Serious Nonsense : Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage Paperback / softback
by William W. (Professor, Kutztown University) Donner
Part of the Keystone Books series
Paperback / softback
- Information
Description
Versammlinge-community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture-are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language.
Some, the "groundhog lodges," feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do not.
These unique meetings, expressions of a distinctive ethnic identity in the context of a rapidly changing society, have become a traditional mainstay among Pennsylvania Germans who have worked to preserve their language and culture into the twenty-first century.
Serious Nonsense introduces readers to Pennsylvania German cultural practices that tourists rarely see and that outsiders, including most scholars, rarely learn about.
The book explores the origins of the versammlinge and details the practice's significance since the 1930s, when the first meetings of the Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges were held.
Much as they did then, versammlinge today follow a pattern of prayers, patriotism, and speeches extolling values associated with Pennsylvania German identity, as well as theatrical and oral events that humorously contrast a simpler past with a more complex and confusing present. And the groundhog lodges feature one Pennsylvania German tradition that has become familiar in popular culture: groundhog weather prognostication.
Information
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:208 pages, 42 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Pennsylvania State University Press
- Publication Date:15/05/2016
- Category:
- ISBN:9780271071183
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:208 pages, 42 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Pennsylvania State University Press
- Publication Date:15/05/2016
- Category:
- ISBN:9780271071183