Der Georgiritt, riding with St. George

 An annual blessing of the horses takes place every Easter Monday in a little town to the east of Erlangen. This year we had great weather, so the onlookers were numerous, and we were too late for Knieküchla, literally "little knee cakes," named because they look like the dough was stretched over the baker's knee before being fried and dredged in sugar. But we saw the parade of horses.  It starts out with a procession out of the church led by the local priest and the altar boys carrying a statue of St. George, who is the patron saint of horses and riders.

wooden statue of St. George

Then the local priest blesses the horses, and a parade begins.

It's led by the mayor 

the mayor

and then the local priest

the local priest

Next are the drums. The rest of the band must wait back a distance behind the horses. Horses are easily spooked.

drums don't spook the horses?

 

A wagon carrying people in traditional costumes (Tracht, pronounced "traht") comes next. Notice the young unmarried women with the crowns. The woman who graciously let us take her picture with Richard wore Tracht that she inherited from her grandmother. Most of her clothing was 100 years old.

 

people in tracht

 

maidens' crowns

 

100-year old Tracht

Next come the beautiful horses. 

 

 

 

Even the humble come to be blessed. 

a humble donkey

 

 

The parade ends up back at the church. The church was built at the end of the 1400s as a Wehrkirche, which means a fortified church.

the Wehrkirche in Effeltrich

 

 The entrance to the fortress has statues of St. Lawrence and others above the gate.

entrance gate on left-hand side of fortress wall

The area between the fortress and the church is a graveyard.

inside the fortress wall

view of church entrance from entrance gate

 Inside the church are the baroque decorations.

inside the church

Across the street from the church is the "Thousand-Year Linde", a linden tree that is probably about 800 years old.

 

1000-year Linde

The village used to hold dances in its branches.

See our previous blogs at 2007 (skip down to the heading "Easter Monday Excursion")  and   2015  (Osterbrunnen: decorated town fountains with evergreen and colored eggs before Easter)

 

 

 

 

Easter fountains and wells

Easter in the hills of Frankonian Switzerland (just north-east of here) is celebrated by decorating the fountains and wells. The sandstone that makes up the mountains doesn't hold water, and wells are sometimes 100 yards deep. In the winter they go dry, but when the winter snow melts in the spring, the wells fill up again, and it is time to celebrate. Traditionally, when the wells and fountains are cleaned out, the rubbish that collected is allowed to dry (for the bonfire that takes place on the night before Easter). While the women cleaned, the girls painted eggs (the symbol of fertility and spring) and decorated the wells with pine boughs and ribbons. During the Romantic period in Germany (the early 1800s), these old traditions became important again, and since then they have become more popular. Today, there are about 300 Easter fountains in Frankonian Switzerland.

In Bieberbach, at the intersection of two of only a handful of streets that make up the town, tourist buses unload people to see the worlds biggest Easter fountain. At least, that's what the Guinness Book of World Records says. More than 11 thousand eggs from chicken, ducks and geese were used.

In Birkenreuth, they still have the old well that they have enclosed in a nice shelter decorated with Easter eggs. Inside, the opening to the well is covered with decorations. Even the rope going into the well has pine boughs twisted around it so that more Easter eggs can be attached.  

The Trachtenverein (Association of traditional costumes) in Muggendorf decorates the fountain in the center of town. They posted some information on making the easter egss. Between one and two hours are needed to make each egg. The steps, as usual, are 1) blow out the egg, 2) paint the background color, 3) paint the decoration,  4) apply a laquer to protect the decoration so the egg can be used in subsequent years, and 5) string the eggs with thread and pearls to separate them. 

  We made it to Muggendorf in time for lunch. We saw the waitress at the Golden Star opening up the beer garden behind the fountain, so we checked in the restaurant for an Easter meal. We were both in the mood for lamb, and two dishes were on the menu, so we each had one. They were both delicious.

After lunch we went to Waischenfeld, where the Heimat- und Verschönerungsverein (Home-town and Beautification Association) decorates the fountain with 2600 Easter eggs. Waischenfeld is on a small river, so the center of town didn't have a fountain. But on the edge of town there is a nice fountain made out of a large piece of the sandstone that makes up the mountains here. 

Our final stop was in Heiligenstadt, where a brass band was playing music as we walked into the town square.