More than twenty Jaudus bonfires will be lit on this Holy Saturday, April 16, in the northern district of Aichach-Friedberg and in neighboring communities in the Dachau region. That’s more than three years ago. At that time there were 23 in the entire district. Why there are so many this year is obvious to some of the organizers: the pandemic had made them impossible for the past two years. Boys’ clubs and village communities are now looking forward to the meetings.
–
–
In 2019, Jaudus fires burned in the region for the last time before the corona pandemic. A few have been announced again this year. Photo: Maximilian Glas
–
–
“It’s a unique experience,” enthuses Emil Zinsmeister from Untergriesbach. He is the chairman of the “Griasbecka Gorillas in the Mist”, a leisure club. The gorillas have existed since 2019. They’ve only lit one fire since it was founded. Then came the mask requirement and contact restrictions. Easter 2020 was probably remembered by many as lonely. “The Jaudus”, as the local custom is called, is lit on Easter Vigil, under the first full moon of spring.
Jaudus has nothing to do with Easter. Easter bonfires, which are often referred to as the Jaudus, look different from the pyres on the meadows and fields between Ingolstadt, Munich and Augsburg. The custom is limited to this region, according to a 2019 publication by the Research and Information Center for Antisemitism in Bavaria. The author saw “anti-Semitic resentment” in the Jaudus custom.
The reason for the paper was an incident in Poland in which a doll with stereotypically Jewish features was burned. Green district councilor Stefan Lindauer had therefore even called for a ban on fires in 2021. Emil Zinsmeister thinks little of that. “We do burn a doll, but you don’t think of it as ‘a Jew’, we’re driving out the winter with it,” he says. Zinsmeister and his club are about getting together and chatting with friends. The custom, which is also documented, goes back to pre-Christian spring fires.
The man from Untergriesbach sees a bigger problem in the area of tension between the maintenance of customs and allegations of anti-Semitism, which is apparently rather nebulous for many: the official requirements. After all, the organizers have to check exactly what ends up in their heap, namely untreated solid wood. “And the Aichach scouts collect Christmas trees every year, which we then get,” says the head of the association. The builders of the Jaudus have to pay attention to safety, piling up the pile with telehandlers. “Nobody climbs up there anymore,” says Zinsmeister. And the event must also be insured.
The city of Aichach took over the insurance until 2016. Since then, the number of Jaudus fires in the city area has fallen rapidly. This year, apart from Jakob Wnsch’s field near Untergriesbach, a Jaudus is only burning in Gallenbach.
Further east, around Hilgertshausen, Tandern and Altomnster, the situation is different.
Boys’ clubs and village communities in Altomnster have reported a total of six public fires, and there are three in the community of Hilgertshausen-Tandern. “We’re expecting about fifty people,” estimates Christoph Sigl from Tandern. South of the sports field, he and his comrades-in-arms from the Tanderner Htt’n light up their “Jaudas”, as it is called in the Dachau region. Meanwhile, it remains dark in Holzland. There have been no fires in Schiltberg for years – according to reports, this is due to increasingly strict regulations. Mayor Xaver Ziegler makes it clear that there will be no Jaudus in Hollenbach this year either. However, he can hardly remember a year in which there was a Jaudus in the community. The custom is simply not an issue in Hollenbach.
Ziegler’s Pttmes mayor colleague Mirko Ketz, on the other hand, has reports of a few fires. If you ask him about conditions, he remains calm. “We don’t oblige the organizers to insure themselves,” he says. If a fire brigade reports a Jaudus, the municipality pays for the insurance. “Otherwise, organizers will insure themselves or refrain from doing so.”
What may be burned is a matter for the district. Wolfgang Mller, spokesman for the district office, sends a DIN A4 flyer on request, which says which materials belong on the heap. The list of banned fuels is twice as long as that of permitted ones. Railway sleepers, for example, are taboo because they are impregnated. Solid wood and logs are allowed. Shrub cuttings are “permissible in small quantities for kindling”.
Emil Zinsmeister knows the requirements. “Anznden” is a flexible term, but east of Untergriesbach everything is in accordance with the rules. The main part of Jaudus there are pallets. Like most wooden products, they are becoming more and more expensive and not everyone wants to give them away – but many still seem to turn a blind eye to the customs.
By Bastian Brummer
Detailed news from the Wittelsbacher Land, from Bavaria and the world in the e-paper of the Aichacher Zeitung. Order here.
–
