LL-L "Festivities" 2002.10.02 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 05.OCT.2002 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Thomas Byro <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Festivals" 2002.10.02 (11) [E]

  Your question has intrigued me.  I must tell you that I had assumed until
recently that all Mennonites in North America were derived from South
Germany and spoke variants of Hochdeutsch.  I live in central Pennsylvania,
an area that has been settled by people from Germany for the last 300 years
or so.  In this area, I have many personal contacts in the Team Mennonite
community, as well as a few in the Old Order Amish community.  The main
difference between the two, as far as I can see, is that Amish do not use
electricity and tractors, whereas the Team Mennonites use both.  However,
both use only horse drawn buggies for personal transportation.  We use a
Mennonite family to occasionally babysit our granddaughter and I can't tell
you how excited she was several weeks ago to go shopping in a horse drawn
buggy.

The daily language of both communities is "Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch)".
If you really want to be sure of communicating, that is the language that
you would use here.  This language is based on Schwaebisch, since the
ancestors of most of these people came from Schwaben, Switzerland and
Elsass.  Anyway, I asked several of these families about Pfeffernuesse.
They had all heard about them but had never eaten them.  This amazed me
because I cannot imagine Christmas without them.  I can only assume that
Pfeffernuesse had not become a part of the cultural tradition in South
Germany at the time that their ancestors left there.  Perhaps I will try
again, asking for Paepanaet, this time.  Maybe they know them under that
name, but I somehow doubt it.

A useful source of information might be the newspaper "Die Bootschaft",
which is aimed at Mennonites and Amish.  I don't know if this paper reaches
Canada or not but I would be happy to provide you with the address.

Tom\
From: Eldo Neufeld <greneuf at interchange.ubc.ca>
Subject: LL-L Festivals

Holger Weigelt (in answering Thomas Byro) wrote about a festival in Eastern
Friesland called "St. Martin," in which children go from house to house
singing, and receive gifts, among them traditional "gingernuts."  In
Mennonite Plautdietsch tradition, a common reward, especially at
Christmastime, for such activity would be what were called "Päpanät" (Ger:
Pfeffernüsse, Eng: pepper- nuts).  Does anyone know whether there might
possibly be any kind of historical connection between "gingernuts" and
"Päpanät?"  The Mennonite Community Cookbook (c.1950) recipe makes no
mention of pepper, but does call for peppermint extract.  Päpanät (after
baking) are small, hard, candy-like, confections beloved of Mennonites
everywhere (whether Plautdietsch-speaking or not!), primarily around
Christmastime.  Any thoughts on the subject would be welcomed.

Eldo Neufeld
4040 Blenheim St.
Vancouver, BC   V6L 2Y9
Tel: (604) 738-4378
e-mail: greneuf at interchange.ubc.ca

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From: burgdal32admin <burgdal32 at pandora.be>
Subject: LL-L "Festivals" 2002.10.02 (11) [E]

> From: Eldo Neufeld <greneuf at interchange.ubc.ca>
> Subject: LL-L Festivals
>
> Holger Weigelt (in answering Thomas Byro) wrote about a festival in
> Eastern
> Friesland called "St. Martin," in which children go from house to house
> singing, and receive gifts, among them traditional "gingernuts."  In
> Mennonite Plautdietsch tradition, a common reward, especially at
> Christmastime, for such activity would be what were called "Päpanät"
> (Ger:
> Pfeffernüsse, Eng: pepper- nuts).  Does anyone know whether there might
> possibly be any kind of historical connection between "gingernuts" and
> "Päpanät?"  The Mennonite Community Cookbook (c.1950) recipe makes no
> mention of pepper, but does call for peppermint extract.  Päpanät
> (after
> baking) are small, hard, candy-like, confections beloved of Mennonites
> everywhere (whether Plautdietsch-speaking or not!), primarily around
> Christmastime.  Any thoughts on the subject would be welcomed.
>
> Eldo Neufeld
>
Dear Eldo,

In the coast area of West Flanders the feest of "Sinte Moarten" is also
well known.
Children then go through the villages with a carved sugar beet and a
light within.
Sinte maorten is also the man who brings a lot of presents (like
"Sinterklaas"). Among those gifts there was alwaeys some food
(especially in times when there was a lot of poverty)One of the items
was a "peperkoek"(E: gingerbread) Peperkoek meaning literally spiced
cake.

Groetjes
Luc Vanbrabant
Oekene

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