Straw bear (German traditional character)
Encyclopedia
A straw bear is a traditional
character that appears in carnival processions
or as a separate seasonal custom in parts of Germany
, mainly at Shrovetide but sometimes at Candlemas or Christmas Eve
.
The people playing the bears either dress in costumes made of straw
, or are actually wrapped in straw. The straw used may be that of wheat
, rye
, oats
, spelt
or peastraw
; twigs and modern artificial materials have also been used. The bears may be relatively realistic in appearance, with detailed mask
s, or fully rounded headpieces, or they may be more abstract, with narrow heads like a long, tapering sheaf.
. They were also interpreted by early folklorists as personifications of Winter
, and their appearance in late winter or early spring was seen as a ritual expulsion of winter from the community. Others think they were merely intended to represent the real "dancing" bears
that used to be taken from place to place for entertainment.
The bears were originally accompanied by groups of costumed attendants and musicians and visited houses, begging from door to door. One of the earliest known references is from Wurmlingen
in 1852. In most cases they were rewarded with gifts of eggs, lard and flour (it may have been significant that these three items were white in colour), or fasnetsküchle (carnival fritters), or money. At the end of the day the group would share or consume their gifts in a tavern. This quête (begging) style of custom is no longer practiced; most bears now appear as part of carnival processions, although there are some which still remain independent of the carnival itself.
Straw bears appeared particularly in agricultural communities. Although the tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, straw bears can still be found in Baden-Württemberg
, Hessen (particularly the Vogelsberg
), Lower Saxony
, Bavaria
, the Hunsrück
and Eifel
areas of Rheinland-Palatinate, and Thuringia
.
Today they are particularly associated with the "Swabian-Alemannic Carnival" or Fastnacht of southwestern Germany in the area between the upper Neckar River and Lake Constance
of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Formerly there were also straw bears in Pomerania
, Rheinland and West Germany
. In some places the straw-swathed characters are not intended to represent bears, and are simply known as straw men.
The decline in popularity of straw characters in carnival today is thought to be largely due to the difficulty of obtaining straw of suitable length and quality. Modern farmers generally prefer cultivar
s with shorter straw, or use chemical sprays to make the straw grow shorter so that their crops are less prone to damage by storms. Artificial materials have replaced straw in a few places. In other places, such as Hirschauer, where the Äschadreppler is traditionally clad in peastraw, crops are being specially planted to ensure the supply of the appropriate straw for the costumes.
Modern straw bear costumes may be kept from year to year; formerly they were often burned at the end of the day on which they were used. This still happens in some places.
(from other sources)
(list from other sources)
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
character that appears in carnival processions
Carnival in Germany, Switzerland and Austria
In German-speaking countries, there are essentially two distinct variations of Carnivals: the Rhenish Carnival in the west of Germany centred around the cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne and Mainz, and the Alemannic or Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht in Swabia , Switzerland, Alsace and Vorarlberg .The...
or as a separate seasonal custom in parts of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, mainly at Shrovetide but sometimes at Candlemas or Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
.
The people playing the bears either dress in costumes made of straw
Straw
Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...
, or are actually wrapped in straw. The straw used may be that of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
, oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
, spelt
Spelt
Spelt is a hexaploid species of wheat. Spelt was an important staple in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to medieval times; it now survives as a relict crop in Central Europe and northern Spain and has found a new market as a health food. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the...
or peastraw
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
; twigs and modern artificial materials have also been used. The bears may be relatively realistic in appearance, with detailed mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
s, or fully rounded headpieces, or they may be more abstract, with narrow heads like a long, tapering sheaf.
History
Straw bears may be derived from the medieval carnival figure of the Wild ManWild man
The wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...
. They were also interpreted by early folklorists as personifications of Winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
, and their appearance in late winter or early spring was seen as a ritual expulsion of winter from the community. Others think they were merely intended to represent the real "dancing" bears
Tame bear
A tame bear, often called a dancing bear, is a wild bear that is captured when the animal is young, though some of them are born and bred in captivity. In some parts of the world, such as South Asia and the Middle East, people still use them for road side tourist attractions.-History:There exists...
that used to be taken from place to place for entertainment.
