!!!Erntedank

Harvest Festival (German: "Erntedank"), in Austria, a religious 
thanksgiving ceremony at the end of harvest-time, celebrated on a 
Sunday between the end of September and mid-October, where a "harvest 
crown" ("Erntekrone") formed of ears of grain, flowers and fruit is 
taken to church in solemn procession. Mostly the celebration includes 
the blessing of gifts, a parish celebration and/or morning drinking 
festivals (Fruehschoppen).

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The end of harvest often used to be celebrated by the farmers or 
landowners offering a festive meal to their farmhands and seasonal 
workers. The last wagon to be taken to the barn was decorated with 
flowers and ribbons, and a "harvest wreath" was presented to the 
workers by way of reward and as an invitation to merriment. It was not 
until the 1930s that the harvest festival was made part of the 
Catholic calendar of feasts under the influence of the popular liturgy 
movement, and the custom spread throughout Austria after the Second 
World War.

!Literature
H. Fielhauer, Palmesel und Erntekrone, in: H. Fielhauer, 
Volkskunde als demokratische Kulturgeschichtsschreibung, 1987; 
H. M. Wolf, Das Brauchbuch, 1992. - E. G. Lies, Valedri, 
1968; H. Steininger and L. Waltner, Huetereinzug in Perchtoldsdorf, 
1988 (documentary films produced by the OeWF).


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