Germans say goodbye to winter with parades, plays, fires

March is the month to say goodbye to winter and welcome spring. In the Pfalz area, several towns and villages observe various traditions to do that. One tradition is to “burn winter,” and another one is to have summer-day parades and perform summer-day plays.

The most popular and biggest summer-day parade and play always takes place the third Sunday before Easter in Forst along the German Wine Street. Forst residents perform a play called “Hanselfingerhut Fest.” The first performance takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday near the northern exit of the village, and the last performance is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in front of Felix-Christoph-Traberger-Halle.

Historical documentation of the play dates back to 1721. The dramatic play originated in Southern Germany and Switzerland. It has a deep meaning, but it is spiced with humor and originality. The story is based on the old Teutonic idea of a fight between summer and winter.

The play consists of four scenes and six characters with the village streets as the stage. The first scene shows the fight between winter and summer. Both performers are placed in little cone-shaped houses made of slats and sticks.

The winter house is covered with straw and has a straw cross on top; the summer house is covered with ivy and decorated with a blue and white flag on its top. Both houses have a little hole to look through. The two competitors are armed with sabers made of wood and walk down the street with the house over their head. They talk about their good qualities before they finally start fighting. Summer wins.

In the second scene, an officer cadet, who looks like a mercenary from former times, judicially resolves the fight between winter and summer.

In the third scene, the main character of the play, Hanselfingerhut, appears. His dress is shabby and his face is smeared with oil and soot. He represents a tramp who lost all his belongings but still is in the mood for playing tricks on others and teasing young, good-looking girls. While singing, he swings between the summer and winter houses, which are about five meters away from each other. Finally, he looks for a girl from the audience to press a black brand, a kiss, onto her face.

The fourth and final scene demonstrates how Hanselfingerhut is exhausted and how the barber tries to cure him with a bloodletting on his toe. But he faints, and the officer cadet tickles him with his sword. Hanselfingerhut wakes up again and eats fresh pretzels to recover. All performers keep walking through the streets and re-perform the play twice before the burning of winter on the Festplatz.

Traditionally, the fest starts in the morning after the worship service. Children receive special broetchen, a type of bread. This tradition dates back to 1600 when the emperor’s court reader, Felix Christoph Traberger, made a donation. In a certificate from Sept. 8, 1600, Traberger mentions the good neighborly intents of the mayor and the whole community, which made him donate 40 guilders, the former German currency, with a two-guilder interest.

The court reader decided that each year on mid-Lent Sunday, broetchen for two guilders must be bought and given to local children. To thank the donor, a prayer must be said for him.

Forst is a little village with about 700 residents located between Bad Duerkheim and Deidesheim. It has many vineyards and is well-known for its wine. Typical framework houses and sandstone buildings covered with ivy and vines dominate the village’s look. The main street, paved with stones, is part of the German Wine Street.

To “burn winter” means to put up piles of wood and straw, light them and wait for them to burn down. The tradition goes back to Pagan times when fires were lit to banish ghosts and demons so spring was able to come.

In Neuleiningen, near Wattenheim A6, the burning of winter starts with a parade winding through the village at 2 p.m. Sunday. Children sing spring songs, a band performs, and visitors can enjoy big pretzels on a stick decorated with colored ribbons.

Speyer will also say goobye to winter with a colorful parade going through Maximilianstrasse at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. In Domgarten, a snowman symbolizing winter will be burnt.

Another goodbye winter celebration takes place at 1 p.m. March 13 in Gruen-stadt. A parade with the local wine duchess goes through the center of town to the fire station where a snowman finally is burned.

Stores are open from 1 to 6 p.m. The town also offers a March market March 11 to 14 with rides, activity stands, food booths and vendors.