The wine festivals in fast motion

In the early modern period, when the vines stretched from the high altitudes of the Lößnitz to the lowlands, viticulture meant one thing above all: hard labour. Once you had made it through the season without escapades, it was time to organise the labourers from the surrounding villages who were ordered into the wine regions to help with the harvest. The vineyards stretched from the highlands down to the lowlands near the Elbe. It was not only the forced labourers who found the conditions a burden. In combination with the already uncertain harvest prospects, the local winegrowers of the past centuries felt little in the mood for gold-crowned celebrations and romantic wine poetry around harvest time. However, the Lößnitz slopes mostly belonged to the electors or noble mountain lords, who in turn liked it when people danced around the table in their honour. This was the case in 1715, when Augustus the Strong organised the first grape harvest dance in the Hoflößnitz. Winegrowers from Lößnitz and Cossebauder formed a colourful procession that danced around the electoral table in homage to the head of the state and his guests. The same event took place again in 1727, this time with 54 participants, and again in 1746, when painter J. C. Jünger created the first pictorial record of the "Winzer- und Bauernaufzug". The Caleb grape as a biblical symbol was part of the motif from the very beginning. The inclusion of various professional groups and classes of people served to represent the regent. Elements of Greco-Roman mythology, such as Bacchus, Venus or Cupid, were added. Until 1788, princely winegrowers' festivals were celebrated in this way behind the closed gates of the Hoflößnitz.
In 1840, people no longer had to pinch their noses as onlookers. It became a public festival and was intended both to "encourage the winegrowers" and to "test all the grapes known and cultivated in the country" in order to gain recognition for the "best varieties". The colourful procession, which was artistically handed down to posterity by the painter Moritz Retzsch, consisted of all kinds of winegrowers, bacchantes, musicians, dancers, craftsmen and prominent personalities, and also included a new motif: a float from the recently opened "factory for sparkling wines". From the Hoflößnitz, the crowd wound its way through the streets to the "Goldene Weintraube", where the royal family had already arrived for a feast, exhibition, tasting and dancing.

However, a small louse crept unnoticed into this exuberant round dance and, despite its small size, caused such enormous damage in the years to come that it almost brought the entire local wine-growing industry to a standstill. However, the winegrowers were made of tough stuff and did not allow their vines or wine festivals to be taken away from them. One was still held until 1891 and it was said that all the villages in the Lößnitz region were as busy as they rarely were that summer. There was often no room to be had in the well-known wine taverns, but everyone waited, because they didn't want to go home without a glass of []." But phylloxera was raging, and so we actually had to wait until 1924 before we dared to organise another big parade. Despite all the difficulties, it was an outstanding Lößnitz winegrowers' festival with 50 floats and over 1000 participants. Young and old, locals and out-of-towners, everyone was on their feet. A film document gives a wonderful insight into this event and can be viewed in the town archives.
The wheel of history continued to turn and the world was once again in danger of going completely off the rails. In 1956, the cultural heritage was remembered and a festival was organised under the motto "To revive the traditional winegrowers' processions in the Lößnitz" and in 1964 "To promote viticulture and wine consumption". The history of old and new Saxon viticulture was shown in pictures; princes and heralds in costumes on horseback. Craft and agricultural professions were presented and historical figures were brought to life. Even the phylloxera was not missing and the Caleb grape was always present. In 1965*, the "People's Friendship" procession included winegrowers and representatives from other wine-growing countries, town coats of arms decorated with flowers and the dove of peace. The GDR gradually used such festivals to publicise itself. For the historic winegrowers' festival parade on the occasion of the 20th anniversary in 1969*, everything that Lößnitz had to offer was brought out once again; winegrowing was then just one part of the big picture parade, which brought together industry, trade, schools, clubs, agriculture, sport and much more.
Although there were repeated winegrowers' parades in the following years, none of them reached this size again. The autumn and wine festival has been held in Altkötzschenbroda every year since 1991. And more recently, the Hoflößnitz has also returned to the tradition of winegrowers' processions - this year on 4 October with a double anniversary: "300 years of Saxon winegrowers' processions and 25 years of German unity"! Winegrowers from all German winegrowing regions will be represented. Over 1000 participants over 5 kilometres are expected to attract 50,000 visitors. It promises to be an important event that not only occupies a special place on the timeline of the Lößnitz winegrowers' processions, but also in the cultural memory of the city.

Maren Gündel City Archive

* The DVD "Winzerzüge 1965/1969" is available for 14 from the city archives

Published in: Radebeul Official Gazette, September 2015