|
The little sprig
of rosemary, as a symbolic mark, epitomizes fertility,
health and life-creating power on special occasions such as
christening, wedding and burial, Kirchweih, Swabian ball,
and rendering of the pigs, throughout the events that make
up a human life.
The small evergreen shrub with blue
flowers, with the scientific name of Rosmarinus officinalis,
grows wild on the Mediterranean coast from Spain to Italy.
The name comes from the Latin rōsmarīnus 'maritime dew' (rōs
'dew' and marīnus 'belonging to the sea'). In antiquity, the
Greeks used rosemary on festive occasions, intertwined with
laurel and myrtle, to make wreaths. The Romans brought the
highly valued plant to the occident; Charlemagne supported
its cultivation. Sebastian Kneipp writes in his book "Meine
Wasser-Kur" ("My Water Cure"): “Rosemary is a superb stomach
remedy. Prepared and drunk as tea, it cleans the stomach of
mucilage, ensures a good appetite and a good digestion …”
Old texts on herbal remedies recommend rosemary wine as a
remedy against heart diseases. It is said to have a calming
effect and in case of dropsy, it causes the elimination of
water through urine. Even today rosemary is still considered
as an herb for making tea. But much more important for us is
the symbolic meaning of a rosemary branch or wreath, which
we encounter at every turn.
Rosemary & Christening and Name Day
It was customary that the godparents wore
a twig of rosemary on the left lapel or on the scarf, as a
sign of their faith. At the baptismal dinner, the table was
decorated with rosemary, as symbol of love and affection for
the newborn. At the celebration of somebody’s name, where
relatives and neighbours gathered with a serenade, the “name
day bouquet” ("Namenstagsstrauß") expressed the cordial
attachment. A sprig of rosemary stuck into an apple was
handed over with the following words:
I’m bringing you a name day bouquet.
It isn’t cute, it isn’t fine,
And it only costs you a glass of wine.
Rosemary & Weddings
In the past, the rosemary, as
a symbol of friendship, love, and faith accompanied the
entire wedding. The persons going around to invite the
appropriate people to a weeding carried a stick decorated
with rosemary. The richly decorated hat of the groom
contained branches of rosemary, while the myrtle wreath of
the bride, the honour crown of virginity, was worn on the
wedding day for the last time. The large Danube-Swabian
bridal wreaths and bridal crowns were artistic confections
of pearls, leaves, and flowers – all made of wax – but also
incorporated branches of myrtle and rosemary. Branches of
myrtle made from wax and ribbons were part of the bridal
crown in Mramorak (Serbian Banat). On the left lapel of
their jacket and blouse, both the groom and the bride wore a
little bouquet of rosemary branches. The wedding guests also
wore a branch of rosemary: the men in the buttonhole of the
jacket, the women mostly in their hands.
When leaving the parental home, where first
the parents and then all guests wished the bridal pair
faithfulness in
marriage and a happy married life, the rosemary branch
passed from hand to hand as a symbolic expression of this
ritual act. Even during dinner the rosemary remained among
the guests. When serving the roast, the waiters presented
each guest, amids great cheering, with a glass of wine
decorated with rosemary.
This was followed by “Hauben” – the removal
of the bride’s myrtle bouquet and its replacement by a
woman’s bonnet, while singing matrimonial songs – all
acceptance rituals for the bride into the group of married
women.
Rosemary & Burials
The rosemary plant also had a role as a sign
of mourning. That is why the mourners and many members of
the village community paid their last respects to the
departed by dipping the rosemary branch available on site
into holy water, and then sprinkle the body of the dead
person in a cross-shaped motion. Sometimes a rosemary bush
was planted on the grave, as a symbol of eternal life.
