OHHAMILT-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Was ist eine Schuetzenfest?
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 11:12:50 EDT

Hello to All in HANNOVER-L and OHHAMILT-L,

In a message dated 98-07-07 01:39:45 EDT to HANNOVER-L, Fred Rump wrote:
> Werner asked me to explain (I was hoping someone else would jump
> in) what a Schuetzenfest is.
> First of all it is a grand old time for all. :-) Lots of drinking and
singing
> and just good old German Gemuetlichkeit (don't ask me to explain that).
> There is many a rifle club or shooting club in America which started out
> as a Schuetzenverein. The Philadelphia Rifle Club is an example.
>...<snip>
> The object of the whole thing [Schuetzenfest] is to find the best shot and
> crown him king or Schuetzenkoenig. He picks a suitable lady (if he's not
> married) to be his queen and he rules for one year. It is a rather expensive
> proposition and often the shooting is rigged so that the guy who can throw
the
> biggest beer parties winds up being king. In other words, you better be
> willing to spend some money.
>...<cut>

Fred's description of a Schuetzenfest reminded me of an old letter I got from
my uncle Jack Brink last year. It's a letter dated August 18, 1878, to August
BRINK (Jack's grandfather) in CINCINNATI at the time, from his father,
Gerhard, who was back home in METTINGEN ,Hanover,Germany. In it Gerhard
writes (as best as I can read),
"Ludwig ist jetz hier auf besuch. Wie es mit sein Geschaeft geht
sagt er nicht aus. Er sonders klagen thut er nicht. Wir haben hier
Schuetzenfest, dazu ist er als Oberster ernannt. Die Charge kostet
nur Geld, er soll dies wohl nicht abschlagen duerfen."
I translate this to,
"Ludwig is here visiting now. He doesn't say how his business is
doing, but he doesn't complain. We are having Schuetzenfest
here and he has been named commander. This position will only
cost him money. He probably won't be able to refuse it."
Someone else had translated this letter earlier and translated "Wir haben hier
Schuetzenfest" to be "The shooting-guild is celebrating its anniversary (old
uniforms...at parish saint celebration)", so this pretty well confirms Fred's
description.

I'm not sure yet who Ludwig is yet. Who knows, maybe there's a book of
Obersten in Mettingen somewhere that would have him listed. Anybody?

Fred also wrote:
> There are Schuetzenfeste in various American cities if one checks out
> where the German clubs are. Cincinnati probably has the biggest at the
> Kolping Society.

I've heard of the Kolping Society before but haven't pursued learning more
aboput it. Do they have any old membership lists there? Are they more into
the shooting aspect or the partying aspect, or is it a strictly historical
group?

Thanks for any info,
Bryan Kercher
(I'll cross-post responses as appropriate)

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