The
History of the Danube Swabians
By
Hans Kopp
hans_kopp@hotmail.com
from
the book “The Last Generation Forgotten and Left to Die” The
History of the Danube Swabians”.
All
Rights reserved. ISBN No. 0-9701109-0-1
Chapter
2
The
Customs and Traditions of the Danube Swabians
Their
Towns and Homes |
The
planners of the German settlements had very
specific objectives in mind. They designed most of the towns in a
north-east/south-west grid with its streets running mostly straight from one end
of the town to the other end and in many cases had the appearance of a
chessboard. The layouts of the towns resembled in many ways towns in “The
Palatinate” (Rheinpfalz) and Alsace. In the beginning there were basically two
types of homes, the standard smaller home and the larger farmhouse called “Langenhaus” (laid out
in an “I” shape) and the “Winkelhaus”
(laid out in a “L” shape). They were built side-by-side with the doors and
windows facing on the inside facing south. The farmhouses, the type of home we
owned, had the appearance of two capital “L’s” standing above each other,
as most of the farm houses of my home town were constructed.
The
vertical leg of the upper “L” accommodated the living quarters, starting
with the master bedroom facing the street, used often as the guest room (Paradi
Zimmer), followed by a smaller bedroom adjacent for the children, a living room,
a kitchen/dining room combination, and a storage room. Below these rooms you
could find the cellar. The base of the upper “L” starting from the left,
accommodated a hay barn, followed by a large wagon port and two rooms used as
either a second residence or as workrooms. In the loft above these facilities
was the storage for the grains, such as wheat, oats and corn. The neighboring
houses were connected with a seven to eight foot high wall, provided with a door
and a gate for the wagons to enter and exit. This gave the houses viewed from
the street a closed appearance and the necessary privacy inside. The rectangular
frontcourt formed by this enclosure accommodated the vegetable and flower
gardens. It also had several fruit trees and a drinking water well (Brunnen)
which was provided with a counterweighted crossbeam (Schwenkel), and therefore
was called “Schwelkelbrunnen”. It also included a rainwater-collecting pit
to collect and store rainwater used for washing clothes. The lower “L”
housed the stables for the horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. The backcourt created
by the lower “L” provided running room for the poultry and animals as well
as the outhouse. It also contained a manure pile that was used as fertilizer for
the fields instituted in these regions first by the Danube Swabians.
The
walls of the houses were built with the only material available to the pioneers
at that time, soil that was bound with straw and rammed. The walls were
plastered with stucco and painted white with a chalk based paint. Roofs were
made of lumber and covered with reed, which was replaced in later years with
firebrick shingles. The soil was taken from the center of the courts of the
houses and later refilled with soil from the “Grundloch”, a pond created at
the end of the street for that purpose. All the farmland pastures, vineyards,
and forests planted by the pioneers were situated around the town. In the later
years, many of these homes were redesigned and rebuilt to keep pace with the
times. Larger farms called “Salasch”, spread over larger acreage and had the
farmhouses on those spreads. We can compare the “Salasch” with the farms in
the United States.
It
may be of interest to learn about the costs of a house. Following are the cost
estimates made by Baron von Cothmann's (second period 1763 and 1773) on a large
and a small colonist house:
The
large house: For ramming of the walls 12 Gulden, for three window frames @ 24
Kreutzer each totaling 1 Gulden 12 Kreutzer, for three doors including frames @
25 Groschen each totaling 3 Gulden 45 Kreutzer, for two ovens 2 Gulden, for 50
boards @ 6 Kreutzer each totaling 5 Gulden, for wages of the carpenters totaling
6 Gulden, for wages of the roofers 5 Gulden and 4 Kreutzer, for three windows
including glass @ 48 Kreutzer each totaling 2 Gulden 24 Kreutzer, hardware for
three doors @ 27 Kreutzer each totaling 1 Gulden 21 Kreutzer, wood for 7 frames
1 Gulden 45 Kreutzer, two wall benches 2 Gulden, 13 beams 3 gulden 27 Kreutzer
and for the foundation preparations, stucco and chimney 8 Gulden. This totaling
52 Gulden and 38 Kreutzer.
The
small house: For ramming of the walls 7 Gulden, for two window frames @ 24
Kreutzer each totaling 24 Kreutzer, for two doors including frames @ 25 Groschen
each totaling 23 Gulden 30 Kreutzer, for one ovens 1 Gulden, for 34 boards @ 6
Kreutzer each totaling 3 Gulden and 34 Kreutzer, for wages of the carpenters
totaling 4 Gulden for wages of the roofers 3 Gulden and 27 Kreutzer, for two
windows including glass @ 48 Kreutzer each totaling 1 Gulden 36 Kreutzer,
hardware for two doors @ 27 Kreutzer totaling 54 Kreutzer, wood for 5 frames 1
gulden 15 Kreutzer, two wall benches 1 Gulden, 30 Kreutzer, 9 beams 1 Gulden 11
Kreutzer and for the foundation preparations, stucco and chimney 5 Gulden. This
totaling 31 Gulden and 85 Kreutzer.