The bears were originally accompanied by groups of costumed attendants and musicians and visited houses, begging from door to door. One of the earliest known references is from Wurmlingen
Wurmlingen
Wurmlingen is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
in 1852. In most cases they were rewarded with gifts of eggs, lard and flour (it may have been significant that these three items were white in colour), or fasnetsküchle (carnival fritters), or money. At the end of the day the group would share or consume their gifts in a tavern. This quête (begging) style of custom is no longer practiced; most bears now appear as part of carnival processions, although there are some which still remain independent of the carnival itself.
Straw bears appeared particularly in agricultural communities. Although the tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, straw bears can still be found in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, Hessen (particularly the Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
), Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
and Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
areas of Rheinland-Palatinate, and Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
.
Today they are particularly associated with the "Swabian-Alemannic Carnival" or Fastnacht of southwestern Germany in the area between the upper Neckar River and Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Formerly there were also straw bears in Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
, Rheinland and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. In some places the straw-swathed characters are not intended to represent bears, and are simply known as straw men.
The decline in popularity of straw characters in carnival today is thought to be largely due to the difficulty of obtaining straw of suitable length and quality. Modern farmers generally prefer cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s with shorter straw, or use chemical sprays to make the straw grow shorter so that their crops are less prone to damage by storms. Artificial materials have replaced straw in a few places. In other places, such as Hirschauer, where the Äschadreppler is traditionally clad in peastraw, crops are being specially planted to ensure the supply of the appropriate straw for the costumes.
Modern straw bear costumes may be kept from year to year; formerly they were often burned at the end of the day on which they were used. This still happens in some places.
Straw-clad figures of the Swabian-Alemannic Carnival
(list from Wikipedia.de)- Straw man (Strohmann), SigmaringendorfSigmaringendorfSigmaringendorf is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Baden-Württemberg (Schmotziger Donnerstag – Fat ThursdayFat ThursdayFat Thursday is a traditional Polish, Greek and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival...
) - Straw man (Urstrohmann), Baden-Württemberg Geisingen-Leipferdingen, (Fat Thursday)
- Straw bears (Erbsenstrohbären), BuchenBuchenBuchen is a town in Germany Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Odenwald low mountain range, 23 km northeast of Mosbach.-Geography:...
(Odenwald), Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Saturday) - Hooriger bear, SingenSingenSingen is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.-Location:...
, Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Saturday) - Straw and brushwood bears, EmpfingenEmpfingenEmpfingen is a municipality in the district Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.Empfingen itself comprises two local districts, Wiesenstetten and Dommelsberg. Empfingen is close to the federal motorway 81 Stuttgart – Singen ....
, Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Sunday) (The Reisigbären, brushwood or twig bears, at Empfingen date from 1980 when there was insufficient straw available to make the normal bears.) - Straw bear, NendingenNendingenNendingen is a German village with 2850 inhabitants in Baden-Württemberg. The Danube flows through Nendingen, which lies between the towns Tuttlingen and Mühlheim an der Donau. Nendingen was founded by Nando, an Alamanni, between 260 and 300 AD....
-TuttlingenTuttlingenTuttlingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, Möhringen and Eßlingen are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen...
, Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Sunday) - Äschadreppler, HirschauHirschauHirschau is a municipality in the Upper Palatinate district of Bavaria and in the county of Amberg-Sulzbach.- Location :Hirschau lies directly on the German Federal Highway 14 and ca. 20 km east of the Autobahn 6 ,and ca. 15 km west of the Autobahn 93...
(TübingenTübingenTübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
), Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Monday) - Straw bear, WalldürnWalldürnWalldürn is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 23 km southwest of Wertheim.Walldürn Basilica:...
, Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Monday) - Straw bear, BöttingenBöttingenBöttingen is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. In recent decades it has developed from an agricultural village to an advanced industrial community.-Geography:...
, Baden-Württemberg (Shrove Tuesday) - Straw bear, Wellendingen-Wilflingen, Baden-Württemberg (Shrove Tuesday)
- Straw bear, WellendingenWellendingenWellendingen is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
, Baden-Württemberg (Shrove Tuesday)
(from other sources)
- Straw bears, OsterburkenOsterburkenOsterburken is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 28 km southwest of Tauberbischofsheim, 50 km northeast of Heilbronn, 90 km east of Heidelberg, 60 km southwest of Würzburg and 30 km east of Mosbach...
