Customs from Central Europe
From alpine cooking to seasonal festivities and family games: this unique collection of films from the German National Library of Science and Technology documents an important slice of Central Europe’s intangible heritage.
21 objecten
It is mainly in Upper-Bavaria that maypoles are erected. They are mostly painted in white and blue (the regional colours of Bavaria) and decorated with figures and the signs of the various guilds etc. The film shows how the maypole is transported by a hor…
One of the ordinary dishes in the Gsies valley is a maize-pap called plente. Plente is cooked in a pan set on the fireplace in the centre of the Alpine dairy-farm. Butter is melted and salt and water are added. Then maize-flour is mixed in the water, stir…
The game "Fox and Hen", which requires the faculty of combinatorial thinking, is known in St. Magdalena (Gsies Valley) from time immemorial. The square board and the 22 wooden pieces are manufactured by the people themselves. Holes are made in t…
Slaughtering a sow on the Köber Farm in Eisacktal, removing the hair, opening, and disemboweling. Cleaning and turning the entrails, stuffing preparing cooked sausages and blood pudding. Curing bacon and pieces of meat. Smoking the flitches of bacon in th…
At St. Jakob (Ahrntal) the local priest blesses the cattle (27.5.1963). It takes two days to lead the herds across snowfields up to their Alpine pasture.
Route of the herds: Windbachtal, Krimmler Tauern (2634 m), Ahrntal. Overnight stay at Prettau. Cowbells are put on and the leading cow is decorated with a crown. In the afternoon of the second day the herds arrive at the farms. In the evening the farmers …
A peasant family, consisting of the parents and 12 children, are sitting at the table below the crucifix to take supper. After saying grace a milk soup is served, followed by a farinaceous dish called "Schweißnudel", eaten with milk. All the fam…
In a barn, a young man is enveloped in green foliage. This veiled figure is then led round in a procession of riders, and killed symbolically in the middle of the village. The procession ends on a meadow, where a horse-race serves as finale. The winner is…
One week before Ash Wednesday, Shrovetide is proclaimed out of a waggon in various places of the town of Wolfach. After the "Eleven o'clock Mass" on the following "Dirty Thursday" pretzels are distributed to the children. The proce…
Every fifth year in Förste/Nienstedt people gather to the "Schüttenhoff" (shooters court), a special form of Schützenfeste (festival with side-shows, including marksmanship) found in southern lower saxony. For five days at Easter processions of …
In seven towns of the Western Harz mountains annual finch-singing competitions are held using tame birds. They are around Easter and this film shows the competition from 1989 in St. Andreasberg as well as excerpts from how to keep and train a finch.
On the eve of St. Nicholas day (December 6th) a group of mummed young men goes from house to house. The group consists of St. Nicholas, a second Nicholas figure, a figure with an animal mask (the Klausenbigger, which lent the custom its name), and a figur…
A large copper vessel with milk is hanging over the fireplace in an alpine dairy-hut. After removing impurities the milk is covered and heated. When the milk is near the boiling point, whey is added and little by little the milk, constantly controlled wit…
Two girls make together eight successive string figures. Then one of the girls makes a series of individual figures: eight rigid figures, two figures evenly moving and three string games (undoing the figure). All the figures are recorded first at 24 and t…
In a secret barn the "Butz" is dressed up with straw, straw plaits, a red ribbon and kind of an aigrette from coloured strips of paper. Rosettes are stuck on the mummery. Then he starts his begging procession through the village with two guides …
Dressing up the "Butz" with straw and straw plaits, a long tail, a straw hat, gloves and a whip. During the begging procession he is accompanied by two guides, two egg collectors and some pupils. Later the mummery of the "Butz" is infl…
The "Bändeltanz" is performed at prelenten carnival time. The female dancers from a circle around a decorated pole, to which long ribbons have been attached just below the crown. Every dancer holds the end of a ribbon in her hand. The dancers mo…
A schoolboy from an upper grade is wrapped up in ropes made of straw. Together with seven companios he goes from house to house. Sayings are recited and eggs, butter and mik are collected. On the same evening the boys consume the food together.
The "Straw-man", disguised completely in straw, plays a special role in the Leipferdingen shrovetide. First the dressing of the "Straw-man" is shown in the film. Then he is led along in the procession. On Shrove-Tuesday an imitation of…
The fairground singer M. I. Nikolov (born in 1911), one of the last of a once thriving profession, sings old and new songs and ballads at Ladies' Market in the centre of Sofia. In so doing, he plays the physharmonica and sells songbooks. In Their appa…
Corpus Christi day opens at five a.m. with the so-called "walking-call". Still early in the morning, the altars which have been set up out doors are decorated, and carpets of flowers are laid. After early mass comes the procession, which proceed…