This article by Ray Spitzenberger appeared first in IMAGES for August 19, 2021, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.
As is true of so many other annual festivals and celebrations this year, the Wendish Fest in Serbin, Texas, is ON after lying dormant during the height of COVID. A longtime member of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society, I am pleased to report that the 33rd Annual Wendish Fest will be held in Serbin on September 26, 2021. Many popular ethnic celebrations are held all over Texas most years, but this one means the most to me personally. I’m a Texas Wend.
Over the years, my non-Wendish friends have joked about my excessive ethnic pride. And, when my cousin, Chuck Dube and his wife were involved in producing the Wendish Newsletter, Chuck asked me to write a column for the publication, discoursing on why we Wends were so obsessed with being Wendish. My lighthearted conclusion in the column was “It must be the noodles!” Eventually I wrote a book with that as its title.
The book came after I wrote several more newsletter columns on the subject, and I decided it wasn’t the noodles, but maybe the pickles. I didn’t mean to sound flippant, because flippancy is not a characteristic of Wends. I would say that my explanations were lighthearted rather than flippant, and lightheartedness is a characteristic of the Wends.
I have always kept my Wendish musings lighthearted, because we Wends were not famous for anything, unless a group of people can be famous for being humble. As Slavic nomads, we migrated to Saxony, Germany, over 1,600 years ago, settling there because we didn’t have a homeland of our own like the Czechs, Poles, Russians, and other Slavs. Some Wendish historians indicate that fifty percent of us were serfs, owned by Germans, that is, until serfdom was abolished in Germany in the 1700’s.
After serfdom ended, many of us became paid peasants, not allowed to hold any office (such as mayor or councilman), and it was very difficult for us to own property. We were forbidden to hold our church services (and we were very devout) using the Wendish language. But we did anyway. Such subjugation made us stronger, and we not only survived but thrived, and even Hitler could not wipe out Wendish culture and language.
In the 1800’s, we came to Texas, for economic opportunities, but also, and mainly, for religious freedom. Tradition says that Wendish brides wore black wedding dresses to remind themselves of the great hardships they faced on the Texas frontier. So, we remained an humble people. And I suppose that is why we are so fond of our heritage.
And, like most other human beings who share the same human spirit, amid our firm devoutness was a great sense of joviality. We liked to play polkas and sing, dance to polkas and waltzes, drink a little beer, play skat and other family games, and share conviviality.
The annual Wendish Fest gives folks a chance to experience that joviality, to share that conviviality, and to express that devoutness. This year’s musical entertainment will be provided by the Shiner Hobo Band, my favorite Texas polka band, a group that has a blend of both Slavic and German sounds, and that played at my youngest daughter’s wedding in Sengelmann Hall. There will be washer-pitching and a coffee cake bake-off for adults, and stick-horse races and coloring contests for children.
Of course, there’s lots of Tex-Wend foods, both for serious eaters and for light snackers. Eager-to-learn folks like me always enjoy the demonstrations, — especially (for me) the rug looming, the homemade soap making, preparing sauerkraut, basket weaving, and broom making. My Wendish great grandfather used to make brooms to sell, along with the books he peddled via horse and buggy all over Lee County. He made both regular brooms of broom-straw on a stick and besoms, yard brooms fashioned out of twigs for sweeping the pea-gravel which used to grace folks’ yards rather than carpet grass. We must not forget the noodle-making demonstrations, — you can’t have a Wend Fest without Wendish noodles.
Finally, in keeping with the devoutness of a Wend’s inner being, the Fest invites you to an English worship service at 8:30 a.m. and a German service at 10:30 a.m., both held in our historic, beautiful St. Paul Lutheran Church.
I’ve never met a Wend I didn’t like. But then I am one, and I’m kin to many. I hope you’ll like us too when you come out to the Wend Fest this year.
-o-
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired WCJC teacher, a retired LCMS pastor, and author of two books, It Must Be the Noodles and Open Prairies.