Halloween and Hansenfest

This past weekend was Halloween, which is not traditional in Germany, but is steadily developing. More traditional in Wesel is the Hansenfest in the Innenstaadt.

A little bit of background: In the Middle Ages, some of the countries in Europe founded the Hansen League. It was a way to set up trade routes between towns, cities, and states. The arrival of merchants every year in town was always a cause for celebration. These festivals in Germany are the Hansenfests.

Imagine the Renaissance fair, except based a couple hundred years earlier. That's what it looked like walking around the booths.

Many people were dressed up in Medieval costume. There was a lord and lady walking around the area very slowly and bowing or curtsying every time they caught someone staring at them or taking pictures.

There were also artisans doing traditional metalwork, woodwork, weaving, and a variety of other crafts. They were fascinating to watch. Many of their contraptions seem simple enough to make and work, but to produce such incredible outcomes is unbelievable.

About half of the booths were actually advertisements to visit different German states or Holland or Poland. One man in traditional Polish dress playing a humongous accordian gave Natasha, Katri, and I free pencils (big colored pencils). He knew some Russian songs, and Natasha got to sing along.

On one end of the Innenstaadt was a stage where a minstrel group performed. How do you keep 3 old-fashioned bagpipes in tune? Well, you don't. They did make it sound good, though. They taught Katri's host dad how to dance old folk dances, too, courtesy of Natasha. We thought it was a good laugh.