Rosemary & Kirchweih
In the Banat, the Kirchweih-parade took
place with the “maypole” ("Majebaum") being brought into the
village, and it was followed by the parade of the
Kirchweih-couples carrying a rosemary bouquet about one
metre tall and decorated with ribbons, which was the second
symbol of the festivity. This bouquet, usually with a quince
as its base, was usually called (in Orzidorf and Grabatz,
for example) “main bouquet” (“Vorstrauß”) because it was
carried by the “first girl dancer” (“Vortänzerin”) ahead of
the Kirchwei-procession. If bouquets were auctioned off on
Saturday and on Sunday, then the first one was called
"evening bouquet" (“Owedsstrauß”) or "little bouquet"
(“kleener Strauß”) to which (for example in Billed) a
"little Kerwei poem" (kleener Kerweihspruch) was recited. To
differentiate it from the little bouquet, the Sunday bouquet
was called "large bouquet" (“großer Strauß”).
In Potsch (Southern Hungary) the boys
marched around to wish people a happy festivity and to
invite them to participate. Every invited person received a
bouquet (“Kirmesstrauß”) made by the “bouquet girls”
(“Straußmädchen") and contributed a donation of money. The
bouquet was a branch of rosemary decorated with ribbons of
various colours, set into an apple. In addition to these
individual bouquets passed on to all guests as a symbol of
the Kirchweih, there was a large bouquet similar to the one
in the Banat, which was carried at the head of all
processions and was subsequently auctioned off. A document
from the nineteenth century describes the Kirchweih in the
Hungarian Lowlands of the Danube Monarchy and mentions the
Banat Kirchweih bouquet:
“After the mass they proceed to a
specific house for lunch and from there to the store, where
they decorated the rosemary bouquet with ribbons of all
colours and formed themselves into a large procession2.”
Following the procession, the
“first
dancer” (“Vortänzer”) auctioned off the bouquet,
sometimes also the small bouquets made from the large one.
In Nitzkydorf
they were called "loops" ( “Schlepp”). In 1970 they
auctioned off 315 loops.
Because that took much too long, they
introduced the "small bouquet dance“ ("Sträußleinaustanzen").
Whoever wished to, would have a short dance with the “first
girl dancer”, handed the “first dancer” some money, and
received from him a sprig of rosemary (it could be a rose,
as in Darowa) and a glass of wine. The despoiled trunk of
the large bouquet (called “Storze”) was also
auctioned off and the money received was given to the “first girl dancer”. In some communities, such as
Kleinsanktnikolaus, Liebling, Sackelhausen and Wilagosch,
the person obtaining the large bouquet auctioned off Sunday
by the barrel would become "first dancer“ for the
following year2.
Rosemary & Schwabenball – Swabian Ball
As the traditional folk costume declines
in the wake of increasing prosperity, it made sense to
organize folk-costumes balls in the cities, displaying as
many village traditional costumes as possible. Following the
example of Budapest, where a country-wide “Swabian ball” (“Landesschwabenball”)
took place on February 1, 1925, at the Ofner Katholikenklub
II, Swabian balls were introduced in the Banat. During the
inter-war years, in Temeswar and in other cities of Hungary
and Yugoslavia, such Swabian- or folk-costume balls took
place almost every year, with participation of couples from
many Banat communities. Folk-costume balls were also
organized place in many villages. After the interruption
caused by the war, folk-costume balls took place again in
the ‘houses of culture’ of many villages. As with the
Kirchweih – the biggest Swabian festival of the year – the
folk-costume balls were organized by the “first dancer” (“Vortänzer”)
or “accountant in charge” (“Geldherr” or “Rechnungsführer”)
of the previous year, who carried the large,
ribbon-decorated rosemary bouquet at the front of the
marching column. To the previous basic elements of the
folk-costume ball (festive procession of the participating
couples and awarding of a prize for the most beautiful or
authentic costume), the migration of customs added the
“first dancer” and the auction of the bouquet with
recitation of a suitable poem in the dialect of the
village. The following poem was recited in Sankandreas, in
1970:
Liewe Landsleit un liewe Gäscht,
Ich begrieß eich alli uf unsrem Fescht.
Mir sin alli so froh, dass wiedr die Fasching
is do.
un mir unser Schwoweball kenne halle,
Un drbei uns alli mol gut unerhalle. - Musik!
Mir hann aa, so wie des is schun Sitt,
De Strauß do wiedr in unsrer Mitt,
De Strauß is e schene Rosmarein,
Er soll stamme schun vum Rhein.
