Figure 01: Map showing the adjacent areas of the Luneburg Heath and the Wendland
(
History
The Luneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide), named after the town of Lüneburg, is a flattish region in the NE of the State of Lower Saxony. It consists of a rural area bounded by the Aller and Elbe Rivers, the Stader Geest (an area of low, sandy heath) and the Altmark (a historic region comprising the northern third of the State of Saxony-Anhalt) (Fig. 1). Along with the Wendland, it was part of the Principality of Luneburg (Fürstentum Lüneburg) that arose in 1409. In the early 18th century, the Principality of Luneburg was subsumed into Principality of Brunswick-Luneburg [Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg] (Fig. 2), which then in the 19th century became the Kingdom of Hannover [Königreich Hannover]. The area is now part of the State of Lower Saxony.
Figure 02: Map showing the Guelph duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg from ca. 1500.
(
Traditional costumes of the Lüneburger Heath
Eduard Kück (1906) did a survey of the inhabitants of the Luneburg Heath about the use of costumes in the previous 50 years, i.e. back to the middle of the 19th century. Apparently, the traditional costumes of the Luneburg Heath could be subdivided into a number of types: for work, for Sundays, for festive occasions, as well as a church costume and a bridal costume. These types were made in a similar style and materials. However, a later survey out of the years 1879/80 done by Georg Wenker, showed that more than 50% of the people questioned said that no so-called Volkstracht (folk costume) was used in the Heath region, and some added that both the men and women copied the town people’s clothing and the modern fashions of the time. Contrastingly, the adjacent and historically closely associated Wendland developed a fairly uniform traditional costume during the 19th century.
In the last major publication concerning the 50 traditional costume areas of Lower Saxony, the “Niedersächsischen Trachtenbuch” [Lower Saxony traditional costume book] (Peßler 1922), Wilhelm Peßler the author referred to a region as “Vierlande* and the Administrative District of Lüneburg” [Vierlande und den Regierungsbezirk Lüneburg]. However, he ascribed no particular traditional costume to the Luneburg Heath as a whole, though three areas in the region were named as using traditional costumes (the area around Uelzen, the one around Gifhorn and the Parish of Bardowick close to Lüneburg). It seems that the Bardowick costume was used in a number of publications to represent the women’s costume of the whole Heath region (Fig. 3). At the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of postcards were printed to accommodate the increasing touristic interest in the Heide, but the costumes depicted are extremely idealised and cannot be used as a source of information for clothing research.
*Vierlande is the name given to a roughly 77-square kilometre region in the Hamburg district of Bergedorf. Its name goes back to the year 1556 and refers to the four church parishes of Curslack, Kirchwerder, Neuengamme and Altengamme, which are identical with their modern-day quarters.
Figure 03: This picture called the “Bardowieckerin” [Woman from Bardowieck] was published in 1870 in Deutsche Volkstrachten [German Folk Costumes]. She was described as coming from the land between Hamburg and Bremen, which was attributed as belonging to the Luneburg Heath (published in Ellwanger et al. 2015).
Women’s clothing
The available information concerning the women’s working clothes in the Luneburg Heath shows that they were mainly self-made of homespun plain weave linen (Leinwandbindung) or a Linsey-woolsey cloth made of linen (warp) and wool (weft) called Biederwand. In contrast, the women of the neighbouring Wendland used a twill weave (Köperbindung).
Figure 04: Farmer and wife from the Luneburg Heide; the wife has a Perkopp bonnet on her head. She has tied her shawl in an interesting manner over her upper torso. [from Kück (1906) published in Ellwanger et al. 2015].
The women’s clothing basically consisted of a skirt, bodice, shawl and head covering. Originally, the armless woman’s bodice (Rump in the local dialect) was made of linen dyed blue or with a printed pattern. To protect their arms while working in the sun, they also wore separate sleeves called Sünnärmel (Sonnenärmel in High German). This combination of short-sleeved bodice and Sünnärmel was replaced around the middle of the 19th century by a more comfortable long-sleeved jacket (Binderjacke) made of Russian linen [russischem Leinen]. A calico scarf [Kattuntuch] tied crossways was used to protect the nape of the neck.
The skirt was also made of linen or Beiderwand and was held in place by a broad piece of material called a Queder sewn to the jacket or Rump. The skirts in the rural regions were simple in comparison to the many pleated skirts of the women living in the towns. Vertically striped Beiderwand skirts (stripte Röck) were usually only worn on Sundays or for festive occasions. Over the skirt, an apron (Platen) made of homemade linen was worn. It was either dyed a single colour or printed blue by the local dyer. Working aprons were either made of Beiderwand (Fig. 4) or of material cut from worn clothing. The skirts of the North Heide (around Uelzen and Hermannsburg) were made in dark colours. In contrast, the skirts in the area around Celle and in Wendland had vertical stripes of different colours [stripte Röcke; Fig. 3, figure bottom right & Fig. 11, woman 2nd from right], though such skirts were also worn throughout the Heide on Sundays. These vertically striped skirts can be found in various other regions in Germany, too.
A domed, longish straw sun hat called a Perkopp (High Geman: Pferdekopf; horse’s head) was worn in the fields to protect the head (Fig. 4). These hats were often decorated with black velvet or satin ribbons [Samtstreifen and Atlasstreifen, respectively]. Numerous styles of bonnets were worn in the region. At home, women wore their second-best Sunday bonnet throughout the year. My Luneburg Heath doll’s bonnet is similar to ones worn in Uelzen in the 19th century (Fig. 5) and in Klein Eicklingen in the 20th century (Fig. 10), though they differ in their trimmings.
