Unges Pengste

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Unges Pengste is a nationally significant and historical shooting and local festival in Korschenbroich on the left Lower Rhine . The festival takes place annually on Pentecost . The South Lower Franconian name Unges Pengste translates as "Our Whitsun". The Whitsun festival has a centuries-old tradition in Korschenbroich, which extends into the later Middle Ages. Organizers of today's festival are the two Korschenbroich brotherhoods St. Sebastianus and St. Katharina in conjunction with the parish of St. Andreas Korschenbroich .

Pentecost

Riding of the bachelors

Unges Pengste takes place on five days and is one of the most important folk festivals on the Lower Rhine.

A total of around 1000 shooters and 350 musicians attend the processions and parades. Every year Unges Pengste attracts around 30,000 visitors and spectators to the "village", the center of Korschenbroich with the St. Andreas Church as the center. The two cavalry of the rifle brotherhoods St. Sebastianus and St. Katharina are particularly worth seeing. The flower parade with 30 flower horns and the flag throwers are also very popular.

The two kings with their ministers represent the center of the festivities. The neighboring brotherhoods from Herrenshoff and Pesch also take part in the processions and the royal parade on Whit Monday . All brotherhoods and shooting clubs in the town of Korschenbroich are also invited to a reception with their delegations - consisting of majesties, presidents and board members.

Unges Pengste is accompanied by church events, for example the rifle services and the procession. The solemn high mass in the open air in the facilities of the retirement home represents the spiritual climax.

A fairground fair takes place on the Matthias-Hoeren-Platz on Whitsun days. In the large marquee, music and dance events as well as the big royal balls are held, in which the dances of honor of the majesties with their festively dressed ladies are the focus. Before the balls, the kings and ministers as well as the royal and ministerial trains with their ladies from the restaurant Oedinger are led through the village in an honorary escort to the tent. Accompanied by the flower horn wearers and officers, the ladies' clothes in particular come into worthy recognition in public.

  • High mass in the open air

  • Procession on Whit Monday

  • First flag of the bachelors

  • Flower parade with flower horns

  • Taking off the parade by the Majesties

  • Flag waving

Festive program

Poster motif for "Unges Pengste" in Korschenbroich

The Unges Pengste celebrations take place on five days from Whit Saturday to Whit Wednesday:

Pentecost Saturday
  • Start with a traditional May trip
  • Beers to St. Andreas
  • Barrel tapping with the mayor and opening of the fair
  • Dance in the marquee
  • Big fireworks
Pentecost Sunday
  • Musical morning pint with medals in the marquee
  • Serenade at the retirement home
  • Wreath-laying and commemoration of the dead in the cemetery of honor
  • King's Parade and Big Tattoo
  • Dance in the marquee
Whit Monday
  • Solemn high mass at the senior citizens' home followed by a procession
  • Big royal parade with flower parade
  • Honorary escort of the majesties with ladies
  • King's ball with honor dance in the marquee
Whit Tuesday
  • Shooting service in the St. Andreas Church
  • Family morning pints in the marquee
  • Big royal parade with flower parade
  • Dance in the marquee
Pentecost Wednesday
  • Honorary escort of the majesties with ladies
  • King's ball with honor dance in the marquee and drawing of the main prizes of the Whitsun tombola

history

procession

The Korschenbroich Whitsun Festival is based on an old tradition that probably originated in the later Middle Ages - at a time when secular and ecclesiastical life were inseparable. The first processions at Pentecost came around 1300, the center of which was the Holy of Holies . The purpose of the prayers and chants was to spare the homeland from "bad wax, conflagration, hail, storms and storms".

The procession on Whit Monday - the great costume of God - took up most of the day in Korschenbroich. It led through several stations on the Way of the Cross and through the chapels and holy houses . The path also reached honors such as Trietenbroich, Neersbroich, Raderbroich and Engbrück. At the stations the blessing was given with the most reverend. There were also longer breaks, during which the participants could fortify themselves with food and beverages, e.g. T. were offered by dealers along the way.

Pentecost procession on Mühlenstrasse in 1934

In the processions, the Church bore the cost of catering for those who did some service. The cost of the church treasury for the minstrels in 1652 was exactly six guilders and six albus . The clergymen, teachers, court messengers, organist and sexton who had traveled there received their recognition and a contribution. For the carriers of the flags 1792 four total Stüber ejected for beer. The children received white bread and milk at the Voetz station .

The two brotherhoods provided a great escort of honor for the Holy of Holies, which of course was the focus of the procession. The brothers carried the holy figures of St. Andreas , St. Catherine and St. Sebastian . With their flags and brotherhood decorations, they gave the procession a dignified and festive setting. The blessings were given four times in each direction at each of the stations. From 1729 onwards, eight brothers of the Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood booed at the fourth blessing.

In 1825, by order of the church, the great costume of God was abolished on Pentecost and Corpus Christi was declared the main day of procession. In Korschenbroich, however, “Unges Pengste” was held on and the local festival day was saved.