, Neckar-Odenwald, Baden-Württemberg (Rosenmontag – "Rose Monday" – and Faschenachtsdienstag – Shrove Tuesday)
Other German straw bears and similar characters
(list from Wikipedia.de)- Uckersdorf, HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
(New Year) - EffeltrichEffeltrichEffeltrich is a municipality in the district of Forchheim in Bavaria in Germany....
(Upper FranconiaUpper FranconiaUpper Franconia is a Regierungsbezirk of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia , all now part of the German Federal State of Bayern .With more than 200 independent breweries which brew...
), BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
(Carnival Sunday) - Ulfa, Hesse (Shrove Tuesday)
- BrunnhartshausenBrunnhartshausenBrunnhartshausen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany.-References:...
, ThuringiaThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
(Candlemas Sunday) - EmpfertshausenEmpfertshausenEmpfertshausen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany....
, Thuringia (Candlemas Sunday) - OrlamündeOrlamündeOrlamünde is a town in the Saale-Holzland district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Saale and Orla, 17 km south of Jena. It was the centre of a county, often united to Weimar, in the Early Middle Ages....
, Thuringia (Shrove Tuesday) - Frohngau (Eifel), North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
(Carnival Monday) - Bitburg-Mötsch (Eifel), Rheinland-Palatinate (Shrove Tuesday)
- Straw bears, Heldra, Hesse (Ash Wednesday)
- KülzKülzKülz is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Simmern, whose seat is in the like-named town.-Location:Külz is a rural residential...
(Hunsrück), Rheinland-Palatinate (WhitWhitsunWhitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
Monday) - Großeicholzheim (OdenwaldOdenwaldThe Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
), Baden-Württemberg (fair) - Herda (Berka/WerraBerka/WerraBerka/Werra is a town in the Wartburgkreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 19 km west of Eisenach.-References:...
), Thuringia (fair Monday) - Pelzmärtle, Sprollenhaus (Bad WildbadBad WildbadBad Wildbad is a town in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located in the government district of Karlsruhe and in the district of Calw. Its coordinates are 48° 45' N, 8° 33' E. About 11,250 people live there...
), Baden-Württemberg (24 December) - Pelzmärtle, Nonnenmiß (Bad Wildbad), Baden-Württemberg (24 December)
- Pelzmärtle, Gaistal (Bad HerrenalbBad HerrenalbBad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim....
), Baden-Württemberg (24 December) - Milbitz bei Rottenbach, Thuringia (27 December)
- GlindeGlindeGlinde may refer to several places in Germany:* Glinde, Schleswig-Holstein, a town in Schleswig-Holstein* Glinde, Saxony-Anhalt, part of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Elbe-Saale, district of Schönebeck, Saxony-Anhalt...
(Elbe), Saxony-AnhaltSaxony-AnhaltSaxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
(Candlemas) - Straw bear, SülfeldSülfeldSülfeld is a municipality in the district of Segeberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
("Bärenziehen") & EhmenEhmenEhmen is a village in Lower Saxony located outside of Wolfsburg, Germany with a population of approximately 4,285....
("Bärenzappeln"), (both near WolfsburgWolfsburgWolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...
), Lower SaxonyLower SaxonyLower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
(Faslam – a regional celebration held at various times from early January to the end of February)
(list from other sources)
- EpfendorfEpfendorfEpfendorf is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
, Baden-Württemberg (Carnival Saturday) - Geislingen-Binsdorf, Baden-Württemberg (Sunday before Carnival)
- Straw bear, Bermuthshain, Vogelsberg, Hesse (Shrove Tuesday)
- Strohbutz, MulfingenMulfingenMulfingen is a town in the district of Hohenlohe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
-Ailringen & Mulfingen-ZaisenhausenZaisenhausenZaisenhausen is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Baden-Württemberg (3rd Sunday in LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
)
- Hisgier, BuggingenBuggingenBuggingen is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany located between the Rhine Valley and the Black Forest on the northern edge of Markgräflerland....
-Seefelden, MüllheimMüllheimMüllheim is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It belongs to the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. Müllheim is generally considered to be the center of the region known as Markgräflerland.-History:...
