D'Éimaischen
Digital IKI
To limit the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, this year's edition of the traditional Éimaischen held on the Marché-aux-Poissons has unfortunately been cancelled.
This event is listed as intangible cultural heritage in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Intangible cultural heritage is also known as living cultural heritage thanks to the people and associations keeping these traditions alive and providing us with a sense of identity and continuity.
With this in mind, the Comité Alstad, the Luxembourg Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture, the National Audiovisual Centre, the City of Luxembourg’s Photothèque and the Institut d’Histoire de l'Université du Luxembourg are aiming to stage a digital version of the event as part of the 25th anniversary of Luxembourg City being recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
To make this event a success, we need your help! If you have any videos or images of previous editions of the Éimaischen, please send them and allow us to publish them on www.iki.lu, www.vdl.lu and the social media pages of the City of Luxembourg, the Comité Alstad as well as the Luxembourg Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO. Please send your videos or images to comite.alstad@pt.lu or guyjourdain12@gmail.com
You can order your ornamental Péckvillercher (whistling birds) and other memorabilia via the Comité Alstad's online shop until Easter Monday. Also, don't forget to share a photo of your favourite Péckvillchen on Monday, 13 April using the following hashtags: #MyPéckvillchen #MäiPéckvillchen #DigitalÉimaischen #DigitalIKI
Visit us on Facebook for regular updates and take part in the event! Also, do the Éimaischen quiz here.
The Éimaischen
One of the most cherished traditions by Luxembourgers is the "Éimaischen" (Emmaus festival), an old potters market which takes place on Easter Monday at the Fish Market, in the heart of the old town of Luxembourg-City. Due to its unique festive atmosphere, it is for centuries the meeting place for thousands of Luxembourgers and visitors from abroad. Nowadays stalls of potters ("Aulebäcker") and artists alternate with displays with sugar pasted baked almonds and walnuts and grilled sausages stalls. But the Éimaischen is above all a market for pottery, foremost "Péckvillercher" (whistle-birds) and all kinds of toys and terracotta utensils.
The origins of the fair, traditionally a craft market for potters that became over the centuries a market-fair, are dating back to the fourteenth century and we must look for the origins in a religious tradition, the medieval liturgical drama. One can imagine that at St. Michael's Church, the spiritual and cultural center of the old town, was presented on Easter Monday the "game of Emmaus" or a paschal mystery, leading to a fair-market on the steps of St. Michael, the "old market", whose tradition of Éimaischen perpetuates this memory.
On the other hand, the Church of St. Michael was also the spiritual center of numerous brotherhoods, such as that of St. Thiébaut, the brotherhood of the potters or "Aulebäcker", who were celebrating there every year on Easter Monday a holy mass on the feast of their saint patron.
That day, potters from the village of Nospelt, where the production of pottery is attested since 1458, took advantage of this traditional market to sell much of their annual production. The whistle-birds or "Péckvillercher" remain since centuries the key object of the Éimaischen - formerly beside the water whistles "Spriddelcher" or censers "Léinefässercher" / "Weirachen".
At the end of the eighteenth century the tradition of the Éimaischen gradually disappeared until its resurrection on April 16th, 1827, when, following the authorization of the aldermen of Luxembourg, the Éimaischen was officially established on the Fishmarket square, where generations of Nospelt potters continued to be traditionnally present until 1915, when the last potter had tuned on for the last time his oven. After the interruption of World War I, the Éimaischen however continued to take place in Luxembourg city, but gradually disappeared.
Thanks to the initiative of a group of personalities from the old town, a "Committee for the organization of the E'meischen" succeded in reviving the Éimaischen since 1937. For over 80 years, this association which changed its name into "Comité Alstad" in the fifties, continues tirelessly to ensure the destiny of this cultural heritage.
The annual pottery market became over the years an old-city-funfair. However, many Luxembourg and international potters and artists present nowadays at the Éimaischen their creations of "Péckvillercher" in Terracotta, Faience, Glass – and since 2018, in plastic computer 3D printing designed by students of the Lyçée Techique des Arts et Métiers de Luxembourg !
