Burn winter away during Sommertagszug in Baden-Württemberg

By Teri Weiss

March, the third month of the western or Gregorian calendar, is named for Mars, the Roman god of war – and earlier also vegetation and fertility.  Often called the “loud or stormy month,” it is also the time of the vernal equinox, the official start of spring.

Old German almanacs used to refer to March as “Lenzmond,” “Lenzing” or “Frühlingsmond,” spring moon or month, when “slowly nature awakens, flowers begin to bloom, shrubs, bushes and trees sprout buds and migrating birds return from the south.”

Appropriately enough, the flower for the month of March is the Jonquil, or daffodil, a bright yellow, cheerful spring blossom.

The proverb, ”March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb” has been passed down for many generations. Scholars trace it back to centuries-old agricultural customs and to sturdy tillers of the soil who always had to rely on climate observations to forecast or “guesstimate” their own weather. Early spring was often marked by freezing cold and belated winter storms, i.e., started with a lion’s roar. But by the second half of March, the weather usually turns warmer, spring-like and docile, like a gentle lamb.

The German version, the old “Bauernregel“ or peasant’s saying states the proverb in similar words: “Der März soll kommen wie ein Wolf und gehen wie ein Lamm,“ meaning March comes in like a wolf and goes out like a lamb.

Perhaps it’s best to just take the proverbial saying at face value. In any case, winter is burned in effigy at a popular German spring celebration.

This year on March 6, which is the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter, various towns of Northern Baden-Württemberg, located on and near the Neckar River, such as Heidelberg, Mannheim, Weinheim , Speyer, Hockenheim, etc. will celebrate a more than 500-years old custom, the traditional “greeting spring and bidding farewell to winter” festivity, called “Sommertagszug,” or Summer Day procession.

Children parade through the streets with sticks adorned with colorful ribbons topped with pretzels and boiled eggs until they reach the market square, where dancers costumed as “Winter” and “Spring” fight it out on a stage. Spring wins, of course, and finally a straw or paper effigy of winter is burned. The pretzels and eggs are given to onlookers. Spring is now considered to have officially arrived.

The best known and certainly the most popular holiday in March is St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. All over the world, including in Germany, it is celebrated with marches and parades. And in Stuttgart too, there are numerous “wearers of the green” of all nationalities sure to raise a cup of cheer or two.

Let’s see whether the old proverb about March is true, or whether lion (or wolf) and lamb reverse their timing.  Better bundle up, just in case, until April.

• Share:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email