Beer and Sausages at the Schutzenfest Festival, Hanover
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Every year in the city of Hanover or Hannover, as it’s known in German, 10,000 participants from Germany and elsewhere gather for the “Marksmen” festival or Schützenfest. They parade through the streets in a procession stretching for 13 km making it one of Europe’s longest and music is provided by over 100 brass and pipe bands.
Hanover doesn’t really feature on most people’s tourist destinations yet it’s only an hour’s flight from London’s Stansted with Air Berlin and the airport is just a 20 minute train ride from the centre. The city was bombed flat in the war and there’s only a handful of historic buildings but it’s surprisingly spacious and remarkably green. An added bonus is Lake Maschsee, an artificial paradise for water sports right in the heart of town, and nearby are the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen, the venue for numerous firework festivals held during the summer months.
The History of the Schützenfest
What I’d come for was the famous Schützenfest, held every year at the beginning of July for ten days and dating back to the middle ages. Way back then, citizens were obliged to watch over their city and defend it from attack with a gun in their hands. An annual summer shooting competition developed and marksmen shot for prizes with the best crowned king. Shooting clubs grew up all over Germany and today there are Schützenfests in many towns, no longer military but celebrating centuries of tradition and the wearing of uniforms. Hanover's is the biggest of the lot and attracts about 200,000 spectators, as well as 10,000 participants.
All the Fun of the Funfair
The heart of the festival is the traditional funfair with the biggest transportable Ferris wheel in the world. At 60m tall, it’s able to carry 420 people in its 42 passenger cabins and stands proud over the carnival rides, competition tents and food and drink stands that sprawl beneath it. What makes it distinctly German is the enormous variety of Sausages on sale, and the copious amounts of beer dispensed to wash them down.
Europe’s Longest Procession
At 4am on Sunday morning, the various marksmen’s clubs start to congregate and make their way to the start of the procession at the New Town Hall. They’ve spent months preparing their uniforms, rehearsing their brass and pipe bands, and learning how to march in time. With everyone assembled, the 13 km long procession winds its way round the closed-off streets of the town before passing in front of the Major and the city dignitaries. He has the best job, dispensing flowers to the children, shaking hands with the old folk and sneaking kisses with the pretty girls.
As well as the marksman in their uniforms, the parade has people dressed in historical costume, beer floats and horse and carriages. What's particularly stunning is the quality of the musicianship of the 100+ bands involved, and the tunes are surprisingly familiar – Colonel Bogie and Roll Out the Barrel but thankfully no Birdie Dance. The procession winds up at the fairground where the carefully preserved order descends into organised chaos. Remarkably, it's all well behaved and good humoured and you could easily lose a number of hours in the beer tents getting to know your German hosts - just don’t mention the football...
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