Saturday, June 6, 2009

Storkow 800 Jahr Feier



Over the Pentecost Holidays I went to visit my host family in Storkow and got to participate in the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the first written mention of Storkow. I arrived Friday evening, had time for coffee and cake before heading off to the opening ceremony and worship service in the church. I wanted to be sure and be there since the chorus was performing. They were surprised but happy to see me, and did a great job, as always. Then the mayor held a speech while wearing a medieval dress. The whole party then went to the restored Burg to hear more speeches. I met up with Rayk and friends on the Burg, and we listened to the live music and visited with each other, later moving on to the large tent set up on a meadow - the only part of the festivities safe from the rain.

Saturday morning after a nice breakfast there was time to explore the grounds some more, and take a short bike ride with Klaus and Marlies around the city. Klaus won an umbrella from the Pharmacy for submitting a riddle in their competition. I had wanted to make it out to visit some more people that afternoon, but it started raining in buckets, and everyone's plans were shifted. That night there was another live music performance. The son (Achim) of a popular singer (Wolfgang Petry) gave a show of his father's music - I knew a few of the songs, including one called "Jessica" - but mostly I enjoyed seeing other people so excited about the music.
The next day started with the parade from 11am to 2pm through the city. Aside from when they had to raise the drawbridge, the parade went without a hitch. It was probably also the only solid three hours we had without rain - in fact the sun was shining really brightly, and most people were way too warmly dressed! Storki led the way (as you can see above). Marlies was in the last section with her sports group - they performed a routine with ribbons - like in rhythmic gymnastics. The parade had 50 something scences each depicting a part of the history of Storkow.

After that we met up with people in the tent in time to hear the chorus sing. They sang various folk songs and medlies, but they opened and closed with "Das Storkowlied" (The Storkow song) composed for this occasion. It's about as great as you can imagine, sung to a swinging melody:

Wir lieben eine kleine Stadt
die ihre Charme und Träume hat.
Sie liegt in Brandenburger Land
und ist als Storchenstadt bekannt.
Sie hat 'ne Gegend erster Wahl
und eine Schleuse mit Kanal
'ne schönen Markt, 'ne Burg wir neu
und vierzehn kleine Schwestern, die ihr treu.

We love a small city
That has its charms and dreams
It is in the land of Brandenburg
And is known as the stork-city.
It is in a first class area
with a lock and a canal
a nice market, a brand new castle
and fourteen little sisters, true to it. (the 14 villages that are part of Storkow)

Refrain:

Storkow, Storkow, kleine Stadt am See,
Storkow, Storkow, unser Wohl und Weh,
Storkow, Storkow, kleine Stadt am Wald
Du bist heute 800 Jahre alt.

Storkow, Storkow, kleine Stadt am See,
Storkow, Storkow, nicht weit von Oder und Spree
Storkow, Storkow, kleine Stadt am Wald,
Du bist heute ein-, zwei-, drei-, vier-, fünf-, sechs-, sieben-, achthundert Jahre alt!

Storkow, Storkow, small city on a lake
Storkow, Storkow, our weal and woe,
Storkow, Storkow, small city in the forest,
You are 800 years old today.

...
Storkow, Storkow, not far from Oder and Spree (rivers)
...
(do I need to translate that?)

And it goes on from there. Don't worry, I came home with the whole CD, you can all hear the song, sung by the chorus, when I'm home. Sten got to Storkow in time to hear the chorus sing. We spent the rest of the day seeing the sights and visiting with people. We left Monday afternoon to get back to Göttingen. It was a great time and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it.
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Storkow 800 Jahr Feier

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