Taubenmarkt (Wasserburg)
The Wasserburger Taubenmarkt takes place once a year in February in the Wasserburg old town.
history
The brewery owner Simon Grein organized a pigeon market on the premises of his brewery in the Ledererzeile from 1878. The market always took place on February 3rd, the feast of St. Blaise . The "Blasitag" was an official church holiday until 1912 and marked the beginning of the farmers' year. Grein probably initiated the event in order to be able to serve his "Märzen-Bier". Over the years the market developed into the "largest pigeon market in the world" and expanded from the company premises to the entire old town of Wasserburg. Up to 3,000 breeders and up to 20,000 visitors from all over Europe met at the market, where chickens and ducks, turkeys and peacocks, partridges, pheasants, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters were also traded. The bestowal of a “far price” for the most distant visitor was given several times to dealers from Greece.
In 1995 there was a change from February 3rd to the first Sunday in February. The reason was an initiative by the Wasserburg business people who saw their day-to-day business impaired. The Greinerhof was also no longer available from this year, as it was demolished by its new owner.
Recent developments
In 1998, the German animal welfare organization criticized the dealers' practice of setting up the market at night in a petition to the Bavarian state parliament . The nocturnal temperatures would cause constant stress for exotic animal species that are sensitive to the cold. In addition, lighting the animals with flashlights causes nighttime stress for the shy birds. The organizer, the Wasserburg small animal breeders' association, then worked with official veterinarians to develop a new concept that requires traders to register in writing and prohibits trading in the dark, and relocated the presentation location for exotic species that are sensitive to the cold to the Wasserburg multi-storey car park in Kellerstraße.
In 2006 the market had to be canceled due to the bird flu . In the following year, the number of participants collapsed by 40 percent, and in the following years a continuous decline was recorded. Reason are stricter requirements by the State Veterinary Office Rosenheim, which are now safety certificates, e.g. B. in the form of vaccination certificates or veterinary certificates, prescribe and control. The number of participants has continuously decreased since then.
gallery
Scenes from the 1997 Wasserburg pigeon market:
Delivery at night
Dense crowd in the old town
Examining look
Transport box
Scenes of the market in the car park outside the old town, 2019
Web links
- Museum Wasserburg: The Wasserburger Taubenmarkt
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kapfhammer, G. (1977): Customs in the Alpine countries. Callwey Verlag Munich, page 281.
- ^ Petzold, W. (1986): "The feathered beauties". In: Charivari. Art-culture-life in Bavaria . No. 1, January / February 1986, pages 35-38.
- ↑ Müllerschön, S. (2012): “Glei k geht's Vogerl”. In: MUH, pp. 34-35.
- ^ Bohnenstengel, A. (2019): The Wasserburger Taubenmarkt .
- ↑ sueddeutsche.de (2019): Obituaries for a tradition