After the summer interlude: Tegernsee Lantern Regatta this year again at the usual time of the year

Created: 11/30/2022, 07:00

By: Gabi Werner

Illuminated boats, handcrafted with a lot of love, get the children ready for the wind light regatta.

© Thomas Plettenberg

The lantern regatta in Tegernsee is a real classic of the pre-Christmas period.

After a short summer interlude, the regatta for primary school children will take place again this year at the usual time of year.

Tegernsee

– It was an unusual sight: in May of this year, in sunshine and warm temperatures, the self-made boats of the Tegernsee elementary school students floated down the Alpbach.

It was the very first summer regatta ever - and if Rector Claudia Horstmann has his way, it will also have been the last.

“We only did that as a preventive measure and just for fun,” says the headmistress.

At the time, there were great concerns that the traditional lantern regatta, which normally takes place during the Advent season, could fall victim to a pandemic that flared up again.

Now it is clear: The event can take place again this year in the usual form and at the usual time of year.

Children put their boats in the Alpbach on Friday, December 2nd

"It's going back to the roots," says Claudia Horstmann.

That means: On Friday, December 2nd, the girls and boys of the Tegernsee elementary school will set their illuminated boats in the floods of the Alpbach and send them towards Tegernsee when it gets dark.

From 4.15 p.m. the parents' association will provide entertainment, the start is planned for 5 p.m.

Almost 60 boats will take part in the 46th lantern regatta

Almost 60 boats, which were handcrafted in class and partly embellished at home (and with the help of fathers and mothers), will take part in the 46th Tegernsee Lantern Regatta.

The aim is for the colorful boats to arrive upright, as intact as possible and with the lights working, where they are fished out of the water by the Tegernsee fire brigade.

Horstmann explains that because the Alpbach Bridge construction site is currently preventing people from getting through in the lower area, the route may be shortened by a few meters.

However, there is no final decision on this yet.

It depends on the further construction progress.

At the award ceremony, each child receives a small bronze angel

The school also wants to build on old traditions when it comes to awarding prizes.

The award ceremony is to take place on Saturday, December 10th at 2.30 p.m. as part of the Tegernsee Castle Market.

Then each child will also receive a small bronze angel, which the Bertele goldsmiths will make especially for the regatta and which the city will purchase for the young participants at cost price.

The former teacher Franz Pütz is considered to be the inventor of the lantern regatta

Headmistress Horstmann is pleased that the lantern regatta is returning to the scene after a two-year Corona break.

"It's a classic that makes our school very special," she says.

The event was invented by a teacher with a creative streak: Tegernsee native Franz Pütz is listed in the annals of the elementary school as the founder of the lantern regatta.

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