It
took about 6 to 8 weeks to complete a house. The currency was Gulden, Groschen
and Kreutzer. One Gulden was equal to 20 Groschen; one Groschen was equal to 3
Kreutzer.
|
Their
Clothing and Fashions |
The
clothing worn by our ancestors differed
from town to town and was influenced to a certain extent by the regions of their
origin. The clothing changed over a period of time, especially the women’s
clothing. The change was influenced by many factors, such as their original
origin, perhaps the tailors and seamstresses skills and tastes, as well as
trends and availability of materials. It also took certain characteristics from
other nationalities such as the Hungarians, Romanians, Serbians and Croatians.
Although, all the clothing of the Danube Swabians had similar characteristics,
their fashions distinguished themselves from town to town. Needles to say we
refer here primarily to the women’s fashions. We can easily make the statement
that every town had created their own distinguishable fashion recognizable to
the point one could tell from which town the women came from by looking at their
clothes.
The
women of Batschsentiwan wore some of the more distinguishable clothing fashions
among the Danube Swabians. It was the length of the skirts and the jackets among
some of the other features that had changed from the long skirts to short skirts
and from short jackets to longer jackets, at the beginning of the 20th
Century. Why this trend came into being no one seems to remember, but the
pictures taken at the turn of century revealed the time the change took place.
From pictures after WW I we can see that trends were established among certain
women to wear dresses fashionable and popular during that time period.
The
typical Danube Swabian women dressed, starting from the bottom up, besides
regular shoes made of leather, they also skillfully hand crafted footwear from
yarn (Häkelschuhe) with a variety of patterns and colors. The men wore, besides
shoes made of leather also boots usually very beautifully handcrafted with a
variety of patterns. They wore “Patschker” leather moccasin type footwear to
work in the fields and wore “Klumpen”; wooden shoes lined with straw, during
the winter months. The materials used for their skirts consisted of a wide
diversity of patterns and colors, darker for older women and lighter for the
younger women. The skirt was made from several panels of material and pleated.
Several starched underskirts (petticoat like) were worn, to give it shape and to
make it stand out in the bottom to give it the baroque type (bell) appearance.
The skirt of a Batschsentiwan woman was made from nine (9) full panels and
pleated with four starched underskirts. What I found extremely interesting is
the names given to those skirts. Many of them were named after flowers and other
patterns like “Tulpenrock” (Tulip skirt), “Vergißmeinichtrock”
(Forget-me-not skirt) “Guldenrock” and “Dinarrock” named after coins.
Others were named after what they represented, like “Herzlrock” (Heart
skirt) “Buwelockerrock” and “Männerlockerrock” (skirts made to attract
men) or “Gottesnamenrock” (Godsname skirt) or the “Donnerwetterrock”
(Thunderstorm skirt). Over the skirt an apron was worn with a multitude of
colors as well as white with hand stitched patterns. The jacket was beautifully
braided and hand stitched with flowers as well. Underneath the jacket they wore
a white blouse with hand-stitched patterns. On top of the jacket a shawl with a
flower pattern was neatly gathered, crossed in front and tied to form a
beautiful bow in the back. The typical Danube Swabian women when married wore a
head cover, while the single women did not. The head cover was a form of hat (Schlot)
formed to shape the bandanna (Kopftuch). However, the Schlot was often worn
without a bandanna, was made of colorful material and beautifully braided and
hand stitched with flowers. That our women’s clothing was of colorful
varieties and designs can be best seen when during the Danube Swabian festivals
and commemorations our women of today wear their re-created costumes. We owe it
to our surviving women of the last generation who have made the many replicas
still in existence.
