LL-L "Traditions" 2008.12.30 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 30 December 2008 - Volume 03
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

Dear Lowlanders,

New Year's Eve is almost upon us and some of you might like to share how
they used to celebrate it in the cultural Lowlands environment of their
youth and how that differs from the way they celebrate it these days, if at
all.

In Low-Saxon-speaking Northern Germany traditions vary from location to
location. The two predominant names for New Year's Eve (aside from German *
Sylvester*) are *Oljahrsavend* (*Oldjaarsavend* "Old Year's Eve") and *
Fastelavend*. The latter of these names seems to point at some confusion
that occurred with the coming of the Reformation and the abandonment of
Carnival (*Fastnacht* "fasting night"). Some of the customs seem to have
been transferred from Carnival to New Year's Eve, probably in conjunction
with pre-Christian Winter Solstice customs. Especially the making of noise
comes to mind, as does going from house to house in disguise and singing for
tokens of appreciation from the inhabitants. This, of course, is also
related to Halloween customs of Britain and its overseas offshoots. We still
followed this custom when I was a child, and even then it was a far cry from
what used to be done in earlier days when the *Rummelpott* (known on the
Netherlands side as *foekepot*, *rommelpot*, *foekerommelpot*) used to be
played (a friction drum known in Dutch as *rommelpot*, in Danish as *
rummelpot*, in Limburgish as *foekepot*, in German as *Brummtopf*, in
Italian as* caccavella*, in Spanish as* zambomba*, in Portuguese as *
sarronca*, in Romanian as *buhai*, in Ukrainian as *бугай*), in Hungarian as
*köcsögduda*, and in Basque as *eltzagor*, all being associated with
end-of-the-year traditions and/or Martinmas).


Here is a ditty in Low Saxon of Achterhoek on the Netherlands side of the
border:



*Foekepotterij, foekepotterij,*

*geef mien 'n cent, dan gao ik weer veurbij.*

*ik heb geen geld um brood te kopen,*

*deurum mot ik met de foekepotte lopen.*

*Foekepotterij, foekepotterij,*

*geef mien 'n cent, dan gao ik weer veurbij.*


And one from Northern Germany:



*Fruken, maak de Dœr op!
De Rummelpott will rin.
Daar kümmt een Schipp ut Holland,
de hett keen goden Wind.
Schipper, wullt du wieken,
Bootsmann, wullt du strieken.
Sett de Segel op de Topp,
und giff mi wat in´n Rummelpott!*



And for us here at Lowlands-L New Year's Eve comes with a bonus in that it
is the birthday of our own Sandy Fleming (sandy at scotstext.org) and Roger
Thijs (roger.thijs at euro-support.be), each of them "Mr. Resources" in his own
right.

Happy birthday, Sandy and Roger!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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