The Sunday and festive clothing varied from the day-to-day clothing, mainly with respect to the style of bonnet worn, which were varied and had highly decorative trimmings (Fig. 6). More expensive accessories and materials were also worn; for example, buttons with silver plating (Prinzmetall), velvet inserts on the clothing and aprons, cotton or silk scarves, jewellery, velvet belts with a filigree buckle (made of silver for the more affluent), four to five silver necklaces and silver ear-rings. Married women wore a jacket instead of an armless bodice.
A black apron was worn on Sundays to church, while the whole costume was black for going to church on both Maundy Thursday (Gründonnerstag) and Good Friday (Karfreitag). As was also usual in the Wendland, the Luneburg Heath women used a white cotton handkerchief (Snufdok) to cover their bible, which was held in both hands. In addition, the church clothes included a collar and a bonnet decorated with bobbin lace (Strich in the local dialect but Klöppelspitze in High German).
Figure 07: Communion costume [from Kück (1906) published in Ellwanger et al. 2015].
Colours and colour combinations were used to differentiate between age groups and occasion. For confirmation, girls wore a costume [Abendmahlstracht] made of Linsey-woolsey cloth dyed black [schwarz gefärbte Beiderwandtracht] with a black or white apron, a white collar around the neck and a white bonnet (Fig. 7). Some bonnets had an edge that formed a point exactly over the middle parting and were called a Pappmütze or a Snipp-mütz (High German: Schnabelmütze; peaked bonnet; Fig. 8). Later, confirmed girls always wore a white apron when attending Communion. This white Communion costume was maintained in the urban areas, in Hermannsburg and by the servants of Closter Lüne. However, they did not use a white cotton handkerchief to cover their bible, but a white muslin cloth decorated with lace as used for a wedding.
Figure 08: Photograph of figurines from two villages, Stich und Handorf, ca. 1900, taken ca. 1930; The one on the right is wearing a peaked bonnet [Pappmütze or Snipp-mütz (High German: Schnabelmütze)]. (Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg, published in Ellwanger et al. 2015).
According to Kück (1906), in the 1860s, there was a significant change in the region’s bridal costume [Brauttracht]. The black heavy woollen dress [Orleansoder Tuchkleid] was replaced by a one made of black silk, the myrtle crown by a bridal crown decorated with silk ribbons, the posies made of artificial flowers and colourful ribbons attached above the waist were replaced by myrtle posies with white satin ribbons [Atlasbändern].
At funerals, until into the 1840s, close female relatives of the deceased in both the Luneburg Heath and Wendland regions wrapped themselves in a so-called Not-Laken [literal translation “distress” sheet; shroud or winding sheet]. Such sheets were a part of each married woman’s trousseau [Aussteuer] and were used as their shrouds [Leichentuch] when they died. Under this “shroud”, the mourners also wore a white shawl that covered both the head and shoulders. Since the middle of the 19th century, white was replaced by black as the colour of mourning. Since this time, it became usual to wear a black headscarf at a funeral.
Figure 9: Photograph of a group of villagers from the village Klein Eicklingen (1900—1914) [Vaterländischen Museum in Celle (nowadays called the Bomann Museum);
published in Ellwanger et al. 2015].
Aprons were part of the traditional costume both in the Luneburg Heath and in Wendland. They were important parts of day-to-day regional clothing until the middle of the 20th century (Figs. 3, 4, 7, 9 & 11). Although the apron was originally used to protect the other clothing from dirt, its function became over time more and decorative. The colour and materials used depended on the occasion. In the 16th century, aprons were used by all levels of society and in the middle class (Bürgertum), the apron became the symbol of diligence, subserviency and decency. With a clean apron, the lower classes could show that they were the hard-working poor. In addition, an intricately ornamented apron became the centrepiece of a woman’s festive costume. The style of apron was affected by fashion. Typical for the Heath region were white aprons with or without embroidery, or plain silk aprons in a variety of colours [e.g. green, brown or blue in Flotwedel, a collective municipality (Samtgemeinde) close to Celle]. A silk apron was often worn in combination with a matching shawl in a so-called Seidenkombination.
Shawls were part of the traditional costume both in the Luneburg Heath and in Wendland. They had a double function to keep the wearer warm and as a decoration. They could be made of various materials and worn in different ways (Figs. 3, 4, 9, 10 & 11).
Often shoes and socks have not been considered in collections or descriptions of traditional clothing in the region. However, shoes made of wood (Klumpen) or leather (Pantinken) were worn. In the 19th century, Luneburg Heath women wore low leather shoes with blue or white socks/stockings (Kretschmer 1870). I presume as in the Wendland, many women in the Heath went bare-footed (plattbarft) whilst working in the fields.
Figure 11: Postcard showing mannequins wearing Sunday costume from the first half of the 19th century from Klein Eicklingen (a village close to the town of Celle) . (From Bomann Museum in Celle, first half of the 20th century; published in Ellwanger et al. 2015).
Source(s) of information
Ellwanger K, Hauser A, Meiners J (eds) (2015) Trachten in der Lüneburger Heide und im Wendland, Waxmann, Münster x New York
Kretschmer A (1870) Deutsche Volkstrachten. Leipzig.
Kück E (1906) Das alte Bauernleben der Lüneburger Heide, reprinted by Dogma (2012)
Peßler W (1922) (ed) Handbuch der deutschen Volkskunde. Potsdam. Version from 1923 republished by Niedersachsen: Text und Bildersammlung. Frankfurt am Main.
Wenkers G (1888-1923) Sprachatlas des Deutschen Reichs with drawings by Emil Maurmann, Georg Wenker und Ferdinand Wrede. Marburg. Available in digital form as Digitaler Wenker-Atlas (DiWA), J E Schmidt and J Herrgen (eds) (2001 ff):
(1.7.0y)