Blogabroad
by Mary Pinckney Waters
June 23 , 2006 - Wittenberg: Where it all began
"Is this your first time in Europe?" I always
hear.
"No, second."
My first trip across the Atlantic was in July 2003 for a
five-week study abroad program in Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt.
USC offers two primary study abroad opportunities for German
students, Wittenberg and Bamberg. Many students, like myself,
begin with the Wittenberg program to gauge their culture-shock
coping skills on a short-term scale first before signing
up for the semester- or yearlong Bamberg exchange.
Wittenberg is a small city in the Northeast with a population
of about 47,000. Small as it may be, it still succeeds in
attracting a global tourist demographic, as Martin Luther
began the Reformation there in 1517 and as the reenactment
of his marriage to nun Katharina von Bora in early June marks
the biggest city festival in Germany. Luther nailed his 95
theses on the door of the city’s Schlosskirche ("Castle
Church”), which currently houses on its top floor a
youth hostel – our accommodations last weekend.
Amy Dupont, a USC German major who also studied in Wittenberg,
and I had planned to revisit our five-week home ever since
deciding to return to Germany, and what better time to do
it than on the three days everyone else was – on the
anniversary of Luther’s Hochzeit (Luther’s wedding).
Déjà vu was already waiting for us at Wittenberg’s
tiny train station Friday afternoon, as we anticipated how
different our first-ever destination in Germany would seem
now that we’d been living in the country for some time.
At a checkpoint at the edge of the Innenstadt (downtown),
we exchanged seven euros for a clay necklace, our entry ticket
to the festival for the weekend. One step past the gate and
vendors of all sorts were teasing our female instincts. Jewelry
stands galore – silver and gold, exotic stones and
beads, leather of all shades. Crafty trinkets such as tabletop
animal sculptures, vases or jewelry boxes to accommodate
just-made purchases from the neighboring tent. And the food … you
know how people attend the State Fair just for its gastronomy?
I imagine that many Wittenbergers had been saving up all
year so they could binge on Luther’s wedding anniversary
on such culinary sins as garlic bread, meat skewers, pizza,
Bratwurst, seasoned mushrooms, Quarkbällchen (cinnamon
fried dough balls), crepes, ice cream and any alcoholic beverage
you could imagine.
Aside from losing weight in their wallets and gaining it
in their thighs, festival attendees could enjoy a plateful
of entertainment options across the downtown area. Musicians
of all scales performed every few hundred feet, from flute-playing
10-year-olds who paused a dozen times each song (and made
bank looking adorably untalented), to 50-year-old handlebar-mustached
men playing German oldies on electronic keyboards, from professional
cover bands with matching outfits and impressive light shows,
to hardcore Goth bagpipers with spiked hair and screaming
fans.
The coolest part of the festival’s entertainment fair
was by far the medieval atmosphere created by the historical
booths, elaborate costumes and, above all, people’s
in-character behavior. Many tents mimicked booths that would
have appeared at a Middle Ages market, featuring craftsmen
creating furniture or other goods using tools of the time,
for example. One booth was set up as a medieval barbershop
of sorts, where we watched a man receive a shave as he would
have in the 1500s. Human-sized cages were occasionally filled,
as "criminals” were piled in for such offenses
as talking too much or being a witch. People afflicted with
the plague (a.k.a. with rubber masks, teased hair and fake
hunchbacks) would groan through the streets, shaking tin
cups in the faces of the "healthy.” Other tents
sold medieval attire and food and drink (such as mead,
or honey wine) and offered chances at of-the-time sports
such as bow and arrow.
Aside from enjoying the Hochzeit festival, Wittenberg allowed
Amy and me to reunite with contacts from our previous stay.
On Sunday I paid a visit to my former host family, the Sauerwalds,
who graciously offered their home to me for a month three
years ago. Standing on the other side of their gate waiting
to be let in, I couldn’t keep my feet still as I tried
to listen for movement inside. A few moments later the gate
opened along with my host mother’s arms before she
guided me to my host father and some lawn chairs set up in
their backyard garden. Chitchat commenced at a rapid pace,
something that my German skills of three years ago wouldn’t
have allowed. They told me about redoing the house, changes
in their jobs and what their kids were up to, and I caught
them up on my second-time-round experiences in Germany. They
explained that I am welcome to visit anytime, and I returned
the offer in the event that they are ever on the North American
continent.
That Sunday evening was just like most others for me – I
spent it on a train to Bamberg, this weekend with freshly
purchased accessories, a full stomach, a sunburn and the
feeling that it’s really nice to have family across
the world.
Mary Pinckney Waters welcomes your comments
and feedback: marypwaters@yahoo.com |
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