Straw bear (German traditional character)

The Strohbär is a figure of the Swabian-Alemannic and Franconian carnival. He was used in all agrarian villages where carnival was celebrated. His husk could consist of all types of straw harvested. These include langhalmiges wheat, rye and oat straw or the straw of the field pea.

History

History of ideas, the Strohbär of the figure of the wild man commonly used in the Middle Ages derives, as the carnival figure, together with the fool has its starting point in the late Middle Ages. The savage man stood for evil, God's absence and also on behalf of the devil. Originally the figure was clothed with moss or fur and can be viewed as a precursor of the straw bear. Both the group of god distant figures to be assigned. In many cases, the busy life of the straw bear is wrongly interpreted as expulsion of winter. The Christian context of the Shrovetide festival is the research evidence is not durable; the grounds of such considerations are to be sought rather in the Germanic continuity assumptions of the carnival of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A dramatic decline in the custom of straw bear was carried out by the technical transition of agriculture in the years after the Second World War. Firstly, the shortening of the length of straw by spraying changed the cultivation and harvesting methods of the grain, such as the fields of chemical Halm - shorteners and harvesting with the combine. The Verhäckseln and pressing the already grown too short straw made ​​it to include the bear almost unusable. At the same time strengthened the tendency to aestheticise Shrovetide customs and act in new carnival figures with carved wooden larvae.

In addition to the noble appearance of wearing a wooden mask also had the advantage of avoiding the time-consuming and dusty straw bear activity. Only in a few places outlasted the straw bear bustle, so the knowledge of the difficult and time -consuming Einbindetechnik could only sparsely pass to the next generation. In Empfingen in the district of Freudenstadt moved on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, a group begging through the town and gave the technique of incorporating the young continue.

Unintentionally and unknowingly proximity to the medieval wild man two people was in Empfingen restored around 1980 when, after a poor harvest straw incorporated with pine needles as a bear and the " kindling bears" were born. An alternative approach found singing and Leipferdingen, they replaced the technique of incorporating the production of straw sewn costumes. For the sewn straw bear costume of the fool association Ewattingen contrast, natural bast is used.

Spread the straw bear

Scattered over large parts of the national territory, there is the straw bear customs. Priorities, in addition to West Germany especially Hesse and Thuringia. In addition to the carnival is the straw forms move on other feast days of the liturgical year. A significant role is played outside the carnival customs of the fair bears. Original content of all these Strohvermummungsbräuche is the Heischeumgang. It played within a Heischegruppe the straw figure, the most important role and the actor in the straw got from the collected gifts (eggs, sausage, bacon), a higher proportion than the rest of the group. The gifts were very often eaten together. After Heischeumgang was freed the actor from his disguise and the schweißdurchnäßte straw was then burned.

Even in natural straw veiled figures ( Swabian- Alemannic Fastnacht )

( sorted by Umgangstag )

  • Straw man Sigmaringendorf ( Schmotziger Thursday)
  • Urstrohmann Geisingen - Leipferdingen ( Schmotziger Thursday)
  • Strohbär Bubsheim ( Schmotziger Thursday)
  • Hooriger Bear Singing ( Shrove Saturday)
  • Straw and twigs bear Empfingen ( Shrove Sunday)
  • Strohbär Nendingen ( Shrove Sunday)
  • Äschadreppler Hirschau (Tübingen ) ( Shrove Monday)
  • Strohbär Böttingen ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Strohbär Wellendingen - Wilflingen ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Strohbär Wellendingen ( Shrove Tuesday )

Straw Bear Franconian Fastnacht

  • Strohbär Buchen (Odenwald ) ( Shrove Sunday)
  • Strohbär Wallduern ( Shrove Monday)
  • Strohbär Großrinderfeld ( Shrove Tuesday )

Straw figures outside the Swabian- Alemannic Fastnacht

( sorted by Umgangstag )

  • Uckersdorf, Hesse (New Year)
  • Empfertshausen, Thuringia ( Candlemas Sunday)
  • Fischbach / Rhön, Thuringia ( Candlemas )
  • Kripp ( Rhineland ), Rhineland -Palatinate ( Shrove Saturday)
  • Effeltrich ( Upper Franconia ), Bavaria ( Carnival Sunday)
  • Ulfa, Hesse ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Trai - Horloff, Hesse ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Ruppertsburg, Hesse ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Münster ( Laubach ), Hesse ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Frohngau (Eifel ), North Rhine -Westphalia ( Shrove Monday)
  • Orlamünde, Thuringia ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Bitburg- Mötsch (Eifel ), Rhineland -Palatinate ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Pomster (Eifel ), Rhineland -Palatinate ( Shrove Tuesday )
  • Apfelstädt, Thuringia ( Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday )
  • Friemar, Thuringia ( Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday )
  • Heldra, Hesse ( Ash Wednesday )
  • Külz and Neuerkirch (Hunsrück ), Rhineland -Palatinate ( Whit Monday )
  • Großeicholzheim (Odenwald ), Baden- Württemberg ( fair )
  • Desert Stone ( Bavaria, Upper Franconia ), fair
  • Herda ( Berka / Werra), Thuringia ( fair Monday)
  • Pelzmärtle Sprollenhaus ( Bad Wildbad ), Baden- Württemberg ( 24 December)
  • Pelzmärtle Nonnenmiß ( Bad Wildbad ), Baden- Württemberg ( 24 December)
  • Milbitz at Rottenbach, Thuringia (December 27 )
  • Westerengel, Thuringia ( Kirmes in procession through the village )
  • Ungetsheim ( Feuchtwangen, Bavaria ) ( Strohbelzi on Christmas Eve )
  • Glindemann (Elbe ) (City Barby, Saxony- Anhalt) ( Candlemas in procession through the village )

Straw figures in other European countries

  • Straw Bear Whittlesey - United Kingdom ( Plough Day)
  • Strohschab Bad Mitterndorf - Austria (December 5 )
Chlormequat Wutach (town) Nidda, Hesse Berka/Werra Glinde, Saxony-Anhalt Barby, Germany
311047
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