For more information : https://comitealstad.lu
To limit the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, this year's edition of the traditional Éimaischen held on the Marché-aux-Poissons has unfortunately been cancelled.
This event is listed as intangible cultural heritage in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Intangible cultural heritage is also known as living cultural heritage thanks to the people and associations keeping these traditions alive and providing us with a sense of identity and continuity.
With this in mind, the Comité Alstad, the Luxembourg Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture, the National Audiovisual Centre, the City of Luxembourg’s Photothèque and the Institut d’Histoire de l'Université du Luxembourg are aiming to stage a digital version of the event as part of the 25th anniversary of Luxembourg City being recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
To make this event a success, we need your help! If you have any videos or images of previous editions of the Éimaischen, please send them and allow us to publish them on www.iki.lu, www.vdl.lu and the social media pages of the City of Luxembourg, the Comité Alstad as well as the Luxembourg Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO. Please send your videos or images to comite.alstad@pt.lu or guyjourdain12@gmail.com
You can order your ornamental Péckvillercher (whistling birds) and other memorabilia via the Comité Alstad's online shop until Easter Monday. Also, don't forget to share a photo of your favourite Péckvillchen on Monday, 13 April using the following hashtags: #MyPéckvillchen #MäiPéckvillchen #DigitalÉimaischen #DigitalIKI
Visit us on Facebook for regular updates and take part in the event! Also, do the Éimaischen quiz here.
The Éimaischen
One of the most cherished traditions by Luxembourgers is the "Éimaischen" (Emmaus festival), an old potters market which takes place on Easter Monday at the Fish Market, in the heart of the old town of Luxembourg-City. Due to its unique festive atmosphere, it is for centuries the meeting place for thousands of Luxembourgers and visitors from abroad. Nowadays stalls of potters ("Aulebäcker") and artists alternate with displays with sugar pasted baked almonds and walnuts and grilled sausages stalls. But the Éimaischen is above all a market for pottery, foremost "Péckvillercher" (whistle-birds) and all kinds of toys and terracotta utensils.
The origins of the fair, traditionally a craft market for potters that became over the centuries a market-fair, are dating back to the fourteenth century and we must look for the origins in a religious tradition, the medieval liturgical drama. One can imagine that at St. Michael's Church, the spiritual and cultural center of the old town, was presented on Easter Monday the "game of Emmaus" or a paschal mystery, leading to a fair-market on the steps of St. Michael, the "old market", whose tradition of Éimaischen perpetuates this memory.
On the other hand, the Church of St. Michael was also the spiritual center of numerous brotherhoods, such as that of St. Thiébaut, the brotherhood of the potters or "Aulebäcker", who were celebrating there every year on Easter Monday a holy mass on the feast of their saint patron.
That day, potters from the village of Nospelt, where the production of pottery is attested since 1458, took advantage of this traditional market to sell much of their annual production. The whistle-birds or "Péckvillercher" remain since centuries the key object of the Éimaischen - formerly beside the water whistles "Spriddelcher" or censers "Léinefässercher" / "Weirachen".
At the end of the eighteenth century the tradition of the Éimaischen gradually disappeared until its resurrection on April 16th, 1827, when, following the authorization of the aldermen of Luxembourg, the Éimaischen was officially established on the Fishmarket square, where generations of Nospelt potters continued to be traditionnally present until 1915, when the last potter had tuned on for the last time his oven. After the interruption of World War I, the Éimaischen however continued to take place in Luxembourg city, but gradually disappeared.
Thanks to the initiative of a group of personalities from the old town, a "Committee for the organization of the E'meischen" succeded in reviving the Éimaischen since 1937. For over 80 years, this association which changed its name into "Comité Alstad" in the fifties, continues tirelessly to ensure the destiny of this cultural heritage.
The annual pottery market became over the years an old-city-funfair. However, many Luxembourg and international potters and artists present nowadays at the Éimaischen their creations of "Péckvillercher" in Terracotta, Faience, Glass – and since 2018, in plastic computer 3D printing designed by students of the Lyçée Techique des Arts et Métiers de Luxembourg !
For more information : https://comitealstad.lu
