Ostermarkt

So, much like there are Weihnachtsmärkte at Christmastime, there is an Easter Market or Ostermarkt happening in the square in front of the Old Town Hall in Göttingen right now. There are the usual wooden booths with all kinds of goods: flowers, local honey and honey products, dried fruits and nuts, middle eastern looking ceramics, felted wool in all shapes from blankets to felt dreadlock hair scrunchies, blown glass (where I got a very neat glass easter egg), scarves and jewelry, and brushes. The brush stand really has them all - from push brooms to pipecleaners, long handled back scrubbers to nail brushes - and having a brush man as a part of open market like this dates back to medieval markets that were only held once a year (some christmasmarkets are still referred to as a Jahrmarkt), and were the time to get whatever you needed that wasn't made in the town where you lived, including, apparently, bushes. At least that's what Frau Florschütz told me about the one we saw at christmastime. Then there are the great food stands that you can smell upon entering the pedestrian zone: 1/2 meter long brat- and currywurst with or without fries, potato pancakes, plum dumpings (Zwetschgenknödel - say that three times fast), and Vietnamese stir-fry. All of this centers around the Gänseliesel, the fountain in the shape of a girl carrying geese that is the symbol of the city. Between all the stands are potted pussywillow trees in full bloom, hung with brightly colored plastic easter eggs and topped with fake forsythia branches - I guess real ones couldn't be counted on to bloom. The problem with the fake flowers (besides that there is no real tree in nature that looks remotely like this) is also that we've had unbeliveable weather the past week, and all the real flowers are in bloom - which make the fake ones seem that much more out of place. I have a sense that a week of full sunshine and temperatures in the 70's is out of place for Göttingen only because of the recommendation of a friend when I was thinking of coming here, to her alma mater: "Yes, the summers in Göttingen are very nice, the rain is warm!"

Anyway, the charms of this open air market that I've brought up until now aren't actually what made me want to write about it. What really caught my blogging attention was what must be the child-oriented part of the market. Most prominent is the carousel, which has been pretty full when I've seen it with Formula-one cars chasing swan carriages to the typically tuneless music and occasional encouragement of the attendant to enjoy the ride coming through the loud speakers. Surrounding this are displays - sort of like large dioramas or small stages, with various easter scenes on them. What they all have in common is a sign somewhere saying "Happy Easter!" and plush or mechanical rabbits covering every square inch of surface. One has a ferris wheel with disapproving stuffed rabbits sitting in the seats, while mechanical rabbits stand and wave at the passers-by. One might be the egg-decorating factory (as I'm writing it occurs to me that this might be a very similar set up at Christmas, if you replace Santa and Elves with easter bunnies and turn it into Santa's workshop). At the egg decorating factory there is a row of chickens in the back that moves up and down, one bunny lifts a decorated egg above his head and lowers it again, one reaches a paintbrush to a his egg and then takes it away, meanwhile two rows of bunny heads in the back alternate up and down in something that's between that pound the gopher game and a rotisserie.

There are no rules it seems, as regards biological accuracy with these rabbits, either for or against. Some very realistic pet-bunny looking brown and white (usually stationary) stuffed rabbits are mixed in with purple bugs-bunny twins riding a see-saw. Some Easter bunnies are wearing clothes, and some aren't. Just to be sure that there is no negative space in the display, the tent covering it is hung around the edge with scarecrows carrying baskets. What I find the most jarring though in all this is the inclusion of one stand with real rabbits. I didn't notice it the first handful times I went past because it is so plain compared to the others - just yellow metal uprights and one large group of boxes in the middle for the rabbits to hide in (from people or their mechanical kin, I won't begin to guess). I felt that after seeing them, there was no going back to their flashy neighbors - the real nose tiwtching and occasional movement of real rabbits was far more interesting.

It made me start to ask - who is this display actually for? Who actually likes watching garish repetetive mismatched toys shaped like rabbits act out this fantasy of painting and hiding eggs? The answer from my very unscientific observation today was - just about everybody. Everyone that was at least curious enough to walk up to it smiled - whether out of genuine aesthetic pleasure or out of disbelief, it broke the more typical "serious German walking down the street" face. Maybe it was just watching the few kids who were there and at the right age to understand "easter bunny" and be charmed by the colors and movement, and their irresistable laughter. Either way, it shed some light on why "Ein bisschen Kitsch muss sein" (There has to be a little kitsch).

Hope you all are enjoying or will get to enjoy some spring weather as nice as this soon!