Vegesacker Matjes Day with a varied supporting program on June 17th

The first herring of the new year is said to be the tastiest. Guests can find out whether that’s true on Saturday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Vegesacker Matjestag. The event, at which everything revolves around the sweet and salty herring, is organized by Vegesack Marketing, along with the supporting programme.

History of the port town

Matjes is the Vegesack’s favorite snack, lunch and dinner – at least that’s what the Vegesack Marketing association claims, and immediately provides an explanation: “It’s not just related to the history of the former port town, which was Europe’s largest herring fishing company in the 19th century and up until 70 years ago it was the port of a huge fleet of herring loggers. No, the maritime aroma of the fish specialty is simply in the blood of the fish connoisseurs of the north of Bremen.” So it’s no wonder, according to Vegesack Marketing, that the start of the new season is celebrated extensively over and over again.

Vegebüdel brings the barrels

At 10 a.m., the “Vegebüdel” barge docks at the Vegesack pier to bring the first barrels of new matjes. The crew should be greeted with all honors and barrels should be handed over to the harbor master and the boy from Vegesack. Accompanied by musician and storyteller Jonny Glut and a group of traditionally dressed herring fishermen, minstrels and the cutter pullers of the “MTV-Nautilus”, the herring barrel is to be rolled along the Maritime Meile to the Utkiek.

Official representative takes Matjesdiplom

Then, at around 11 a.m., the matjes diploma follows, which the mayor or a representative is supposed to take. Once this task has been mastered and the Matjes has been found to be good, it can finally be given out and eaten. With musical accompaniment from the Sailors’ Choir Vegesack, the matjes season is officially opened. Another important event of the Vegesacker Matjes day is the presentation of the Vegesack herring spoon by the local authority manager Heiko Dornstedt to the local history museum Schloss Schönebeck.

LED wall and music

The Chamber of Labor and the Economic Development Bremen as part of the cultural series “Lux Freilicht” from 12 p.m. on an LED wall at Utkiek “Seestücke”. There are films that document the herring catch, as well as silent films that were made at the Vegesack harbor birthday last year. There is also “music from the sea and sounds from the sea”: pianist Julia Vera Rodatz presents piano and synthesizer pieces.

Down to business

The iconic spoon

It is a replica of an allegedly historic spoon from the early 17th century. This spoon was made from the oak wood of the first bank reinforcement on the lower in Bremen and is 400 years old. The wood has the age of the port of Vegesack. According to legend, this spoon was carried on board as a talisman by the herring trawlers of Vegesacker on their Buisen (seaworthy ship developed by the Dutch) and later by loggers when they left the harbor here. The shape of the spoon could differ from ship to ship. The spoon recreated here resembles the shape of a fish with eyes wide open at the tip. Such spoons were also often pulled behind the ships in order to attract swarms of herring. At that time, the fishermen did not have sonar devices that could show them the nearby school of herring. Here the fishermen had to rely on their own experiences and lucky charms.

When the ships left the port, a man from the crew stood at the front of the ship and pointed an oversized wooden spoon down the Weser towards the sea. This symbolized the wish for a successful herring catch and then returning with a spoon filled with fish. At the “Utkiek”, the promontory at the mouth of the port of Vegesack in the Weser, the women and families stood and called out their good wishes to the fishermen for a plentiful catch and, above all, a safe and healthy return home.

The wooden spoon had a privileged place on the ship’s foremast throughout the fishing voyage, which each sailor touched with his left index finger as he passed it, no matter how many times during the day. This is reported in his memoirs by herring logger captain Frido Brockenburg (1861-1934), who was recently found in an attic in one of the captain’s houses on Wilmannsberg in downtown Vegesack.

The fishermen were considered very superstitious, so this ceremony with the wooden spoon at the exit and during the fishing trips was based on such a myth. The spoon is considered a lucky charm. In addition, it is a symbol of the desire for always sufficiently filled plates and yields from the field, but also from hunting and fishing. A full spoon means prosperity and a full stomach. Likewise, the spoon can be interpreted as a symbol of peace: Whoever eats with a spoon must lay down all weapons and cease all fighting.

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Vegesacker Matjes Day with a varied supporting program on June 17th

History of the port town

Vegebüdel brings the barrels

Official representative takes Matjesdiplom

LED wall and music

Down to business

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