-Vögisheim & SulzburgSulzburgSulzburg is a town in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the western slope of the Black Forest, 20 km southwest of Freiburg.Sulzburg's lovely, barrel-vaulted synagogue has been completely restored....
-Laufen, Baden-Württemberg
- Kloas, AltensteigAltensteigAltensteig is a town in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the eastern Black Forest, 18 km southwest of Calw, and 19 km northeast of Freudenstadt.- Subdivisions :...
-Walddorf & EbhausenEbhausenEbhausen is a town in the district of Calw in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
-Ebershardt, Baden-Württemberg (December 6 / Saint NicholasSaint NicholasSaint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
's Day)
Similar customs in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic
- Strohschab, Straw CockroachCockroachCockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
es, appear between late November and December 5 in the "St. Nicholas Parades" in OberndorfOberndorfOberndorf may refer to the following places:*in Germany:**Oberndorf am Neckar, in the district of Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg** Oberndorf , a suburb of Rottenburg am Neckar in the district of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg...
, Kainisch, Krungl, Bad MitterndorfBad MitterndorfBad Mitterndorf is a town in Salzkammergut, Styria in Austria. Situated between Salzburg and Graz, it is a popular winter sports resort and also as a location for walking and cycling in the summer. Bad Mitterndorf is the site of two health spas with thermal baths, an outdoor swimming pool and...
and TauplitzTauplitzTauplitz is a municipality in the district of Liezen in Styria, Austria....
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
- Shrovetide processions, Bohemia. In the town of HlinskoHlinskoHlinsko is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic.Hlinsko's history can be traced back to the 11th century for the first written document. Hlinsko stands on the banks of the Chrudimka river, at the foot of the mountains of the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands...
, in the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, and six nearby villages (including HamryHamry (Chrudim District)Hamry is a small village in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 250 inhabitants.-External links:*...
, BlatnoBlatnoBlatno is a settlement in the Brežice Municipality in eastern Slovenia. The area was traditionally part of Styria. It is now included in the Spodnjeposavska statistical region....
, StudniceStudnice (Chrudim District)Studnice is a village in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 450 inhabitants.Hamlets Košinov and Zalíbené are administrative parts of Studnice.-External links:*...
and VortováVortováVortová is a small village in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 250 inhabitants.Hamlet Lhoty is administrative part of Vortová.-External links:*...
), in the Hlinecko region of eastern BohemiaBohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, men and boys wearing colourful costumes representing traditional characters spend a whole day going from door to door, accompanied by a brass band, visiting every household in their community. Some of the characters are Straw Men, dressed in costumes made of rice-straw, with blacked faces, and tall, pointed straw hats; they roll on the ground, and embrace women, which is said to confer fertility. Housewives gather straw from the Straw Men's skirts and take it home to feed their poultry. A ritual dance is performed in front of each house, to ensure wealth for the family and a good harvest. At the end of the day the men perform a ritual called "Killing the Mare"; the Mare, one of the group's hobby horseHobby horseThe term hobby horse is used, principally by folklorists, to refer to the costumed characters that feature in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. They are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, Mummers Plays and the Morris dance in...
s, is "killed" for its alleged sins. It is then "brought back to lifeResurrectionResurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
" (with alcohol) and a dance ensues, involving the onlookers. This custom has survived despite being banned in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Catholic Church and in the 20th by the SocialistSocialismSocialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
government. It has now been recognised by UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
as an element of mankind's Intangible Cultural HeritageIntangible Cultural HeritageThe concept of intangible cultural heritage emerged in the 1990s, as a counterpart to the World Heritage that focuses mainly on tangible aspects of culture...
.
