Recreation
The original motivation for the festival dates back to the foundation of the German Reich in 1871 which furthered German national pride. In the years 1876 to 1880 the Landshut town hall was renovated and in the years 1880 to 1882 the celebration room in the town hall was given paintings depicting the Landshut Wedding of 1475, as this very room was used as the dance hall for the festivities at that time. From these images the idea arose among citizens to recreate the event and finally the restaurant owner Georg Trippel and the factory owner Joseph Linnbrunner founded a society "Die Förderer" in 1902.
The first Landshut Wedding recreation took place in 1903, only one year after the creation of the society, and largely took the form of a public play performed by 145 citizens taking on a role. The Landshut Wedding play was subsequently presented annually from 1903 to 1914 (paused during World War I) and 1922 to 1938 (paused during World War II). During this time the number of actors involved increased to 2000. The Landshut Wedding became a triennial event from 1950 to 1968 and from 1975 to 1981. Since 1985 the Landshut Wedding has taken place every four years.
The number of members of "Die Förderer" society rose from 855 to 5000 during the years 1973 to 2004. The renewed interest in medieval history made the event a major success in terms of tourism. Today the 60,000 or so inhabitants of Landshut welcome 600,000 to 700,000 visitors during the three weeks of the festivities, with some 120,000 visitors watching the bridal procession. The sponsors are able to collect money in the range of 3.5 million Euro to allow for the event to take place.
However, the real heroes of the "Landshuter Hochzeit" are the local citizens who act variously as bishops, aristocrats, bride and bridegroom. Without these people, the festival could not take place. The actors are chosen from a commission of the "Die Förderer". Every person who wants to become a member of this association and who wants to take part in this big event has to live near Landshut. However, it is not only the actors who delve into the medieval times. It is customary among Landshut males to let the hair grow longer in the months before the event to match the medieval fashion better. Every citizen of Landshut will dress in medieval garments during festival days (even wrist watches are frowned upon) and the city’s decoration is retrofitted to a great extent. This of course means that the city becomes a pedestrian-only zone; visitors approaching by car are informed of this at a 50 km perimeter around the town. Visitors, including media reporters, are asked to wear an outfit that fits in with what the local inhabitants wear.
Along with the growing fascination for the Middle Ages in the late 20th century the Landshut Wedding has become a well-known mediaeval festival with great impact on the region’s economics as well as its cultural traditions and aspects of living history.
The next procession is scheduled for 2013.
Read more about this topic: Landshut Wedding
Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)