Crowds with pitchforks and torches still turn out to chase out unwanted visitors in small towns near us.
For a couple of years now, the nationally owned German Rail company (Deutsche Bahn, DB) has been searching for a suitable site to build a maintenance facility for its high-speed trains (ICE). It has been looking at various sites around the city of Nuremberg. Everywhere they go, the local people protest against the imposition on the local resources and destruction of natural beauty.
Most recently, two representatives of the DB traveled to the town of Harrlach to pitch their ideas for locating the new facility in a chunk of the Bann forest adjacent to the town. Needless to say, the local residents were not crazy about having so much of their forest destroyed. After the DB representatives made their pitch, the residents sent them off, voicing their disagreement by reviving an 18th century farmers' tradition. Much noise was made and, typical for Germany, a rhyming song accompanied the occasion.
A sample of the text (chosen from among the 18 verses) with which the DB representatives were sent off follows. You won't find some of these words in the dictionary, because they are in thick Franconian dialect:
„Wir san die Harrlacher Haberfeldtreiber, wir stelln uns quer, wir machen immer weiter. Wir san do bei der Nacht, wir san do am Dooch, des merktster, Deutsche Bahn, wir loun net noch!“
„Vom ICE waschns jede Muckn; Bei uns do falln die Brunna truckn.“
„Zehntausend Kloschüsseln, sauber wäi gmolt; Frag amal wer des Abwasser zohlt?“
„Hundert Fragen stellst der Bahn; als Antwort kommt bloß: Raumordnungsverfahrn. (...) Da fällt der Bannwald, Hieb für Hieb; so grün ist der Staatsbetrieb.“
"The Harrlach Haberfeldtreiber are we, we dig in our heels, resist perpetually.
We're here by night, we're here by day. You see, Deutsche Bahn, we will not cave!
"From the ICE, they wash each fly; all the while our wells run dry.
"Ten-thousand toilet bowls, clean as if new painted. Guess who pays the costs of water tainted?
"The Bahn's only answer to a hundred requests is the "regional planning process" ... So falls the Bann forest, tree by tree. How green can the state's operation be?"
Most German trains run on electricity from lines above the tracks, like street cars do. Even though the Deutsche Bahn prides itself on using "green" sources of electricity to run the trains, this search for a new site is going off the rails.
The event is called a "Haberfeldtreiben" meaning "to drive someone out through the oat field," Haber is local dialect for Hafer=oats. The custom dates to the 1700s, came from upper Bavaria, and provided a way for the peasants to voice their opinions to the nobles. They would gather after dark, chanting while dressed in black with blackened faces or wearing wooden masks representing devils (see our blog about the Perchtentreiben), carrying torches, cow bells and pitchforks.
So this is a great demonstration of several themes that we have observed in our time here, including the Franks' (pron. "Frahnks" = Franconians') love of trees and the revival of old traditions, some of which draw on ancient pagan rites. The rhyming chant is also typical of how certain occasions are marked. Fans shout chants and sing songs at soccer games, and groups at beer gardens have traditional ditties. Trick-or-treating children sing a song when they come to the door at Halloween asking politely for candy. To express their gratitude, kids are even expected to recite a poem or sing a verse before they open their Christmas presents! And on the feast of Epiphany, the kids dressed as the three "kings" go door-to-door singing a song at each house as they ask for donations to that year's charity. (on the 2014 Christmas/2015 New Year's blog, scroll to the end to see the section about the Epiphany in Germany)
Unlike the French, who are notorious for going on strike at the drop of a hat, the Franks are notorious for being laconic and it takes a lot to get them angry. On the jubilant end of the spectrum, they are so restrained, they only get publicly crazy and silly on certain occasions such as Fasching (Mardi Gras), which they make into a week-long party season prior to Lent, the yearly Kirchweih (beer festivals), soccer games, New Year's Eve, ... and I can't think of any other occasions!
Here's the link to the original article: Harrlach residents up in arms, protest against the Bahn: our wells will run dry
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