Examples from The Golden Bough
- In The Golden BoughThe Golden BoughThe Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
, Sir James Frazer described many examples of straw effigies being made in late winter or early spring, mainly during Lent, to represent Carnival, or Death, or Winter, which were dressed up and paraded before being burned or destroyed by other means. Most of his examples are inanimate, but a few involve people dressed in straw.- In the Erzgebirge the following custom was annually observed at Shrovetide about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Two men disguised as Wild Men, the one in brushwood and moss, the other in straw, were led about the streets, and at last taken to the market-place, where they were chased up and down, shot and stabbed. Before falling they reeled about with strange gestures and spirted blood on the people from bladders which they carried. When they were down, the huntsmen placed them on boards and carried them to the ale-house, the miners marching beside them and winding blasts on their mining tools as if they had taken a noble head of game. A very similar Shrovetide custom is still observed near Schluckenau in Bohemia. A man dressed up as a Wild Man is chased through several streets till he comes to a narrow lane across which a cord is stretched. He stumbles over the cord and, falling to the ground, is overtaken and caught by his pursuers. The executioner runs up and stabs with his sword a bladder filled with blood which the Wild Man wears round his body; so the Wild Man dies, while a stream of blood reddens the ground. Next day a straw-man, made up to look like the Wild Man, is placed on a litter, and, accompanied by a great crowd, is taken to a pool into which it is thrown by the executioner. The ceremony is called “burying the Carnival.”
- …in the region of the middle RhineMiddle RhineBetween Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised...
, a representative of Summer clad in ivy combats a representative of Winter clad in straw or moss and finally gains a victory over him. The vanquished foe is thrown to the ground and stripped of his casing of straw, which is torn to pieces and scattered about, while the youthful comrades of the two champions sing a song to commemorate the defeat of Winter by Summer. - At GoepfritzGöpfritz an der WildGöpfritz an der Wild is a municipality in the district of Zwettl, in Lower Austria, Austria.-References:...
in Lower AustriaLower AustriaLower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
, two men personating Summer and Winter used to go from house to house on Shrove Tuesday, and were everywhere welcomed by the children with great delight. The representative of Summer was clad in white and bore a sickle; his comrade, who played the part of Winter, had a fur-cap on his head, his arms and legs were swathed in straw, and he carried a flail. In every house they sang verses alternately. - In the district of AachenAachenAachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
on Ash Wednesday, a man used to be encased in peas-straw and taken to an appointed place. Here he slipped quietly out of his straw casing, which was then burned, the children thinking that it was the man who was being burned.
Similar customs elsewhere
- The Whittlesey Straw Bear festival is based around a revival of a similar custom once observed on the Tuesday following Plough MondayPlough MondayPlough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year. While local practices may vary, Plough Monday is generally the first Monday after Twelfth Day , 6 January. References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century...
in a small area of the fensFenlandFenland is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in March, and covers the neighbouring market towns of Chatteris, Whittlesey, and Wisbech, often called the "capital of the fens"...
, on the borders of CambridgeshireCambridgeshireCambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
and the former county of HuntingdonshireHuntingdonshireHuntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
, UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Whittlesey bear visited Walldürn in 1999 and the Walldürn bears have often visited the Whittlesey Straw Bear festival since then. - MummersMummers PlayMummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...
or guisers dressed in straw were part of the crowd of characters called Wren boysWren DayWren day also known as Wren's day, Hunt the Wren Day or The Hunting of the Wrens celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day, in the Isle of Man, Ireland, Wales and Newfoundland. The tradition consists of "hunting" a fake wren, and putting it on top of a decorated pole...
who paraded (and still do in some places) on St. Stephen's DaySt. Stephen's DaySt. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which...
(Boxing DayBoxing DayBoxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
) in IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the Isle of ManIsle of ManThe Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and elsewhere.
External links
- Strohbären – German Straw Bear website
- Straw bear page on Narren-Wiki
- Methods of Straw Bear wrapping
- Panoramio: Straw bears in Apfelstädt, Thuringia
- Hassfurter Tagblatt: Newspaper photos of straw bears at Kirchaich patronal festival, 5 September 2010
- Tagblatt: Newspaper report of Früher alltäglich, heute selten: Strohbären wie der Hirschauer Äschadreppler ("Once common, now rare: strawbears the Hirschau Äschadreppler")
- Badisch Zeitung: Photo album of Shrove Tuesday straw bear and other carnival costumes from Ewattingen
- Südkurier Online: Report on straw bears at Ewattingen and elsewhere: Es ist schön fast Fasnacht, 17 Jan 2009
- A couple of historical Straw Bear pictures (Empfingen)
- Procession of 60th anniversary of "Narrenzunft Empfingen" (30 Jan 2011); gallery includes excellent photos of straw bears from many towns