LL-L "Traditions" 2009.02.02 (01) [E/LS]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 02 February 2009 - Volume 01
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From: Hannelore Hinz <hannehinz at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2009.02.01 (02) [E/LS]

Hallo Marlou un Luc,



ick bün all wedder dor, wo't nu üm denn' Rug'klas/Ruugklaas geiht.

Ruug: rauh, Rauhheit, Klaas (verkürzt) von Nikolaus. Sg. Klaas, Pl. Kloes.

Un wenn dat heit*  hei is 'n bannigen Klaas  *(Wismar/Wismer), denn ökeln's
oewer ein'n fuulen un doemlichen Minschen so as *Doemelklaas, Droehn-,
Dröm-, 'Ritendal-, Schüffel-, Seiwer- (Speichel) -, Telgen-, Wut- ,*  un
noch väl mihr.

De Ruugklaas güng üm de Wihnachtstied eegentlich as Niklaas-Figur von Huus
tau Huus. Hei haar väl Namens, kiek hen: Juklas, Julbuck, ok Julebuck.

Julebuck ein swedsche Figur, de hier as "Kinnjes' (Betonung auf 2. Silbe)
taugang'n wier. (Kinnjes'/Kannjes': Jesukind, Ãœberbringer von Gaben.)

So hebben sick dunnmals de Knechte as'n Ruugklaas "vermummt".

Ruugklaas wier in Mäkelborg *de Ruugklaas*, von em wüßten's all'.

Man, de Ruugklaas wier nich 'n bäten wat fründlich antauseihn. Kein Wunner
nich, mit

"Erbsstroh" un "Säcken" wier hei bi de Gören ein Schreck, ein dägt'
Verfieren, so wat as ein Bulemann.

De Ruugkloes harden alltosamen ne Raud'/Rod' (Rute), dor slögen's mit up de
Dierns,

de Jungs sünd wat orriger wäst...

Männigmal säd de Jung: "Ut de Angst kümmt 'n gor nich rut, sommers de
Gewidder un winters de Ruugklaasen."



Ruugklaas-Riemel



Ruugklaas, ick wünsch di 'n fröhlich Wihnachtsfest,

Äten un Drinken is't allerbest.

Ruugklaas, ick wünsch di 'n langes Läben,

wist mi  nich 'n poor Paepernoet gäben?



Jaa, riek wiern's nich.



De Angst/Bang' vör Ruugklaas gew sick nah sien'n Inkiek an'n Hilligabend.

Nu bölkten's acher em her: "Ruugklaas is 'n groten Schapskopp!"



Woans güng dat wieder mit Ruugklaas...



Klauke Lüüd snackten von ein "Metamorphose", von Niklaas nah Ruugklaas un
nah Wihnachtsmann...



Fritz Reuter vermellte nah sien soeben Johr Festungstied: "Daems was
dunnmals de Ruhklas von ganz Meckelnborg:"  Tschä, all'ns klor...!



Lat't jug dat gaud gahn!



Hanne


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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

Kriggst wedder 'n groten Dank för dat Verklaren, leve Hanne.

Folks, Hanne knows a lot about folk traditions of the Mecklenburg area, and
she also has access to lots of relevant resources.

By the way, I believe the German Knecht Ruprecht is related to this
Ruugklaas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companions_of_Saint_Nicholas
Should we add Ruugklaas to this Wikipedia article and its German and Dutch
versions?

Hanne wrote:

Klauke Lüüd snackten von ein "Metamorphose", von Niklaas nah Ruugklaas un
nah Wihnachtsmann...


In other words, some people talk about a metathesis from St. Nicolas to
Ruugklaas to Father Christmas.

I am not so sure I fully agree with this, despite the *Klaas* part. I cannot
imagine that St. Nicolas (the actual Santa Claus that came in early
December) was turned into a bad character. We need to bear in mind that in
Northern Germany there was some confusion of original Lowlands tradition
(which was similar to the Dutch tradition) and German traditions that
entered with the German "take-over". The Father Christmas figure was added
for Christmas. St. Nicolas comes with a rough fellow companion (Zwarte Piet
in the Netherlands), and so does Father Christmas: he is accompanied by
Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Rupert) who, too, does the dirty work of punishing
naughty children. What is confusing here is the use of *...klaas*. As Hanne
pointed out, this is commonly used in name-calling, such as in
*Dröömklaas*"dreaming Nick", a nickname for a male that constantly
daydreams, or
*Severklaas* (*Seiwerklaas*) "drooling Nick" for a male that drools. In my
opinion, thus, this *...klaas* part in *Ruugklaas* merely coincides with
Niklaas ((St.) Nicolas).

And here are a couple of linguistic notes:

In Low Saxon, syllable-final /g/ is fricativized and devoiced, resulting in
a *ch* sound ([x]) as in Scots *loch*. In Scots spelling, *Ruugklaas* would
be **Roochclaws*. Otherwise (as in *de ruge Klaas*) /g/ is pronounced [g] as
in "good" and "eager", with the exception of the far-western dialects where
it is fricative in all cases (thus leading over to the Low Frankish
varieties).

*Ruug* has the English cognate "rough" (Scots *roch* [rox]) in which the
"gh" indicates the old fricative (that was later changed to [f]), probably
pronounced as devoiced [x] unless followed by a vowel.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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