As of: March 28, 2024, 7:00 a.m
By: Elena Royer
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The ratchet girls and boys work diligently and collect materials for the Easter fire, which will be lit at the end of Holy Saturday evening on the Geretsried Böhmwiese. © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
Bells are silent, ratchets are noisy: In Geretsried, the ratchet children traditionally replace the church bells on the car days.
Geretsried
– There is a lot of chaos on the Böhmwiese on Monday afternoon. Girls and boys pull sticks and branches out of bushes and undergrowth and throw them into a large pile in the middle. There is already a lot there, because the hard-working ratchet children have been collecting material for the upcoming Easter fire on Holy Saturday for around six weeks. At the car days it gets loud again in Geretsried when the ratchet children revive an old custom of the Egerländer Gmoi with their rattleboxes and junk boxes.
When the bells are silent, it gets loud
Amelie Sandrock (15) and Eva Hildebrand (16) are also there at Böhmwiese. They are the top leaders this year. Both have long known the custom that the Egerländer Gmoi has kept alive in Geretsried for around 70 years. “We are replacing the church bells with the ratcheting on the cartages,” explains Sandrock. Because according to a legend they “fly to Rome and get blessed”. And so on these two days the ratchet children take their wooden instruments and cause a lot of noise in the city with loud rattling, clattering and rattling. “Everyone has a watch now. But it wasn’t like that in the village before,” says Eva Hildebrand. Ratcheting played a much more important role as a kind of time signal.
You can read the latest news from Geretsried here.
30 children are taking part this year
This year around 30 children are taking part. “That’s pretty good,” says Amelie Sandrock, but “we’ve been more than that before. A few older people canceled this year because they weren't there." And so the two of them are really happy that girls have been allowed to join in the ratchet for a few years now. Why shouldn't it be like that? Because ratcheting, “everyone can do it,” says Hildebrand.
They parade through the streets three times a day
The children and young people who are taking part this year are not deterred by getting up early. Because at 5 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. at the latest, it's time to get out of bed! And that during the holidays. “These are two very cool days,” says Hildebrand happily. This is her sixth or seventh time attending this year. At 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. the ratchet children march through Geretsried for an hour each on the Kartagen. They collect money, which is divided among themselves. “The longer you are there, the more you get,” says Hildebrand. And the Ratschenboy or Ratschenmadl, who is older and has retired, is traditionally thrown into the Schwaigwaller Bach. Eva Hildebrand will feel this kind of farewell this year. But she has long since adjusted to this. She will definitely not forget her change of clothes on Holy Saturday.
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Easter fires are lit on Holy Saturday
Justin (12) and Amelie (11) are taking part for the first time this year. The twelve-year-old is already looking forward to the atmospheric Easter fire, where there will be sausages and drinks for all the ratchet children. “It’s just a cool experience,” he says. And Amelie also likes the tradition. “It’s fun,” she says.
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Info:
On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the ratchet children parade through the streets for an hour at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. On Holy Saturday, the Gmoi lights the Easter fire on the Böhmwiese in the evening.
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