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Once, a plague ridden Lindworm was said to crawl out from the darkness, and attack the people of Munich. After defeating the dragon, and ridding themselves of the plague, a ceremonial dance has been danced through the city for over 500 years.
Once, a plague ridden Lindworm was said to crawl out from the darkness, and attack the people of Munich. After defeating the dragon, and ridding themselves of the plague, a ceremonial dance has been danced through the city for over 500 years.
When the Black Plague hit Munich in 1349, almost half the population of the city fell victim to it. Some historians claim that the Black Death struck Munich up to 25 times between the mid-14th and late 17th centuries – a period of approximately 350 years. During these years, many legends and tales about what caused it spread.
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Right by the church at the north site of Marienplatz, the New Town Hall still bears the images of the legend of the dragon. This dragon was once said to have brought the plague to Munich with its poisonous breath.
The New Town Hall:Neues Rathaus is a town hall that forms the northern part of Marienplatz in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It hosts the city government including the city council, offices of the mayors and a small portion of the administration. In 1874 the municipality left the Old Town Hall for its new place.
The Wurmeck Corner of New Town Hall
At the western corner of the New Town Hall, a large dragon climbs the neo-Gothic tower called the Wurmeck Tower, first completed in 1906. The three stone reliefs above the fearsome dragon tell the legend. According to this legend, a lindworm crawled out of the earth in the city center, possibly even at this corner of the former marketplace, and spread the plague.
The Lindworm:The Lindworm is a snake- or dragon-like mythical creature in German folklore. The lindworm is usually bipedal, but four or more legs are also possible. It resembles a dragon and is sometimes referred to as a subspecies. It has no wings or only short ones and is mentioned primarily in old Germanic sagas.
In the central panel, the lindworm, or dragon ascends while a citizen falls to the ground, struck by the animal’s poisonous breath, while women and children flee to the sides. On the left, mercenaries and citizens prepare for battle against the dragon, loading a cannon.
The Basilisk:One of the four putti on the Marian column erected in 1638 in Munich’s Marienplatz also commemorates the fight against the plague. The basilisk, a mythical creature, symbolizes the deadly disease. a plague epidemic occurred in Munich around 1635, killing approximately one-third of the population – roughly 7,000 of Munich’s 22,000 inhabitants. // Image
After the Lindworm landed in the market square, courageous Munich residents shot him down with a cannon. Even after the dragon was defeated, no citizen dared venture onto the streets again except one.
Plague Sites Around in Munich: The cross at Franz-Prüller-Straße 12 is probably a so-called plague cross. These were used during plague epidemics to mark houses where all the inhabitants had succumbed to the disease. The cross in the Au district are often said to date back to the plague epidemic that lasted from 1517 to 1519. // Image
Another version of the Lindworm Legend of Munich goes like this:
In the year 1463, a plague-riding lindworm flew in from the Schwabing Gate and settled at the corner of the marketplace. Great terror ensued, and no one knew what to do until the mighty Duke Christoph came galloping down from Grünwald Castle and slew the dreadful creature. This and more of folklore could be found in a 1921 book called: “The Adventures of Duke Christoph.”
The Lively Coopers and their Plague Dance
The coopers are also depicted on the tower. Because the coopers lived and worked in the outer districts of the city due to the unpleasant smell of pitching the barrels, and because they inhaled the essential oils released when pouring the pitch into the barrels, they were better protected than many others.
The coopers were left without work when no one dared to go outside after the plague subsided. One of them, whom tradition calls “Master Martin,” said to himself, “Someone has to make a start,” and resolved “to revive the old coopers’ guild dance and lure people out of their houses.
They were the first to dance through the streets after the Black Death had ravaged the city, to lure people back outside. This dance was called The Schäffler dance and still to this day, the dance performs is about fighting fear and overcoming the plague.
The Schäffler Dance:This is a guild dance of the coopers (barrel makers), who dance prescribed figures to music. It originated in Munich and The Munich Schäffler dance was first documented in 1702. From 1830 onwards, the custom spread beyond Munich through traveling journeyman coopers and is now common in many places in Old Bavaria and Bavarian Swabia. It only performs every 7 years, and the next one would be in 2033. Besides an alleged recurrence of the plague every seven years, the lucky number “7”, and an order from Duke William IV, a schedule of guilds for their customs is also among the possible reasons for the cycle.
There is a legend that claims the dance was first performed in Munich in 1517 during a plague epidemic. It is doubted that there was even a plague epidemic in Munich in 1517, as the death registers for that year do not show any unusually high death rates.
The Dancers:Originally, only unmarried journeyman coopers with impeccable character were allowed to participate in the Schäffler dance; master coopers and their sons were not permitted. Besides the dancers, there are lead dancers, barrel bangers, jesters, and hoop swingers. Apart from the jesters, who wear colorful costumes , everyone is dressed in the cooper’s costume with black shoes, white knee socks, black breeches, a leather apron, a red jacket, and a green cap with a white feather plume.
The legend is attributed to the house name Wurmeck, which refers to the medieval burgher house at Marienplatz 3, located on the same site, that was demolished to make way for the town hall. A list of corner house names from 1725 mentions that a lindworm was attached to the corner house; a relief of Saint George slaying the dragon is documented from a later period.
Or just maybe, it all started with a murderous dragon coming to town, trying to spread the plague in Munich.
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