LL-L 'Traditions' 2007.01.26 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 25 January 2007 - Volume 07

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From: "heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk" <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk >
Subject: LL-L 'Website' 2007.01.25 (07) [E]

Ron

I 'm not sure what to do with the attached.
It's taken from our local newspaper so not my copyright
But I couldn't NOT let the forum know that the Sorbs were having 15 minutes
of fame in the local Worcester newspaper!

"Celebrating the story of the Bird's Marriage in Panschwtiz: the children
of the Sorbs, a national german minority near the German-Polish border,
thank
the birds that according to legend gave the children sweets in return for
being fed during the winter. The childrens' costumes are the same as the
original costume worn for a Sorb marriage."

Can it be posted / uploaded so people can see it? What about (c) ?

Best wishes
Heather

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

Hi, Heather!

Officially we're not really supposed to attach anything, and I'm not sure if
the server will let it go through.

[I just tried it, and the server configuration prevented transmission. Ah,
well ...]

If not, I refer everyone to the following page with plenty cuteness:

http://www.cottbus.de/kultur/tradition/40000245.html
http://www.smwk.de/de/kf/kunst/sorben/739.htm

The Birds' Wedding tradition (Lower Sorbian Ptaškowa swajzba, Upper
Sorbian Ptači
kwas) goes back to a very ancient rite ushering in the new year. I am under
the impression that it is a bit stronger in Lower Lusatia than in Upper
Lusatia, thus closer to Berlin and Brandenburg were Low Saxon is or used to
be used.  Lusatia was once a large area, including Dresden and Leipzig in
the west and a few areas of today's Poland in the east.  Apparently,
remnants of the Birds' Wedding custom can be found in some of those former
Sorbian, now German- and Polish-speaking areas.

In fact, it is believed that the German (?) children's song "Die
Vogelhochzeit" (The Birds' Wedding) is linked with this tradition.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Vogelhochzei<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Vogelhochzeit>

This is a lovely tradition and a major event for Sorbian children.  Cuteness
abounds when they dress up in traditional dress for the occasion of mock
weddings, but I'm not so sure who has a better time: the kids or their
parents.  (What about those little boys with their top hats?)

I suspect that this is derived from a Sorbian song tradition.  But I can't
check, because my lovely collection of Sorbian folk song books is in a box
in storage in California at the moment.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

P.S.: Incidentally, the first and last time I was sent out of the classroom
(for excessive giggling) was while practising this song in school, and it
was all triggered by two girls playing the turkeys.

Die Puten, die Puten,
die machten breite Schnuten.
Fide rallala, fide rallala, fide rallalalala.
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