The
men’s wear did not have the many different characteristics from town to town
as the women did. They differentiated basically between the old fashion and the
new. The old fashions showed the men’s pants beautifully decorated with braids
and designs to be worn with boots, while the newer fashions did not have these
features. In the earlier years men also wore skirts in several regions and their
long hair was often braided. The jackets featured wider lapels for the older
fashions as compared to the newer fashions. You may refer to the picture section
of our book “the Last Generation Forgotten and left to Die”. They also wore
black vests with silver buttons, a tradition that has survived to this day and
which are worn by the men during Danube Swabian festivals and commemorations and
thus have become a distinguishing characteristic of the Danube Swabians and
their descendants.
|
The
Wedding Celebrations
|
Getting
married is one of the biggest events in our lives.
A wedding in a Danube Swabian house was no different. Different, however were
the elaborate preparations, costumes and traditions. Let us reflect briefly on a
typical wedding. The parents themselves had very little to do with the selection
of the mate. The young people usually met each other at the dances in the
“Wirtshaus” (guesthouse). The eligible male candidates were often sharply
scrutinized by the eyes of the future mother-in-law, during those dances. Most
of the time couples found themselves without any interference from their
parents. After the engagement, preparations were made for the bride’s dresses
and the groom’s suit. In Batschsentiwan the bride made four white aprons with
beautifully stitched patterns two for the groom and two for her, to be worn one
on each day of the wedding. As wedding pictures show this custom may have been
unique for Batschsentiwan.
Die
Versprechung (the promising) was a
wonderful ritual and was held the fourth Sunday prior to the wedding in front of
the parents and in the presence of the bridesmaid and the best man. The groom
placed a golden coin into the hands of the bride and both promised to love each
other. This promise was sealed with holy water. A festival dinner followed this
ceremonial ritual. The next day on Monday, the couple went to church together
with the bridesmaid, the best man and the Godparents, who had to be selected as
part of the preparation prior to the wedding. After the church ceremony, the
registration into the church book had to be made, so that the announcement of
the couple’s intent to marry could be posted for the next four weeks. This was
done for anyone to see and could voice any objections against this union if
there were any.
The
fathers of the couple went on to sample wine with the groom and discuss various
other preparations such as how many chicken or pigs, flour and other goods would
be required for the wedding. The bride and the mothers went on to invite the
wedding guests that usually took several days and discussed the preparation of
the food and bakery. Naturally the size of the wedding depended on the wealth of
the bride’s parents.
On
the day before the wedding the “Hochzeitslader”, who
were
two young men received the list of guests from the mothers of the bridal
pair. Their task was to go to the houses of the guests to bring greetings and
personal invitations from the bride and groom and to inform them when they were
to meet at the groom’s house the next day. The wedding itself was a two-day
affair held on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday morning the guests met at the
house of the groom. The groom thanked his parents for his upbringing and asked
for forgiveness for whatever deeds needed to be forgiven and took leave from his
home. Before the wedding procession got under way the band began to play and the
people began to sing the song, “Schön
war die Jugend, sie kommt nicht mehr” (beautiful was our youth, it
will never return). Then the wedding guests lined up in pairs, the small
children in the front, the brass band next. Then the bridal girls in white (Kranzljungfern)
followed by the groom, the best man with a bouquet of flowers and the
traditional rosemary (Rosmarin) branches. The groom was wearing boots if he wore
the old traditional costume and a hat decorated with myrtle (Myrten). When the
procession began, the young women followed behind the groom, then the older
women, the parents of the groom and then the men.
Upon
arrival at the bride’s home the groom entered the room of the bride and said, “Jetzt
treten wir in den Ehestand ein. Wir gehen und laden Jesus, Maria und Josef ein”
(Now we will enter into matrimony. We go and invite Jesus, Mary and Joseph). The
bride wore her white or black wedding dress styled in the local custom, her
headpiece also decorated with myrtle. In her hand she held her bridle bouquet
decorated with rosemary and a prayer book. Now it was the bride’s turn to
thank her parents for her upbringing and ask for forgiveness for whatever deeds
needed to be forgiven and took leave from her home. The band began to play again
and the people began to sing the song a second time, “Schön
war die Jugend, sie kommt nicht mehr. Then the bridal party went on
their way to the church, where the priest was already waiting for them.
Following
the exchange of the wedding vows, the sermon and mass the bridal party moved on
to the Wirtshaus or to the brides’ home to except the congratulations and
begin the festivities with the bridal dance. After this short ceremony and
picture taking one had to regroup for the evening festivities. The meals were
always plentiful and exuberant preparations were made long before so that
everything went as planned. After the invocation done by the priest it was time
to eat. Some of the customary courses of the dinner were chicken soup (Hühnersuppe),
whole chicken and beef (Rindfleisch) with horseradish (Kren also known as
Pferderettich) and tomato sauce. There was veal paprikash (Kalbs Gulasch),
stuffed cabbage (known as Sarmen originating from the French word sarment
meaning grape wine), fresh bratwurst, veal and pork roast with celery roots.
