When old documents and reports tell about kirchweih celebrations, then one could very quickly come to the conclusion that in former times violent brawls belonged to the course of a kirchweih. Time and again, rival boys have fought over the favor of the girls, or boys from the neighboring community have been provoked with nasty remarks.
The kronacher tagblatt of that time contains the following report: "on the occasion of the steinberger kirchweih (church fair) in september 1882, at 10 p.M. In the evening, there was a tremendous brawl which threw the inhabitants into a frenzy. Steinberger and friesener lads beat each other up, with eyewitnesses speaking of a veritable battle. The entire gendarmerie team and a soldier on vacation had to separate the fighting taps with the weapons. In another incident, an unknown person pulled out a knife and cut a local man’s hand so deeply that it had to be removed."
Rarely, however, it is reported that the musicians playing for the dance were beaten up and maltratiert. However, this did happen from time to time, for example when the band took too long a break between the dances or played so badly that the dancing couples lost their rhythm. It is said that it was from such a band that a musician shouted to the dancers from the stage: "you guys, keep dancing, we’ll be back soon."
In 1884, the tageszeitung reported on such a scuffle between the dancers and the music on the occasion of the glosberg church fair. On the occasion of this beat, it should be noted that in the countryside, as a rule, no entrance fee was charged for the dance entertainment. The musicians got their reward from the dancing couples spinning on the dance floor. The more the musicians played and the more they danced, the bigger their fee was. The collection of the dance money was usually carried out according to the following scheme: the music began to play lively and the couples turned on the dance floor. About halay through the piece, a musician’s companion, who was also the cashier, clapped his hand several times, causing the music to stop. Each of the dancing couples now had to pay an obolus of five or ten pfennigs to the accompanist. When all the dancers had been paid, the music resumed and the dancing continued. The process of collecting money was repeated all evening on each "tour". It was customary for the men to pay the women for the dance.
The payment was made at the end
It was different in glosberg. Here the payment was made only at the end of each tour. This, however, displeased many a dancer to "print out" secretly, shortly before the end of the music piece and save the dance money. This in turn annoyed the musicians, because they came to get their earned wages. Their admonitions and exhortations, which were actually intended for the understanding of the unwilling dancers, were not listened to, but turned into the opposite. It came to a violent brawl.
Public letter
His displeasure with the behavior of the glosbergers led one of the musicians concerned to write an open letter, which was published in the daily newspaper frankischer wald. In it he writes: "on the occasion of the glosberger kirchweih on sunday the 17th. August d. J. (1884) we had the opportunity to convince ourselves of the level of education of several young farmers; we thought we had been transported involuntarily to a farmers’ fair in croatia and into the company of rat catchers and mouse trap manufacturers. Since we were eager to meet the reasonable demands that one is accustomed to make of a village music, our performance was applauded, but the dancers did not pay the slightest attention to this applause, because as soon as the signal was given to hang up, although 10 couples had swung themselves in lively dance, at the most 3 – 4 of the gentlemen dancers came and gifted us each with a nikelzehner, the others had disappeared without a trace, in order to participate again briskly and uninhibitedly at the beginning of the next tour.
To fear the cutting of their necks
That this could not do any good in the long run would not be expected of even the most patient musician’s soul, and since one finally saw oneself compelled to stop the concert.H. The dancers were asked to come to the cashier’s desk in the same numbers as at the dance, – yes, it was a slovakian affair: first glasses of silk, then a liter jug, and finally even chairs flew against the musicians’ heads; some musicians were grabbed by the fists and pulled down by the orchestra, so that their necks were knocked off, and the general confusion was over. When the musicians then refused to continue playing, they were punished by beating, beating up the instruments, throwing them out, etc., etc. Threatened with the most unqualified compliments, forcing them to continue playing.
If the payment had been as plentiful as the eminent rudenesses, then we had carried away heavy money from glosberg; but when we looked at our cash box on monday and were shocked to learn that we had earned a total of 16 blank marks, we counted for the deficiency the imposed courtesies and sought to save a favorable moment (during the midday sleep of our friends). Gonner) to escape. And so we are, thank god a thousand times over! We have escaped with our skins intact, and today we rejoice all the more in our lives and our health, and have been enriched by a very sad experience; but our motto for life will be: "play everywhere, but no more in glosberg, and let the clubs there be as rough as their mountains and their thalers as heavy as the dwarfs."
The letter was signed by georg froba, a musician from windheim, on behalf of the others.
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