Nowadays there is still a small procession through the "village" on Whit Monday after the open air service.

Brotherhoods

The founding of the St. Sebastianus brotherhood Korschenbroich probably goes back to the year 1475, when many Sebastianus brotherhoods were founded in the Archdiocese of Cologne. The reason was a devastating plague epidemic and the intercession of St. Sebastian should be called.

From 1400 shooting societies are known as church brotherhoods, which took over the defense of the homeland as shooters and with a commitment to the faith promoted both class awareness and sociability. In Korschenbroich, the riflemen are said to have defended the Myllendonk rule against the Burgundians in 1475 . It is reported from 1590 that the brotherhood “took part in the costume of God with a rifle according to old custom”.

Schützenkönig Hermann Schmitz and his ministers at Unges Pengste 1896

Whitsun was the highlight of the year. A week earlier, the bird shot took place and the shooter king was determined. A silver bird was placed on him as a sign of his coronation. After the sacramental blessing in the church, the new king bought the rifle brothers wine and beer in the Korschenbroich wine house.

In 1708 the bachelors separated from the brotherhood and founded the independent St. Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood. In 1725 the bachelor brotherhood was officially recognized by the sovereign, and her and her king were guaranteed the same rights as the Sebastianus brotherhood and their majesty.

Over the centuries, bird shooting and Whitsun celebrations took place in the usual way, interrupted by the occupation of the Rhineland by French troops from 1794. In the course of secularization , the possibilities for the brotherhoods seem to have been limited to carry out the celebrations at Pentecost appropriately, although during During the French occupation between 1794 and 1813, marksman kings can be proven regularly. The assets of the Sebastianus Brotherhood were co-administered by the church lender. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the brotherhood got their fortune back in the amount of 711 thalers.

During the First World War there were no Whitsun events and fraternity life was completely idle.

After the seizure of power of the Nazis in 1933, the political pressure on the brotherhoods became clear. First, the democratic structure of the brotherhoods was suspended and the brotherhoods were forced to introduce the so-called leader principle . Afterwards the brotherhoods were asked to join the Reichsbund for physical exercises and to give up the Christian orientation. From 1937 onwards, a newly founded citizens' rifle club took over the sole organization of the shooting festival at Whitsun with parts of the members of the bachelors. The bachelor brotherhood was de facto gradually dissolved until 1938.

The Sebastianus Brotherhood refused to give up its Catholic and ecclesiastical ideals and, like the clergy, no longer actively participated in the shooting festival. However, the Sebastianus Brotherhood was not dissolved and survived the Nazi era as a purely ecclesiastical brotherhood.

The Pentecost processions were banned by the Nazis on the grounds that they would disrupt traffic. The processions in 1938 and 1939 therefore took place around the church on the church's own property, including the sidewalk right next to the church on Hochstraße (today Sebastianusstraße). National Socialist informers used cameras to monitor whether the participants actually only stayed on church grounds.

The parade of the Bürgererschützenverein took place in 1939 on the upper Hindenburgstrasse and thus symbolized the removal of the shooting festival from the church.

During the Second World War and until 1948, there was no more unrest. Only in 1949 could a rifle festival be celebrated again with the approval of the British occupying forces .

literature

  • Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939.
  • Swenja Potthoff-Münnich, Hans-Ulrich Klose (eds.): “From the high tower it bears ...” shooting story (s) from five centuries . B. Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 2004, ISBN 3-87448-244-8 .
  • Ralf Heinrichs: Festschrift 500 years of the St. Sebastianus Brotherhood Korschenbroich 1504 - 2004 . Korschenbroich 2004.
  • St. Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood Korschenbroich eV: "The silver flashes in the sunbeam". Festschrift for the 300th anniversary of the St. Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood Korschenbroich . Korschenbroich 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 502.
  2. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 503.
  3. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 504.
  4. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 503.
  5. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 504.
  6. ↑ Ralf Heinrichs: Festschrift 500 Years of the St. Sebastianus Brotherhood Korschenbroich 1504 - 2004 . Korschenbroich 2004, pp. 16-17.
  7. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 482.
  8. ↑ Jakob Bremer: The imperial direct rule Millendonk . B. Kühlen, M. Gladbach 1939, p. 485.
  9. ↑ St. Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood Korschenbroich eV: "The silver flashes in the sunbeam". Festschrift for the 300th anniversary of the St. Katharina Bachelor Brotherhood Korschenbroich . Korschenbroich 2008, p. 27.
  10. ↑ Ralf Heinrichs: Festschrift 500 Years of the St. Sebastianus Brotherhood Korschenbroich 1504 - 2004 . Korschenbroich 2004, p. 21.
  11. ↑ a b c d Ralf Heinrichs: Festschrift 500 years St. Sebastianus Brotherhood Korschenbroich 1504 - 2004 . Korschenbroich 2004, p. 26.