Then there was plenty of wine and sodas. The highlight of the dinner was a
roasted turkey, which was a gift from the Godfather and Godmother. After dinner
speeches were made and best wishes uttered to the bride and groom, followed by
the world’s famous bakery and torts of the Danube Swabians.
Room
was made for dancing and the band began to play again. Later during the evening
a ceremonious headpiece exchange took place. The bridal crown was removed from
the bride’s head by her mother and replaced by the Schlot and Kopftuch, and
once more the band played, “Schön war die Jugend, sie
kommt nicht mehr”.
Since
the wedding was such a pompous feast, it lured many watchers (Hochzeitsschauer)
to the scene besides the guests, who came to see and admire the bride and her
bridesmaids. The celebration would go on past midnight into the morning,
although the “Hochzeitsnarren” took the bride and groom home earlier and
many of the guests had begun to leave. The “Hochzeitsnarren”
were a group of fun loving young men who spit shined a team of horses and wagon
accompanied by a band, which went from wedding to wedding, if there were more on
the same day, taking the bride and groom home.
On
Wednesday breakfast was served, guests that went home to rest returned, the
newly wed couple returned and the feast continued again. More meals were served,
the band continued to play until all guests had gone home.
The
average age on which our ancestors married was younger than it is today. From
information furnished by my ancestors in my Family tree, going back five
generations; the statistics of 29 couples were as follows. Men, age 17 (1), 18
(1), 19 (2), 20 (3), 21 (5), 22 (5), 23 (4), 24 (4), 25 (2), 26 (1) and 35 (1).
Women age 14 (1), 16 (4), 17 (9), 18 (3), 19 (2), 20 (5), 23 (3), 24 (1), and 25
(1). Going back one more generation we found the statistics of 20 couples. Men,
age 18 (1), 19 (2), 20, (2), 21 (3), 22 (2), 23 (1), 24 (1), 26 (1), 27 (2), 31
(1), and 44 (1). Women age 15 (1), 16 (1), 17 (2), 18 (1), 20 (5), 21 (3), 23
(1), 26, (2) and 32 (1). From these statistics the average male married between
the ages of twenty and twenty-four while the average age for the women was
between sixteen and twenty-three.
|
Their Faith and the Christian Holidays |
One
of the most celebrated holidays besides
Christmas was the “Kirchweihfest”,
the church carnival. The church carnival was held in honor of the Patron Saint
the church was dedicated too. On this day, a lot of activities outside of the
customary church services took place. Carnival rides and games for young and old
were available during these days. Stands and booths were erected with a variety
of items for sale, and a lot of food and wine were consumed. Dances were held at
the “Wirtshaus” for the young. After the dance at times, the young men often
took their young maidens to the carousel followed by the band they hired from
the guesthouse to accompany them there to play. The young women took their seats
on the carousel, while the young men set it in motion, to the dismay of the
owner. The carousels of those days had to be set in motion with manpower from a
platform above. At the end, they always did pay the owner generously for the
rides and his inconvenience.
In
our towns, we had a custom during the Easter Holiday week. The church bells were
silenced and the altar boys went in pairs from house to house to announce the
time of the day with the sound of a ratchet. On Easter Sunday, after the boys
were done with their duty, they went to collect their reward in the form of
Easter Eggs, money, cookies, and other goodies. Also on Easter Sunday the
traditional Easter bunny came to treat all the children with Easter eggs.
One
of the more interesting traditions, is the tradition of the Pentecost Holiday
parade on horseback, the “Pfingstlümmelreiten”. This
tradition can actually be traced back to the time of the settlement of
the towns. The name, which is actually difficult to translate, derived from an
early tradition. The young unmarried men prepared their horses on the commune
meadow (Hutweide) outside of town, late into the night and slept near their
horses that night. The young man who got up last the next morning was relegated
to do the unpleasant chores, hence the name “Lümmel”, meaning bum. It was a
tradition performed by the young sons of the farmers: After the young men
spit-shined their bridles, polished their saddles, groomed and decorated their
horses with flowers braided into their manes, they rode through the town
reciting self authored rhymes and riddles. The rhymes and riddles they wrote
were about events that took place during the past year. They wrote about good
deeds and bad deeds fortunate and unfortunate experiences, as well as a lot of
gossip and some of them were often very poetic. They wrote about lovers,
heartbreak and like episodes. Some of the poems written by these young men
contained also a lot of wisdom. For example:
People
always say:
The
World is getting worse!
