Kohte

The Kohte (also Kote and Kothe ) is a type of tent. It belongs to the black tents of the German youth movement, the German scouts and now also other youth groups.

History of Kohte

The now well-known in German-speaking Kohte originates from the German (autonomous ) Young stem from 1 November 1929 a covenant within the Bund Youth. It was developed around 1930 by Eberhard Koebel on the basis of the tent shape of the Finnish seed ( in the region of Lake Inari ). After the Second World War it was taken over by the Boy Scouts and other groups, but it is limited to date mainly to the German-speaking countries.

The word Kohte is very old and has roots in both the Finno- Ugric and in the Indo-European language family.

The Swedish term kåta includes not only the turf huts of the seeds is also a type of tent, which is called correct than Lavvu. The Lavvu is a round, conical, portable tent, which was covered with skins, wool cloth or canvas and served in the reindeer nomads of Lapland as a location-independent dwelling. The term Kote ( in this notation ) denotes primarily the permanent dwellings of the seeds.

Building a Kohte the youth movement

A Kohte there ( called Kohtenblätter, Kohtenbahnen or Kohtenplanen ) usually consists of four cotton towels. These are two longitudinal side stitched at the fabric triangles, where the tip has been cut off. These can be combined rainproof in loop technique using Regenabdeckleisten. The Kohtenblätter be hung on a bound cross, which was originally supported by a pair of scissors consists of two rods. Meanwhile, however, we see the most is the variant in which the cross is hanging freely linked to a standing outside the tent scissors. Depending on the situation is also a center mast on which the Kohte is pulled up using. The scissors or the center mast will not fall, because she / he is held by train of the tent. A Kohte but can also be attached to any point located directly above and highly tensioned. A dangerous variant is a tree in the wind, which can easily rip a Kohte. By additionally stretching from four other corners results in a total of octagonal shape.

By this construction, a group on migration has only four Kohtenblätter, if necessary, take a smoke hole cover and ropes. The necessary wood for poles, Kohtenkreuz and herring are found in the forest. The Kohte is a tent for year-round use for up to 6-8 persons (diameter 4.18 m ) (based on the most common dimensions).

A Kohte has no bottom and in the middle of a square flue hole. This can be done inside an open fire. The smoke hole can be covered with a tarpaulin or a poncho to keep out moisture.

Some youth groups paint their black Kohte large areas with mostly white designs. The color harm thereby more or less the tissue becomes fragile by the color. Therefore, initially colored ornament strips were attached. Today, there are few groups that make this effort, especially since the Kohten are delivered without ornament strip. In the meantime, you can get Kohten in almost every color imaginable, but what has not enforced by the users. Be best described as alternative colors or white and Herbstrot used.

Special structures made from Kohtenblättern

One or two individual Kohtenblätter can be used for a small or bivouac tent: A single sheet is pinned with the narrow side on the ground. The wider side is kept open by a vertical bar. This tent, usually called " toad " because of its shape, is a temporary weather protection for the night and can accommodate a person with luggage. The open side can be problematic and is therefore often covered with a poncho. Two Toads built with their open sides against each other, are an accommodation for two people ( luggage), which is called "locomotive" or " loco ".

In addition, the Kohtenblatt is distinguished by its shape and connectors, also to realize large to very large tents. The use of more than four leaves and the growing of side walls made of mud flaps and / or square plan enables the construction of yurts. This in turn can be combined into " castles " and then include several hundred square meters in extreme cases. The imagination knows few limits. Since such buildings always need suspension (see above), poles and ropes must be of sufficient size.

Variants

Today there is the Kohtenbahnen in different versions to buy, but differ in usually only in size, the material and the mudguards are so-called ( the sewn side wall ) and otherwise with each other, are compatible between different manufacturers. For several years, a larger version is sold under the name Wanderkohte. In contrast to the usual Kohtenbahnen no more yurts can from the webs of Wanderkohten be built (missing connection system for rectangular Plan ) and between the tracks is incompatible with the rest of the Kohtenwelt Taschenverschluss used.