LL-L "Traditions" 2010.11.11 (05) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

=====================================================
L O W L A N D S - L - 11 November 2010 - Volume 04
lowlands.list at gmail.com - http://lowlands-l.net/
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
Archive: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)
Language Codes: lowlands-l.net/codes.php
=====================================================



From: Tom Mc Rae <thomas.mcrae at bigpond.com>

Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2010.11.11 (03) [EN-NL]



Long before the Americans and Trick or Treat us Scots had Guising at
Halloween with neep (turnip) lanterns.



On 12/11/2010, at 4:11 AM, Lowlands-L List wrote:



I remember in the 50-ies we turned sugar beets into heads with a candle
inside, similar to what Americans do with pumpkins at halloween nowadays.



Best Regards
Tom Mc Rae
Brisbane Australia
An honest man's the noblest work of God (Robert Burns)



----------



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

Subject: Traditions

Dear Lowlanders,

All of this came to be somewhat fragmented and muddled in Northern Germany,
especially in Protestant communities with remnants of Roman Catholic
tradition.

While Martinmas (Low Saxon *Martensdag*, German *Martinstag*) is still being
celebrated in some northern communities, in my early post-war community in
Hamburg it had “deteriorated” to being a (paper) lantern procession through
the streets in the evening (with or without musical accompaniment), while
the guising (and in part trick-o-treating) part had come to be shifted to
New Year’s Eve (Low Saxon *Oldjahrsavend*, German *Sylvester*).

On New Year’s Eve, children in fancy dress used to go from door to door,
singing, saying poems and asking for treats. (If treats were not forthcoming
or were inadequate, the older kids would take revenge by doing terrible
things to your house, such as putting live firecrackers into you letterbox.)
This was a remnant of the custom of *Rummelpottlopen* (
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummelpottlaufen,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_drum). At the same time, adults would
revel (and get quite inebriated) at New Year’s Eve parties, and
traditionally this, too, involved fancy dress. So there seem to be
connections with Carnival traditions in Roman Catholic communities (which
have influenced the Jewish Purim festival as well).

Furthermore, it is customary to go crazy with private fireworks on New
Year’s Eve in Northern Germany -- more expensive and dangerous than any
American 4th of July revelry will ever be -- presumably as a remnant of
Pre-Christian noise-making to drive out evil spirits and thus cleanse the
house before the arrival of the new year. (In Scandinavia this comes to the
fore on Christmas Eve when people perform stomping line dances through all
rooms of their houses, something that can also be observed in certain
Alemannic communities ... and in many, many other cultures throughout the
world, as far away as the Yanomamö of the Amazon Forest).



In Northern Germany as well, a clearly American-rooted, commercially
motivated Halloween “tradition” has now been added to this mix, or rather
has been superimposed onto it, with a flimsy thread between it and Pagan
Walpurgis Night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgisnacht).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA



=========================================================
Send posting submissions to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
Send commands (including "signoff lowlands-l") to
listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands.list at gmail.com
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=118916521473498<http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#%21/group.php?gid=118916521473498>
=========================================================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20101111/bce7311a/attachment.htm>