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Serious Nonsense : Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage / William W. Donner.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Keystone BooksPublisher: University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2022]Copyright date: ©2016Description: 1 online resource (208 p.) : 42 illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780271077222
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 305.893/10748 23
LOC classification:
  • F160.G3 D66 2016eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. The People and Language That the Versammlinge Celebrate -- 2. Making Tradition: The Origins and Development of the Versammlinge -- 3. "Let Us Deitsche Be What We Are": The Structure of Versammling Events -- 4. Theatricality: Performing Tradition -- 5. The Message of the Versammlinge: The Reverend Clarence Rahn and the Main Speech -- 6. Region and Nation: Contexts for the Versammling Movement -- 7. The Future of Pennsylvania Germans and Their Versammlinge -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Versammlinge-community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture-are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language. Some, the "groundhog lodges," feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do not. These unique meetings, expressions of a distinctive ethnic identity in the context of a rapidly changing society, have become a traditional mainstay among Pennsylvania Germans who have worked to preserve their language and culture into the twenty-first century. Serious Nonsense introduces readers to Pennsylvania German cultural practices that tourists rarely see and that outsiders, including most scholars, rarely learn about. The book explores the origins of the versammlinge and details the practice's significance since the 1930s, when the first meetings of the Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges were held. Much as they did then, versammlinge today follow a pattern of prayers, patriotism, and speeches extolling values associated with Pennsylvania German identity, as well as theatrical and oral events that humorously contrast a simpler past with a more complex and confusing present. And the groundhog lodges feature one Pennsylvania German tradition that has become familiar in popular culture: groundhog weather prognostication.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780271077222

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. The People and Language That the Versammlinge Celebrate -- 2. Making Tradition: The Origins and Development of the Versammlinge -- 3. "Let Us Deitsche Be What We Are": The Structure of Versammling Events -- 4. Theatricality: Performing Tradition -- 5. The Message of the Versammlinge: The Reverend Clarence Rahn and the Main Speech -- 6. Region and Nation: Contexts for the Versammling Movement -- 7. The Future of Pennsylvania Germans and Their Versammlinge -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index

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http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Versammlinge-community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture-are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language. Some, the "groundhog lodges," feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do not. These unique meetings, expressions of a distinctive ethnic identity in the context of a rapidly changing society, have become a traditional mainstay among Pennsylvania Germans who have worked to preserve their language and culture into the twenty-first century. Serious Nonsense introduces readers to Pennsylvania German cultural practices that tourists rarely see and that outsiders, including most scholars, rarely learn about. The book explores the origins of the versammlinge and details the practice's significance since the 1930s, when the first meetings of the Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges were held. Much as they did then, versammlinge today follow a pattern of prayers, patriotism, and speeches extolling values associated with Pennsylvania German identity, as well as theatrical and oral events that humorously contrast a simpler past with a more complex and confusing present. And the groundhog lodges feature one Pennsylvania German tradition that has become familiar in popular culture: groundhog weather prognostication.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 31. Jan 2022)