Technical Details:
Date of Issue: 06 July 1982
Perforation: 13 x 12½
Circulation: 3,600,000
Design: Scheuner
Printing Process: Offset Printing
10 Pfennig - "Ptaškowa Swajźba" - Birds' Wedding
The Birds’ Wedding is a custom that has its roots in the pre-Christian era where people sacrificed food to ancestors' ghosts. They expected to get favour and sympathy from the gods of nature.
In the course of time the sacrificial offerings to the ancestors altered into gift-giving to the children due to decreasing belief in ghosts' potency.
Nowadays the Birds' Wedding is celebrated by children on January 25. The reasons for this date are observations from the flora and fauna. Around about this time several bird species begin to nest and lay eggs. It is the time for people awaiting the awakening spring.
It is said the Lusatian Birds' Wedding comes from the Upper Sorbian language region in which this custom is widely spread in families.
In Lower Lusatia it is celebrated in kindergardens and schools where the children feed the birds during winter. In return for this service they can join in their wedding. That is why they put plates and bowls on the ledge. They get a piece of pastry shaped as a magpie (Sorbian: sroka)
In kindergardens the wedding is celebrated with the magpie as the bride and the raven as the groom (Sorbian: wron). The bridal couple is dressed festively, in most cases with Lower Sorbian costumes while the other children are masqueraded as birds. There is even a song about it which each child is learning in the kindergarden. On this day it is sung, of course.
In contrast, adults prefer folksy evenings with a Birds' Wedding programme executed by the Sorbian National Ensemble.
20 Pfennig - Zampern
Traditions and customs constitute moments of culmination and consciousness within the Sorbian (Wendish) culture, yet there is much more to it. The most widely celebrated customs in Lower Lusatia include Shrovetide with its accompanying activity of "Zampern" - groups in fancy dress and more or less traditional masks going from door to door, making music and noise and asking for donations of food and drink -, the Easter fire, the setting up of the Maypole and the harvest custom of cock plucking. These customs closely follow the natural cycle and, true to their pagan origins, are intended to, for example, drive the winter out or promote fertility.
The Sorbian carnival is one of the main festivals in the Lausitz region. The long winter is bidden farewell and evil spirits and demons driven away. One important element of the Sorbian carnival is the so-called custom of Zampern: costumed Zamper people go through the village accompanied by a band with pannier, basket and cashbox. The village residents offer them bacon, eggs, money and brandy. The Zapust is crowned by the traditional carnival dance and the eating of pancakes.
The numerous Easter customs in the region can also be traced back to the Sorbs. They include egg-rolling, fetching Easter water and the widespread tradition of the Easter fire. Easter riding is also celebrated in the Oberlausitz region, particularly among Catholic Sorbs.
25 Pfennig - Waleien
A well known game played by children as well as by adults is "Waleien". Most likely it has ist origins in an ancient magic spell for fertility was supposed to support the growth of fresh grass. Rolling eggs over fields and grass was supposed to have a positive influence on the growth. People dug holes, called "walka", into the ground everywhere on the courts. On Easter Sunday the children went with their beautiful adorned eggs to these places for playing "Waleien". The game is working as follows: An egg was placed at the deepest point of the hole. All players then try to hit this egg with one of theirs. In case of being successful the player was allowed to keep both eggs. Otherwise both eggs stay in the "walka". Often it happened that children lost all eggs. Then coins or buttons were used instead.
Up to the 1960s you could have seen people playing this game in Lower Lusatia but now it is very rare to find someone still practising this custom. Exceptions can be found at a few kindergardens and the Niedersorbisches Gymnasium (Lower Lusatian Grammar School) as well as in a few villages.
The "Eierspecken" or "Eierpicken" has also disappeared. In this very popular game both players had to knock the ends of two eggs together. The owner of the egg which is left intact won the other player's egg.
35 Pfennig - Painting Easter Eggs
On Easter, a Wendish or Sorbian godchild will visit his/her godparents, and receive a gift of a few beautifully painted eggs, some sweet bread, and maybe some money. The children would then take their colored eggs and play a game called Waleien with them, where they are rolled down a slope in a sort of competition. This happens every year until their confirmation, when the child gives a gift to the godparents.
You will recognize Sorbian Easter Eggs by their bright colors and beautiful symmetrical patterns. (Red is the color of love and friendship) Symbols like the Trinity, the Tree of Life and Easter symbols are also quite common. Bees symbolized industriousness, flowers for fertility. Originally, all dyes were natural, today, a little chemical help is also used.
40 Pfennig - Jańske Rejtowanje
The time around Midsummer’s Night is the nature's most powerful period. This is reflected on St. John's Day celebrations on June 24 showing. According to an old belief this day would be the most miraculous of the year. The people believed that curativeness would be caused especially by the Midsummer Night.
Nowadays you can see the "Jańske rejtowanje", a riding procession, only in Casel, a small village near Drebkau. In the middle of the 19th century it was still celebrated in several villages of Lower Lusatia. But not only the locations but also the responsible persons have changed. In former days the village's youth did the job but now it is planned and organised by a special traditions club.
The central figure is "Johann" or "Jan", a man in a fancy dress, personifying the spirit of growth and fruitfulness. You can see that since he is fully covered with flowers and greens, also wearing a crown on his head. This festivity requires substantial efforts to prepare it. Thousands of cornflowers have to be collected in order to make Jan's odd-looking costume. Already on the day before, each girl collects masses of flowers and then plaits wreaths and tendrils some metres long. The young men have to supply water lilies at the crack of dawn in order to complete Jan's crown which is already composed of roses and Carthusian Pinks. The flowers stand for people's vitality and lea's fruitfulness. Cornflowers are also used as medicinal herbs. Water lilies and reeds are signs of the vitally important water.
On the festival's forenoon the maidens begin to dress Jan. Cornflower tendrils are sewn on the garment from the neck down to the knees. Completely decorated, Jan rides from the restaurant to the festival place, accompanied by the village's fellows and a brass band. The riding procession is led by the maidens marching ahead in their white frocks trimmed with blue and red stripes. They take along a second crown which is to present Jan at evening's honouring dance. Having arrived at the festivity area, Jan and his whole attendance ride some rounds through the crowd. Now the companions have a hard job: They have to protect Jan against people making attempts to pull him down the horse in order to loot his flower decoration.
50 Pfennig - The "Bescherkind"
On Wednesday before Christmas, at the last spinning room event of the year, the girls of the village meet to dress the oldest one among them as a "Bescherkind". This Christmas tradition that has only survived in Jänschwalde. The costume's particularly elaborate head decoration is adorn with marriage garlands and three bridesmaid chaplets. To keep the Bescherkind's identity secret, she is covered with netting, ribbons and pearl strings. Two women accompany the "Bescherkind" and a small bell is rung when she arrives. Wrapped up and unable to speak, she gives sweets to the children. The parents and grandparents are touched with a rod to wish them health and good fortune.
The "Bescherkind" can often be seen in the Wendish House, in kindergardens or in schools, especially when Christmas festivities are celebrated for the children.
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