Thüringen Schäfertag, and 37 weeks pregnant

My last day of work was July 31st. This isn't because I took maternity leave early, but rather because I took my Mutterschutz (mother protection) time late. Women in Germany are allowed to take 6 weeks off before their due date with full pay, and 8 weeks afterward. (Parental leave, at 67% of after-tax salary starts after that.) I only took three weeks off, because I thought 6 was too much, and everyone thought I was crazy. In reality, I probably should have worked longer, as once I was off I went a little nutty, and by the last week I barely wanted to leave the house. I think this was my version of nesting (which involved no manic cleaning, unfortunately).

But before I became a hermit, I was still interested in getting out and doing things. On August 1st, Jeremi and I planned a trip to the Thueringen Schaefertag, a festival of all things sheep. We'd heard about it from someone Jeremi knows from rugby, who's a veterinarian, and knows all the sheep farmers in the region as a result. This is their annual festival, with a sheep herding contest for our state, master spinners, wool products, sheep milk products, lamb (to eat), and various other attractions.

I was mostly interested in the wool of course, and the spinners, but figured it would be a fun day regardless. It was looking like the weather would be good, and I thought it would be fun to ride our bikes there. Jeremi thought it was crazy to plan a 50 km bike ride in my 38th week of pregnancy, so we took the train to Mellingen and only rode 30 km.

While passing through a village on the way, Tiefengruben, we noticed some people hanging up quilts at the entrance to a courtyard, and stopped to see what they were doing. They were holding an impromptu (and free) quilt exhibition they said, and invited us in to look around. It turns out that this was a group of women from around Thueringen who meet monthly during the winter to quilt, and talk about quilting. Once a year, in the summer, they meet to air out their quilts, which gives them a chance to socialize and show off their handiwork. When I told them about the quilt that Jeremi made, and that he'd made it as a wedding gift in place of a ring, he was a celebrity. He was brought around to meet all the women, and they even took pictures with him. They just couldn't believe that a man had made a quilt, let alone a giant one with over a thousand pieces.

Here are a bunch of the quilts. Some were really awesome, and there was quite a variety. Some (like the large one in the middle here) were made with hand-dyed fabric, there were some machine-pieced and some hand-sewn, some made from old material while most were made from purpose-bought new fabric. What was interesting to us, was that many of them had no batting, but were just a pieced front and a solid back, sewn together. In these cases, it seemed to be more about the piecing than the quilting. There were also some that were plain fabric, with really elaborate quilting. All in all, a really fun, random thing to stumble upon. The setting was quite lovely as well.







We made it to the actual festival after noon, which meant that we'd missed most of the shepherding and spinning, but we did get a chance to pick up some cheese and lamb sausage, have a look at some wool, and eat some lovely roasted lamb. The event was also held at something like a pioneer village, except that the centuries-old farms and houses didn't belong to pioneers of course, this being Europe. Instead it was called an open air museum, with buildings that had been transported there from around the region.
Here are the shepherds who were competing that day, with the winner holding the trophy. They all had elaborately carved staffs, with small metal shovel blades at the end, and wore woolen vests with multiple rows of small white buttons. Every older trade in Germany has a sort of set uniform, such as the vests and corduroy pants with the double-buttoned flap worn by carpenters, and what you see below seems to be the traditional garb for shepherds.
The day was hot, and the festival ended around 4:00, so we decided to stop at a nearby man-made lake on our way to the train home, and go for a swim. And so you get to see me at 37 weeks of pregnancy plus one day, in a bikini, no less!
Also, we included a picture of one of the wicker structures that line the beaches along the North Sea, and also at this lake. Because it's not actually all that warm, and rather windy, it's nice to have some shelter when sitting at the beach, so people rent these little huts you can sit in and sunbathe. When they're not in use, they're locked up with a wooden grate, as seen below. Jeremi thought this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.
And here we are, just before we got back on our bikes to ride to nearby Kranichfeld to catch the train home.