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Helau! Strötzbach helau! Prince and princess helau! Everyone else helau!
Right after the Rose Monday procession in Strötzbach, the spectators gather for another spectacle:
the annual “Gickelschlagen” contest.
It’s organised by the local athletics club. Their chairman, Roland Ruhs, told me the story.
It’s fairly certain that it comes from Pagan times.
It’s said to chase off the winter spirits,
sort of driving out the winter with noise and fun.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know about it.
NARRATOR: The idea is to win a “Gickel” — that is, a rooster,
and the rules couldn’t be simpler.
Each contestant steps forward in turn, is made to put on a mask so he can’t see anything,
and a flail is placed in his hand.
Then he’s made to lose his sense of direction.
Finally, he gets only one chance to use the flail to destroy a jug.
RUHS: Gickelschlagen was sort of discontinued due to the events at the outbreak of World War 1,
and wasn’t brought back to life again until the 1960s by the then chairman of the Strötzbach athletics club, Herr Thoma,
and the then schoolteacher Kurt Beck.
NARRATOR: This tradition is not quite unique in Germany, but almost:
as far as is known, there is only one other place which has anything similar.
But why hang on to such customs?
Well, in the modern world, where tradition doesn’t count for so much any more,
where technology is encroaching,
it is very important to us here in the country to keep this old tradition alive,
so we can show our children, our young people and our descendents what used to go on here.
NARRATOR: These days Gickelschlagen has become very well-known in the area.
Hundreds of spectators give the contestant directions: left, right, forwards, back,
and “Hach hie!” — that’s dialect, and means “Strike now!”
Some spectators want to help him. Others are trying to distract him.
The first one to hit the jug wins the rooster.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t count if you only break off the handle.
The problem — or perhaps the thing that makes it so exciting — with Gickelschlagen is that you never know how long it’ll last.
It could be over in the first ten minutes,
or, as in this year, they could go on playing until my battery goes flat.
The record stands at 68 contestants.
This year’s winner is...
...thank you...
Herr Stefan Brückner with ticket number 66.
Well then, congratulations, and have fun with your rooster.