • Gescher (Westphalia, approx. 1880), private property

Platform to the view or for musicians

Tanzlinden in the broader sense

With the guided dance linden trees in the broader sense , the interplay of tree and scaffolding is the other way around: there the branches grow over the construction beams because the scaffolding usually supports the branches. That is why you could not or cannot dance on, but only under the linden trees (square or plan dance).

Such Tanzlinden are z. B. in

Other Tanzlinden

In the other Tanzlinden there is no scaffolding, but the surrounding area serves as a dance floor ; In some cases, the name Tanzlinde is used as an interpretation of the shape of the tree without any recognizable reference to dance customs.

Linden trees of this type are available for. B. in

Step linden

A special form of guided linden trees, which are often referred to as dancing linden trees, are the step linden trees . These impressive trees with up to ten wreaths of branches were usually not given their shape for dance purposes, but as a purely aesthetic-romantic variety. The most famous of them are in

history

Tanzlinden were both places of jurisdiction and meeting places. Linden trees were and are therefore often planted in central places within settlements and sometimes reach imposing sizes.

distribution

Tanzlinden can still be found today mainly in smaller places, where they shape both the townscape and the village festivals. The focus of this tradition is clearly on the Franconian regions of Upper Franconia, South Thuringia, East Hesse and Hohenlohe.

There are also isolated similar trees in other German regions (e.g. Westphalia) and neighboring European countries (Switzerland, France, Belgium, Austria). However, the linden trees there are guided in the appropriate form, but dance traditions such as the “classical” dance linden trees in Upper Franconia and Thuringia are mostly not passed down.

Dance on the linden tree

Today's most famous dance linden tree is in Limmersdorf in Upper Franconia in the district of Kulmbach , which has been part of the Thurnau market since 1978 . The local Lindenkirchweih is the oldest festival, which has been held continuously since at least 1729, in which the dance on the linden tree and the dance under the linden tree are the focus of the Kirchweih festival. The band has its own little house on the platform. At Lindenplatz and Kirchweihplatz, right next to the 500-year-old Church of St. John the Baptist, the German Dance Linden Museum is under construction in Limmersdorf because of the special importance of the Limmersdorfer Tanzlinde and this tradition in Upper Franconia; The German Tanzlindenroute and the Tanzlindenradweg around Thurnau (Limmersdorf - Langenstadt - Peesten - Limmersdorf, approx. 30 km) also start there.

In 2014 the Limmersdorfer Lindenkirchweih was included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the Franconia region as one of 27 customs in Germany; Since then, the Tanzlinde in Limmersdorf has been known to many as the "Tree of Franconia", some also see it as the new "Tree of Bavaria".

In 2014 the scaffolding around the linden tree, the dance floor and the load-bearing sandstone columns were extensively renovated.

The dance on the linden tree at the parish fair also takes place on the linden trees in Langenstadt, Peesten and Effelder; In Bärstadt, a start has been made for several years to re-establish the tradition based on the Franconian-Thuringian model.

literature

  • Friedrich Wallner: The village linden to Effeltrich (Upper Franconia) . In: Friedrich Stützer (ed.): The largest, oldest or otherwise strange trees in Bavaria in words and pictures . tape 1 . Piloty & Löhle, Munich 1900, p. 29–31 with collotype board ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de ).
  • Friedrich Stützer: The plan or dance area linden tree in Peesten near Kulmbach (Upper Franconia) . In: Friedrich Stützer (ed.): The largest, oldest or otherwise strange trees in Bavaria in words and pictures . tape 2 . Piloty & Loehle, Munich 1901, p. 75-76 ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de ).
  • Friedrich Gollwitzer: The dancing and square linden trees in the Kulmbach district. In: Franconian homeland. 6, 1927, p. 180.
  • Herrmann Röttger: About the village linden. In: Bavarian Homeland Security. 24, 1928, pp. 24-30.
  • Oskar Moser: Linden dance and church consecration right. In: Festschrift for Franz Koschier. Klagenfurt 1974, p. 58.
  • Rainer Graefe: Guided linden trees. In: Daidalos. No. 23, Tree and Architecture. Gütersloh 1987.
  • Katrin Birkner, Volker Illigmann, Jürgen Kraus, Heike Schwandt: Limmersdorf 1255–2005. Boullion, Bayreuth 2005 (Association for the preservation and promotion of the Limmersdorf parish fair tradition).
  • Uwe Kühn, Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ulrich: Trees that tell stories. BLV, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16767-1 .
  • Michel Brunner : Important linden trees - 400 giant trees in Germany. Haupt Verlag, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-258-07248-7 .
  • Andreas Zehnsdorf: Thuringia's strange linden trees. In: Thuringian Hefts for Folklore. Erfurt 2009.
  • Rainer Graefe: Buildings made from living trees. Guided dance and court linden trees. In: Worksheets on building history. Volume 4, Geymüller Verlag für Architektur, Aachen / Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-943164-08-4 .
  • Anette Lenzing: Court linden trees and thing places in Germany. The Blue Books, Königstein im Taunus 2005, ISBN 3-7845-4520-3 .

Web links

Commons : Tanzlinde  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Tanzlinde  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Graefe: Buildings from living trees. Guided dance and court linden trees . Geymüller, Publishing House for Architecture, Aachen [u. a.] 2014, ISBN 978-3-943164-08-4 , pp. 40 .
  2. ↑ Rainer Graefe: Buildings from living trees. Guided dance and court linden trees . Geymüller, Publishing House for Architecture, Aachen [u. a.] 2014, ISBN 978-3-943164-08-4 .
  3. ^ Biedermann: Natural monuments in the Wartburg district; District Office Wartburgkreis, 2014, page 41