Germany Vogelschiessen 2022 -150 Years Celebration of Childhood, Glückstadt 【Street Music】

Описание: [Forest Green Street Music] Glückstadt is a northern town in Germany. It was founded as a fortress and trading town by Danish king Christian IV in 1617. The king maintained a garrison within its walls, and many years later a citizens' militia was established and all the men that resided in the town were required to join it. The sons of the town found the drill so interesting that they tried to imitate it. This gradually developed into bird shooting. At first, the boys were given broomsticks as weapons, later they were allowed to wear epaulettes as well as gold bands on their trouser legs and shoot wooden eagles with a crossbow. The boys marched from the town to the mouth of the Störm River where the first children's bird shooting was held.

Vogelschiessen has been celebrated regularly for more than 150 years, except for the war or post-war years 1915-1919, 1940-1949, and in the year of relocation of the schools in 2007. This three day observance was celebrated by all the schools in the town with all grades participating until the 1970s. Currently, the only ones celebrating this event are the elementary school students of the citizen school who parade through the city.

These elementary school students still practice "bird picking". They aim with suspended iron birds at shooting targets, where a steady hand and "straight tongue" are required.

For the 1st and 2nd classes, the festival starts on Friday at 9 am with bird picking in the schoolyard. After a trial run, each child can aim the bird at a target three times with the points achieved added up. The boy and girl with the highest scores becomes king and queen of the class. Sometimes the king and queen can only be determined by an exciting shootout between the best children.

Afterwards, all the children go to the classroom, where the gifts bought by the parents or the class teacher have already been set up the day before. The children sit down around the gift tables and eagerly await the "proclamation" of the king and queen, who are usually cheered on their "throne", decorated with an oak wreath or sash, and are first allowed to choose a gift. Then the rest of the children pick their gifts in order of score.

The 3rd and 4th graders will pick on Saturday. For this purpose, they meet at 8:00 a.m. at the marketplace and move together to the school, where the picking is carried out. Among the royal couples of the 4th classes, the king and queen are "picked". They traditionally receive a wristwatch with engraving.

A few days before, the boys have already borrowed flags, sashes, and rosettes from the school, while the girls receive ribbons in their respective class colors. The children attach the ribbons and rosettes to the left side of their chests. The sashes are placed over the right shoulder and knotted at waist level on the left side. The children wear these signs to the children's dance and in the parade on Saturday. Some children also wear them to the bird picking.

On Monday after bird picking, the children bring all borrowed items back to school, the sashes (except royal sashes) please washed and ironed.

During the parade, the 1st and 2nd grade girls carry flower sticks and the boys carry flags decorated with flowers. The 3rd and 4th grade children will wear flower wreaths.

Dances are held on Friday for 1st graders and on Saturday for grades 2 through 4. Mothers, fathers, grandmas and grandpas are invited to join in the dancing or sit at decorated tables, eat cake with coffee or cold drinks, watch the children dance or play, or chat.

The members of the "Association of Former Citizen Students" conduct house collections in the spring to use the donations to finance part of the festival, especially the music on the dance halls, for the marching bands and for royal crowns and hangers.

Because of COVID, Vogelschiessen was not held from 2019 to 2021. This is the celebration on June 25, 2022.

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