The
World always stays the same
the people are getting worse!
|
Everyone
should sweep in front of his door,
there he finds enough mistakes:
He should write them down on paper,
in doing so he will finally learn.
|
This
is the best thing in the World,
that
death and devil do not take money.
If
it would be so, many poor souls
would have to go to hell for the rich. |
We love all beautiful maidens,
the young women we do not sadden,
the old women we do not hate,
and
all who live we let live.
|
The
Holiday of Corpus Christy was perhaps to most elaborately celebrated holiday of
all the Christian holidays in the Catholic communities. This holiday most
recently known as; “Solemnity of the most holy body and blood of Christ”.
Families would compete for the honor to erect one of the four altars for this
holiday on the outside of their house. The altar could be anywhere throughout
the town. The family selected for this honor beautifully decorated their altar
with flowers and holy pictures. The preparation started a week before the
holiday, which is toward the end of June, two weeks after Pentecost Sunday.
Streets were usually lined with flowers, the day before the holiday. On this
holiday everyone in the community dressed up in their most festive costumes to
participate. Usually the parade started with the women in the congregation, and
the boys and girls who had their first communion during the year who were
dressed in their communion clothes. Behind them followed the brass band, the
volunteer firefighters, the unmarried young women and the unmarried young men
dressed in their special attire. In particular unmarried young women carrying
the statue of the Holy Mother Mary were dressed in white. They were referred to
as “Muttergottesmädchen” (Girls of the Mother of God). The next to follow
in the procession was the city council followed by the altar boys and the clergy
all dressed in their attire. Followed by the priest with the Holy Body and Blood
of Christ walking under a sky, a beautiful stitched cloth held up with four
poles by young men. Now following in order were the older generation men and
women. The procession took most of the day to complete since it had to stop at
each altar to perform certain ceremonies and prayers.
Every
Christian holiday celebration had its own traditions especially Christmas. Our
Christmas traditions were wonderful and started on December 6, with St. Nikolaus
day. On this evening, St. Nikolaus visited the children with his helper Ruprecht,
also called Krampus. Ruprecht would punish the bad children with his whip made
of thin willow branches. If you were very bad, he would chain you and take you
put you in his big bag and take you with him. At his arrival, Ruprecht would
rattle his chains to make loud noises to frighten the children. He then would
seek out the children, and make attempts to hit them with his whip. Usually the
children’s father would courageously wrestle with Ruprecht to get him out of
the room, while the children kept hiding in safety behind their mother. After
Ruprecht left the room the children were always quite relieved. Ruprecht also
left his whip behind for the parents thus creating respect among the children.
When St. Nikolaus entered the room he was dressed in bishop’s clothes with a
miter on his head. The children went before him to sing a song and say a verse
or rhyme. He showed his kindness by rewarding the children with apples and their
favorite fruits, oranges.
The
children waited with great anticipation for that one day, December 24, Christmas
Eve, the day the “Christkindl” (Christ-child) would come and bring a
beautiful Christmas tree decorated with apples, nuts, oranges, and a toy or two.
On this day the children were sent to see their Godparents and bring them
Christmas gifts. The main reason for sending the children to their godparents
was to get the children out of the house so that they would not see the
preparations made by their parents for upcoming the evening. One of the
neighborhoods’ older girls would be asked to dress in white and be the
Christkindl for the children. Before the Christkindl arrived and brought the
beautiful Christmas tree, you could hear the bells ring from afar, announcing
the arrival. Like on Nikolaus day, the children would sing a song and say a
verse or rhyme. Before the children were allowed to open their presents or take
a candy from the tree, everyone would take his seat at the dinner table. The
family would say their prayers together and eat the Christmas dinner, which of
course had its own traditions. After dinner several Christmas carols were sung,
one of which was “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” (Silent night, Holy night).
Then children were allowed to open their presents and play with their new toys,
while the adults entertained themselves by telling stories until it was time to
go to the midnight mass.
When
New Years came all the children were excited to go and wish their parents,
grandparents, uncles, aunts, and neighbors a Happy New Year. For this they were
rewarded with money from everyone to whom they took their wishes. The holidays
finally ended with the “Sternsingen” (Star Singing) on Holy Three Kings Day
on January 6th. On this day the children dressed up as the Holy Three
Kings, teamed up in threes and went from house to house singing songs, similar
to what children do here in the United States on Halloween. For their efforts,
they were rewarded again with fruits, nuts, candy or money.
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