This blog collects notes from Höfen, a small village in Southern Germany, where Kathrin from public works was living and working for a year.
Saturday
Young beech trees are put up in front of the chapel.
The chapel is cleaned and the pilgrimage sign has got a new flower
wreath.
The leather belt for carrying the flag is in place.
Sunday
The chapel bells ring at 1.00 am.
All candles are lit.
The walk start at 1.30, and the church of the Fourteen Saints gets
in sight at around 5.00 am.
The official entry into the curch is a 6.45 am.
Doily
Bags were made for the 2007 Höfer
Goods, and it was time to make new ones for the International Village
Shop network. So I went to Baunach, which is 5 km away and
has a wholesale fabric shop, to get more cotton.
Gertrud who is a trained tailor helped to cut it all down, Mary and
and other women donated more doilies. Today was the monthly women's
afternoon with coffee and cakes, and the bags and doilies are now
spread across the village for the doilies to be stiched on by hand
at home.
... until the war refugees arrived.
The farm museum we went to showed the house with its original furniture and use of rooms. The master bedroom on the first floor was one of the largest, with a text to explain that this room was never actually used for sleeping but for showing off the dowry. Paulina then said, that her parents never used their matrimonial bedrooom either. That the furniture and covers and linen were far too precious to be used for everyday - until the 2nd WW, when it became compulsory for every household with a spare room to host refugees, whose kids would then pee into the beds.
With a few women from Höfen we went to see a nearby farm museum yesterday, where a special exhibition of traditional costumes is on display. The curator Mrs. Jauernig also talked about their attempst to develop contemporary costumes for and with communities. Whenever the group is split between Catholics and Protestants it becomes impossible to agree on one outfit - and these scarves from 1860 are a good example for how similar things are done very differently.
May being the month of Mary here, comes with a weekly payer meeting in the small chapel, with one Ave Maria per congregation. On the last Sunday in May the annual procession to the church of the Fourteen Saints takes place. Around 80 people from the village meet at 1.30 am in front of the chapel, and then walk 24km eastwards into the sunrise to Fourteen Saints, to arrive there just after 6.30 am. Five to six Ave Marias are held throughtout the walk, and the brass band plays popular hymns whenever the procession crosses a village during the night.
At Fourteen Saints the group splits into those who go for coffee and breakfast at the convent, and those who prefer an early beer.
Two parcels with Höfer Goods have just been sent to Ballykinler in Northern Irlenad, where they will be on offer at on One Day International Village Shop. Rhyzom connections meet Village Fair. Potted Clay meets Caravan Pot. Village products meet village products. From Höfen meets public works log.
The Late Ice Saints or Early Sheep's Cold hits in early May. We just had temperatures of 20 degrees during the day and minus 4 at night, which means that about 70% of cherries which were still in bloom are gone, lots of walnut and quite a bit of the young vine shoots. The last one is "Cold Sophie" on Sunday, and most people wait until then with putting seeds and young plants out in the garden. The Late Ice Saints have to do with a regular but not annual meteorological phenomena and there are plenty of sayings and farmer's rules attached.
Scepticism was running high again before yesterday's event. Would anyone come? Is it worth making such an effort?
Around 35 people came for the clay evening, and after talking and showing and exlaining what can be done with clay in your house and in or on your body, it was time for some clay treatments. We had warm and cold fluid clay for facials, more solid clay for wrappings, different herb extracts to mix it in, Silvia had home made moisturiser which was a huge success, and quite a few people took clay home.
If you happen to be aorund the area next Monay 9th May, we're doing a small public event that involves clay masks, clay foot baths and clay wrappings. It's a follow up from a clay workshop last May, and part of the Höfer Goods series. There is something very simple about clay, which makes it fascinating, and I wonder how complicated our clay product needs to be. For now we dag some clay up on the fields, disolved and kneaded it, and it has an astonishing firm and "fat" consistence. It will be used together with wild herbs to try and remake some of the clay treatmenst that the older women remember. One good story is that everybody used warm clay packs to treat strained muscels or joints - because it really helps - and that the clay was always removed when the doctor came for a home visit.
Start is at 19.00 in the community hall, and Gabriele Götz, a local construction biologist, and Silvia Hellmuth who knows about herbs will join.
Since the media covered every single detail of the big wedding in London last week, word has gone around here, too, that the British get the Monday off if a holiday happens to be on the weekend. Everyone is impressed by this simple rule - maybe more than by the wedding.
