Burning Easter Wheel or Osterrad
Every year for as long as anyone can remember, on Grüner Donnerstag, large Oak wheels (with an open center, like a donut) are brought to the Emmer River, which flows through Lüdge, then chained together and left to soak up as much water as possible. How big are these wheels? They weigh in at 280 KG (over 600 lb) and stand 170 cm (just over 5 feet) tall and 30 cm (about 1 foot) wide.
On Easter Sunday, participants load the wheels onto a wagon, and then a procession of marching bands and townspeople escorts the wagon to the top of Osterberg. A long Hazelnut wood pole through the opening of the Osterrad helps keep it balanced while rolling. Rye straw is woven and stuffed into the wheel’s opening. When night falls, a cannon goes off! At 9 PM, the six flaming Easter Wheels roll hundreds of yards down the hill, leaving trails of fire! The hazelnut poles help keep them upright but aren’t always successful. Any wheel reaching the bottom of the hill is met with cheers!
.Why send burning wheels down a hill?
In the deep past of Germany’s pagan history, the practice of burning an Easter Wheel was common. Over time, the church stopped or changed it in most communities because of its pagan roots. Like other practices involving fire in the Springtime (like the Easter Fire), it’s believed that the practice was a way of saying Tschuß (goodbye) to Winter and welcoming back the sunshine of Spring and Summer. The wheels represent the fire of the sun. Wheels that made it down the hill without crashing and burning were signs of an upcoming good harvest.
Like Folk Dancing and the Passion Play of Oberammergau, the Easter Wheel run is part of UNESCO’s Nationwide Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Germany. Although the church tried to block it from time to time, the people of Lüdge persevered. The practice was stopped during the war, but in 1946, 6 brave men started the wheels turning again. Lüdge nicknamed itself the Osterradstadt, “Easter Wheel City,” and today, crowds gather in Lüdge to see the event as they have for well over a thousand years.
Learn more, and find out how you can go see this spectacular here-> Osterräderlauf in Lüdge
References
UNESCO Heritage – Easter Wheel Run