This past weekend members of our club travelled to Franklin Square, New York for the 100th anniversary celebration of SVV Original Enzian.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and the day started with a banner blessing at St. Catherine of Siena Church. There were almost fifteen club flags in attendance including ours. After the banner blessing, we proceeded from the church to Plattduetsche park which was about a 10-minute walk and that is where the evening festivities took place.
The night began with a parade of flags and national anthems. Each club in attendance received a banner to hang from their flag. The Spitze band kept the dance floor full all night with great music.
Ehrentanze kicked off with the hosts Original Enzian kinder and adult groups performing. Shortly thereafter other attending clubs did their own honor dances. Our club danced a joint Ehrentanz with members from the Enzian Volkstanzgruppe Delaware, Bayern Verein Newark, SG Edelweiss St. Paul, and Edelweiss Chicago.
On Sunday, there was a Frühschoppen at Plattduetsche Park in the Biergarten. They had a large buffet spread which included all the typical items you would expect; Weiss Bier, Weiss Wurst, imported German pretzels, and many more delicious foods. Once again, we had musical entertainment from Spitze. About mid-point in the afternoon after everyone had a few beers in them, all of a sudden, a fingerhakeln table appeared and this started some friendly competition. For anyone that doesn’t know the fingerhakeln is an old alpine sport, played mainly in Bavaria and Austria. Both opponents sit opposite each other at a table and try to pull the opponent by the finger. Through physical strength, overcoming the pain of stretching and a corresponding technique, the enemy can be defeated. As a rule, the opponents hook the middle finger into a leather strap or ring. The object is to pull the ring towards your body until your opponent either let’s go or you pull him across the table.
Looking back at the weekend I think everyone in attendance can say they had a great time. All weekend long everyone was happy and smiling because it’s been a long time since we’ve been together for an event of this magnitude. A lot of credit has to go to the host club, Original Enzian. You could tell this weekend took a lot of preparation and they did a really great job.
Congratulations on 100 years!
Sasha Malofiy Jr.
