This year my hometown is celebrating its 888 year anniversary. Not bad for such a boring little town right? One might think many events are planned but sadly this is not reality due to the tight financial situation here. During the 875 anniversary the city still used up around 150.000 Euros for all kinds of things and for this year onyl about 46.000 Euros, quite a downgrade I would say. Any who they still managed to start something new and this was the Historical Market in April.
Here in Germany we have Medieval Markets in several cities. Those are some bigger events filled with all kinds of wonders. For example there is one big market in a town nearby every early summer and it does really attract a lot of people. This market is located in a park and it is full with medieval food vendors, knights, gleemen, music and and and. So I was rather sceptical when I heard they had this also planned for my hometown in the city center. To be precise it was to be held in the old market square next to the Vicelin Church from 1834. At least the location was not that bad as there are some historical buildings around but I knew it wouldn’t reach the authentic feeling as the Medieval Market in the other town in the middle of a park.
This event had a rather bad timing as the weekend it was running we had on the first day a rainstorm and on the second day very cold wind with some little rain here and there. I think you can imagine that the market was rather empty as it was really not an inviting weather to go outside your home. As my wife was down with a flu those days she stayed home and I went together with my parents, Nathan and MIL. Yes, dear Chinese mother-in-law was coming with because she really needed to get out of the apartment as in the beginning she spent most of the time indoor doing nothing but cooking, spreading her oily handprints around the apartment and playing with Nathan.
So we went out facing the cold wind and some rain in the hope to find some joy at the market. To our surprise it was not completely empty and there were few things going on such as a gleemen juggling torches, “music from the middle ages” on another stage and a lot of food and handmade products all around. Nathan surely had a lot to take in as he was facing rather dumbfounded around with his little mouth open. Though we were not really hungry we still bought some fresh bread from one of the food stalls which was still warm and it helped to fight off the cold for a while.
Even though this market was still worlds away from the ones I have been visiting during the past years in Germany it was still nice to have one here in this little town. Next month there will be once again the big Medieval market in the nearby town and I will definitely visit it with Nathan, my wife and dear mother-in-law to show them how wonderful it can be. There is just so much to discover on such a big market and lets see what kind of useless stuff I might buy for myself or for Nathan (perhaps chainmail for him?). And now many many pictures for you, I just couldn’t decide which ones to upload so I chose them all!
Have you ever visited such an Medieval Marekt or something similar?
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Even though the weather didn’t cooperate and it wasn’t as big as the one in the town nearby, it was something interesting that was close to home. It looks like there was a lot to see and do there as well. What did your MIL think of it all? I am sure it is very different from what she is used to in China.
The picture of Nathan is adorable. His expression is like ‘You looking at me?’
She was actually surprised to see so many people here. Usually the city is rather empty :p
I’ve never visited a Medieval Market, and this was a very interesting post to read for me. As you inferred, it does look kind of small. But there seems to be lots of things on display and that chess set looks very cool. I’m sure all those swords and shields are not that dangerous…or are they…
888th anniversary of your hometown – what a lucky number and MIL must be glad she came for it. I hope you told her that 🙂
It was a small market but at least this town got something done. Most of the swords there were made out of wood for children 🙂
The next market we visit they will have proper stuff there and is multiple times bigger
Looking forward to your post on the bigger market after you’d experience the fun of it. Hopefully MIL won’t get too excited with the real swords and breakable objects there.
Perhaps we just send her to watch one of the knight battles :p
I’ve been to a few medieval festivals, or at least walked past them. Looks great, always =) I always wonder why people go to the trouble of reinventing the past but I guess it is a theatrical form of acting… =) Your town is OLD!
It seems that there are rather many people really fond of these old things and love to dress up and relive everything. My town is one of the older ones in these parts of Germany. In west Germany are few cities already over 2000 years old 🙂
In Italy people also really like medieval markets and most cities/ villages have their own at least once a year. I remember going to one as a child and having a hell lot of fun! I am sure Nathancutie will cherish these memories (in case growing up he forgets about it you can always show him these pictures and remind him of how loving parents he has!).
That’s nice 🙂
I hope we will have good weather on the big one in the other town this month as it is just huge with many knight battles, gleemen and bands
Interesting. Like a Renaissance Fair? They do those in America, but the difference between Europe and America is that we don’t really have cities 888 years old!
Oh yes, a Renaissance Fair! That is actually the name I was searching for but didnt come up with it anymore. The German name for Renaissance Fair is basically Mittelaltermarkt which translates into Middel Age Market or Medieval Market 🙂
I doubt anything you buy would be useless. At least they would all be toys for Nathan! 😀
I also don’t think that anything would be useless however my wife got other ideas 🙂
They also have a medieval fair in my hometown in Spain! The historic center of the city is actually from the middle ages so the medieval fair looks pretty decent there hehe. However I think I have only been to the fair once, as I haven’t lived in my hometown since 2002
Well, at least you have experienced it plus a better scenery with the historical city enter 🙂
In few weeks we will go to the big rennesaince fair here and I will also write about it
It looks like fun in spite of the rain. Looks like it would be easy to spend a lot of money on all the interesting things at the market.
I was lucky enough to go to a Renaissance Faire in the US a few years ago – so much fun, even though I didn’t dress up. If I ever get to go again I will dress up in costume for it. My son actually won a huge broadsword as a prize for climbing up a fake rock wall.
These kinds of events don’t have much of a following in Australia but they’re around if you know where to look. A few years ago we went to one called Iron Fest, which had jousting and battle reenactments. Also lots of forges and metalwork (hence the name). They also offered people a chance at archery & my son enjoyed that. Some guys turned up in full chain mail armour and asked people to shoot at them – they insisted they were safe in the armour!
I think this Iron Fest is pretty similar to the one we will be going in three weeks. There will be a similar set of things to do and to experience such as the metal works, jousting and there will be many many bands playing
Sounds fun, look forward to your update.
Not bad for a “little” town at all! Looks interesting.
It’s really a small town with 80k inhabitants. However I believe the street we live in is the most beautiful as there is a park within it
And I wrote the wrong thing! I thought nearly every town with some history got a medieval market but then again I do not know too many cities…
Haha, it is not so common, those medieval markets are popular these days, but not every town has it, so it’s really special for your town!
Around my town are several others with huge medieval markets so I thought it is rather common
Hm, maybe it depends on which area in Germany. Towns with castles (Burgen) probably offer more medieval markets, which makes sense.
Here actually no castles / Burgen 😀