Schen ufgeputzt mit Bänner dran,
Musik! ...
Dear compatriots and dear guests.
I welcome you all to our festival.
We’re all happy that carnival is here
And we can celebrate our Swabian Ball
So that we all can have fun – Music!
We also have, as it is custom,
The bouquet here in our midst,
The bouquet is a beautiful rosemary,
It is supposed to have come from the Rhine.
Nicely decorated with ribbons,
Yes, with this bouquet our Swabian Ball
begins!
Music!
At
the Nikolaus-Lenau intermediate school in Temeswar the
festival was given back to the youth, who, under the
guidance of their teaching staff, are carrying it forward to
this day. The old tradition is also
carried on in Hungary. Because of the increased demand of
the guests, two Swabian Balls took place at the University
of Economic Sciences in Budapest, on January 23 and January
30, 1992. In addition to the great
procession of the pairs dressed in folk-costumes and the
auction of the bouquet of rosemary, joint singing and
presentations by cultural assemblies took place on the large
stage.
Rosemary & Butcher’s Soup (Metzelsuppe) – Sow
Dance (Sautanz)
The rosemary, burdened with so many
symbolic meanings, could not be missing from “sow dance” (“Sautanz”),
the evening celebration following the full day of hard work
involved in butchering one or more pigs. It was customary
that a mischievous neighbour would ‘steal’ a piece of pork,
such as a leg or tail. During dinner, the neighbour would
bring back the missing piece, on a plate that also contained
a lit candle and a sprig of rosemary. While standing in the
entrance, he would sing the “slaughterer’s song” ("Schlachterlied"):
Wir haben gehört, ihr hätt geschlacht,
Veiglein rosa.
Ihr hätt so gute Wirscht gemacht,
Veiglein rosa.
.
We have just heard, you killed a pig,
Light red violet.
And that you made such good sausage,
Light red violet.
Veigelein und Röselein, wir trinken gern den
roten Wein.
Veiglein rosa.
Violet and roses, we like to drink the red
wine,
Light red violet.
Although the rosemary is not directly
mentioned in the song, the song is sung when the
rosemary-decorated plate is presented. Some claim that when
the song was first created, "Veiglein rosa" (translated here
as “light red violet”) actually referred to rosemary. And
indeed, the older generation sang "Veigelein und Rosmarein"
("violet and rosemary") more often than the "Veigelein und
Röselein" ("violet and rose(s)") preferred by the young
generation. It is known that folk songs are distorted over
time, and the whole "slaughterer’s song" superficially only
expresses the comic side of the process. The 'stealing' of a
piece of pork may be considered a prank and as a pretext for
the evening’s feast, but decorating of the plate with
rosemary and candles remains a symbolic expression of the
sincere, reliable, neighbourly relationship.
Outlook
From our
inherited popular culture, we inherited certain dishes and
symbols specific to the Banat settlement area and to our
native villages, that are worthy of preservation, as
unmistakable characteristics of our identity. Besides the
churches, monuments and memorial stones, both in the old and
new homeland, these include rosemary (once again frequently
planted in our new gardens and flower pots in Germany), the
authentic “Kirchweihtracht” (“Kirchweih-costume”) and the
rosemary bouquet. More important still is the preservation
of our sense of community, our readiness to help each other,
and the standing together (with the corresponding symbols
and rites) of the extended family and the village community,
in all situations of life, at festivals and in emergencies,
that are symbolically represented by the sprig of rosemary.
Even if our
sayings and songs (for New Year, name day, wedding, etc.)
have been changed and simplified, and the families have
become smaller, what is essential is the core of our popular
culture and the positive attitude to life of our Swabian
(and Danube-Swabian) ancestors. These always deserve to be
incorporated into our new surroundings and into our
contemporary life partnerships, and to be carried on.
Literature
3 Speck, Hans
1973: Der Rosmarin im Brauchtum. In: Hans Gehl: Heide und
Hecke. Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Banater Schwaben.
Temeswar: Facla Verlag, S. 85-98.
|
