Figure 1.--Here we see the children's prade of the Glückstädter Vogelschießen in 1954. We do not know a great deal about the festival yet, but it is an annual event held in June and is still celebrated. We are not sure what is hanging on the pole the boy at the left is carrying. We think there may be a wooden bird. The boys no longer dress up for the eventlike they did here, but the girls do. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the procession.

This is a small local festival. We do not know a great deal about the festival yet, but it is an annual event held in June and is still celebrated. Fortunately the children are carrying a sign which identified it. The sign says: Glückstädter Vogelschießen. In English that means : Glückstadt Bird Shooters. This seems to be an annual folkloric parade in Glückstadt, a city at the delta of the river Elbe, northwest of Hamburg. The use of umlauts looks odd, but it is absolutely correct here. (It all depends on the sentence). The name of this town is Glückstadt--city of happiness (except perhaps for the birds). When you notice Glückstädter it means the incorporation of a possessive pronoun. This festival was started in 1855 and is a real 'volksfest'. The name suggest that the festival is about shooting birds. We are not sure that is the case. We note that the modrn ebsites trahslate the festival as 'lucky town popinjay'. We are not sure what is meant by that. Popinjay means a vain, pretentious person who exhibits pompus displays and has kittle real chatter. The British also use the term for woodpeckers. The festivalincludes processions through the street with marching bands. Here we have a grouo of children, but there were adult marchers as well. The festivalis till celebrated in Glückstädter and we notice the marchers with the same chest bands and carrying the same decorated standards.

Glückstädter

Glückstädter , a city at the delta of the river Elbe, northwest of Hamburg. The use of umlauts looks odd, but it is absolutely correct here. (It all depends on the sentence). The name of this town is Glückstadt--city of happiness (except perhaps for the birds). When you notice Glückstädter it means the incorporation of a possessive pronoun. Glückstadt was founded by the Scandinavian king Christian IV (Denmark/Norway) (1617). Denmark at the tgime was a European power of some importance. He had the idea to control the trading ships entering Hamburg (more to the east up the river Elbe). Yjhe King explained, „Dat schall glücken und dat mutt glücken, und denn schall se ok Glückstadt heten!“ [Christian IV] Americans might understand some of it, because the German dialect there, Friesisch, has some similarity to English. {Germanic tribes from the area particvipatred i the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain.] was a sentence which he used. It is now a town with about 11 500 population (Hamburg now has a population of about 1.7 million people. Glückstadt has an importan fishing industry.

The Festival

This is a small local festival. It is an annual event held every June and centered around an evil bird. Fortunately the children are carrying a sign which identified it for us. The sign says: Glückstädter Vogelschießen. In English that means : Glückstadt Bird Shooters. This seems to be an annual folkloric parade in Glückstadt. This festival was started in 1855 and is a real 'volksfest' still celebrated. The name suggest that the festival is about shooting birds. They shoot a wooden replica of a bird, that falls to pieces in sections, as it is shot. It is based on a very old tradition, that said that there was a very evil bird, so it had to be shot at spring time, in order that good weather and good fortune should follow for the coming year. We note that the modrn websites trahslate the festival as 'lucky town popinjay'. We are not sure what is meant by that. Popinjay means a vain, pretentious person who exhibits pompus displays and has kittle real chatter. The British also use the term for woodpeckers. A German reader tells us, "The Vogelschießen (Papagoyen-Schießen) is a medieval festival in many towns and villages around there. A Papagoyen was a wooden bird placed on a high stick, hunters had to shoot the bird, a kind of medieval sport. There is a related scene in the opera "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber."

Street Processions

Such events such a a shooting contesr developed into a "Volksfest" with parades. The festival includes processions through the street with marching bands. There is a specual procession for the children which we see here (figure 1). Here we have a grouo of children, but there were adult marchers as well. The festivalis till celebrated in Glückstädter and we notice the marchers with the same chest bands and carrying the same decorated standards.

Created: 10:18 PM 6/18/2012
Last updated: 7:03 AM 6/23/2012