Winter burning

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Winter burning in Ladenburg

The winter burning , also known as the Stabausfest , the summer procession or the castle fire , is a tradition that was widespread, especially in southwest Germany, and has been increasingly cultivated in the recent past. Its most essential part is the burning of a “man” made of straw as a symbol of winter .

Germany

The usual date for the festival is Sunday Laetare ("rejoice!"). Locally, however, the festival is also celebrated on other days at the beginning of the pre-Easter Lent . Winter burning is closely related and partly identical to carrying out death .

Most of the process is done in advance, before a in a play winter wagon is moved to the place where it is burnt. Visitors to a winter cremation usually receive so-called “summer day sticks” or “RiRaRo sticks” which are decorated with colorful crepe ribbons and at the end of which a yeast pretzel is attached. These sticks can also be thrown into the fire. In some places, the winter burning is also associated with a parade, which is often led by a brass band.

In some (smaller) places, the move is carried out by the confirmation class (in earlier years synonymous with the final year of elementary school). The oldest participant must run in a straw doll (= winter) and the youngest participant in an ivy doll (= summer). The participants sing the summer song in front of each house and ask for a small gift. After receiving the gift, the house and its residents are wished luck for the coming year (luck in the house, vun unne ah to owwe naus) if the gift is refused, bad luck (dirt in the house, de Deiwel looks out of the chimney). After the move is over, there is a little battle between summer and winter that winter traditionally loses.

The summer day sticks are tinkered in the weeks before the move in two variants; The participants in the train with hazelnut sticks, which are decorated at the upper end with box branches and (rose) blossoms made of paper and carried along like a walking stick ; the other sticks are carried at the lower end and are decorated with ribbons and have a yeast pretzel and an apple at the end.

The sense of the winter burn is obvious, it should finally drive away the winter and lead to a beautiful, long summer, which is followed by a good and successful harvest season.

The term "Stabaus" is possibly derived from the custom of cleaning after winter, when the "Stab" (Rhenish Hesse / Palatinate for dust) is swept out of the house.

Switzerland

In many places a figure called Böögg is burned at the end of Carnival , for example in Winterthur , Biel , Grenchen , Amsteg , Laufenburg AG and Solothurn . In Baden AG  , a figure is burned at the beginning of the carnival.

In Zurich , after the guilds moved in mid-April, a snowman filled with firecrackers, also called Böögg, is burned on a stake at Sechseläuten in mid-April .

See also

literature

  • Helmut Seebach: Old festivals in the Palatinate . Volume 3: summer day, Easter, Pentecost, St. John's day . Bachstelz-Verlag Seebach, Mainz-Gonsenheim 1998, ISBN 3-924115-20-6 .

Web links

Commons : Burning Winter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hüttenbrennen in the Eifel. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Hut Sunday in the Eifel. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  3. ^ Castle burning in Luerenzweiler (Luxembourg). Retrieved May 16, 2016 .