Viticulture in Harxheim – grape harvest in former times
In earlier times, the grape harvest was exclusively manual. This was arduous and took a lot of time. But there were also the beautiful sides.
In order to start the “autumn”, that is the grape harvest, a municipal council decision was needed. The announcement was accordingly rung out by the village servant. The harvest time was announced every day by the big church bell ringing “out and home”. Outside this period, the vineyards were closed. At lunchtime, the hardworking palm readers did not go home, but stayed in the vineyards and had a communal imbs ibber Unnere, that is, a meal at the noon hour (in Rheinhessen “im/ibber Unnere” is lunchtime approximately between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).
Remembrance of the grape harvest of the winery Albert Happel on October 26, 1927
Bildquelle: Dr. Günter Happel
Margarete Deiß 1960 in the grape harvest
Image source: Christel Deiß
The 11 o’clock and the 1 o’clock ringing used to be indicated by the church bell. Imbs were served with jacket potatoes (Rheinhessian “Gequellte”), sausage and quark (Rheinhessian “soft cheese”). During the harvest, the vineyard owner liked to sing a little song with everyone to prevent readers from snacking on the grapes. In order to catch as much as possible each “Pergelche” (a single berry), bowls were gladly used.
At the end of the harvest, all the winegrowers and helpers went through the village with the last cart, preceded by a cart with the “Ladfass”. On this sat a special symbolic figure, “the Herbstmuck”. This was represented by a reader holding a jug of new wine. All readers met afterwards for the “Final Imbs”.
Remembrance of the autumn closing 1937 of the historic winery Peter Lotz
Image source: Christel Deiß
References:
Excerpt from the article by Reßler, Tanja (2017): Viticulture in Harxheim. In: Ortsgemeinde Harxheim (ed.): Festbuch 2017. Harxheim. Eintausendzweihundertfünfzig. Selzen. S. 108 – 110.
