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L O W L A N D S - L - 11 November 2010 - Volume 04<br>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Tom Mc Rae</span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:thomas.mcrae@bigpond.com">thomas.mcrae@bigpond.com</a>></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L
"Traditions" 2010.11.11 (03) [EN-NL]</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Long before the Americans
and Trick or Treat us Scots had Guising at Halloween with neep (turnip)
lanterns.</p>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">On 12/11/2010, at 4:11 AM,
Lowlands-L List wrote:</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: navy;">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.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Best Regards<br>
Tom Mc Rae<br>
Brisbane Australia<br>
An honest man's the noblest work of God (Robert Burns)</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From:
R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject:
Traditions<br>
<br>
Dear Lowlanders,<br>
<br>
All of this came to be somewhat fragmented and muddled in Northern
Germany, especially in Protestant communities with remnants of Roman
Catholic tradition.<br>
<br>
While Martinmas (Low Saxon <i>Martensdag</i>, German <i>Martinstag</i>) 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 <i>Oldjahrsavend</i>, German <i>Sylvester</i>).<br>
<br>
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 <i>Rummelpottlopen</i>
(<a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummelpottlaufen">http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummelpottlaufen</a>,
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_drum">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_drum</a>). 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).<br>
<br>
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). </p>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">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
(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgisnacht">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgisnacht</a>).<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
Seattle, USA</p>
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