Bird wedding
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The bird wedding is an annual custom that is known in some European regions, but especially among the Sorbs in Lusatia . Here it is called Lower Sorbian Ptaškowa swajźba and Upper Sorbian Ptači kwas .
General
On the eve of January 25, children put a plate on the window sill or in front of the door. The next morning you will find sweets in the form of birds or nests on it. Particularly typical are dough birds covered with icing, the "Sroki" (singular: Sroka). Enjoy extraordinary popularity the Schmätzl ( meringue birds or -häubchen that are inside sometimes still soft and sticky). Regional, e.g. B. in Luckau, these are also called Tschiepchen (meaning a chick). So-called cream nests (consisting of a biscuit base with a layer of butter cream in the form of a nest covered with dark chocolate and colored sugar eggs in the middle) are also part of the bird wedding. In the understanding of the custom, the treats were brought by birds, who thank the children for the winter feeding through the participation of the children in the wedding feast .
In kindergarten or school, the children then celebrate the actual bird wedding disguised as birds with singing, scenic play or parades. While in German day care centers the bride and groom are disguised as blackbird and thrush, as in the folk song of the same name, The Bird Wedding , in Sorbian magpie (sroka) and raven (Upper / Lower Sorbian: hawron / wron) represent the bride and groom and sometimes wear the Sorbian wedding costume instead of one Plumage.
The annual theater performances in the weeks around the bird wedding, which are organized by the Sorbian National Ensemble in cooperation with the German-Sorbian People's Theater and take up the bird wedding motif , also form an essential part of the tradition . The special feature here is that the performances do not take place at a central venue, but the performers come with their program to the schools and villages in Lusatia . The performance languages depend on the audience: Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian or German (when the performance is in Sorbian, mostly simultaneous translation via headphones).
While the plot of the children's play is mostly closely based on the content of the custom and accordingly birds are the main actors, the topic in the so-called evening bird wedding is processed in a more abstract, mainly funny way for the adults. The event framework is also used to address critical questions and current problems of the Sorbs. The series of performances for adults in January and February 2010 dealt in a critical-satirical way with the planned savings measures for the Sorbian National Ensemble, while in 2012 the current reference to the planned expansion of the Nochten open-cast mine was made with the theme of the demolition of Sorbian villages . There is almost always dance after the evening bird wedding.
