May Meeting in Review

 In May, over 100 of our members attended the monthly meeting.  We met at Ruxer Farms where Bob Ruxer presented a very interesting program on the history of the horse farm and on the daily activities involved in the raising and training of horses.

Ruxer Farms, home to more World Champion horses than any other place in the United States, started in the horse business in 1956 when Alvin Ruxer and Hilda Ruxer went to a local farm sale and purchased a single American Saddlebred mare.  From this start many successful horses were bred and trained on the farm including World Champion Supreme Sultan who sired more world champion horses than any other horse and is buried at the Kentucky Horse Park along with Triple Crown Winner, Man of War.  Supreme Sultan’s father, Valley View Supreme was the first and still only three-gaited stallion in the world.

With one of his horses by his side, Bob shared with the group information on a horse’s natural instincts and how to mitigate them in the training of the horse.  He relayed how an individual weighing less than 20% of a 1,000-pound horse can use stimulus and rewards in the training regimen.  Bob also showed the characteristics that judges are looking for in a championship horse.  He then compared the differences between a Saddlebred horse and his daughter Chelsea’s pet Arabian horse that Chelsea rode demonstrating some of the Arabian’s characteristics.  A question and answer period ended the program.

The evening continued at the VFW with a meal and brief announcements from the officers.

Kaffee Klatsch

The next Kaffee Klatsch will be held in September.  Details will be in the August newsletter.  If you would like to host the next Kaffee Klatsch, please contact Marie Hendry at 695-4005.

Upcoming Events – Mark Your Calendars!

Strassenfest

Date:    Thursday, August 2 – Sunday, August 5

Please review the work schedule that is included with the newsletter.  If you have not yet signed up and would like to volunteer, please contact Nancy Prechtel.

September German Club Meeting

Date:    Saturday, September 8
            Family Picnic / Golf Scramble

Time:    TBD

Place:   TBD

The specifics for this meeting are still being finalized and will be communicated in the August newsletter.

The club will provide meat, beer and soft drinks for the meal.  Members with last names A-P are asked to bring a salad, vegetable or appetizer.  Last names Q-Z are asked to bring a dessert.

Date:    September 15 and 16

Cost:    $96.00 per person

(includes lodging and transportation)

If you are interested in participating, please contact Jackie Braunecker at Jackie’s Travel (482-7158) to make your reservation by August 10th.

Stammtisch

Date:    Tuesday, July 31

Time:    7:00 PM

Place:   Schnitzelbank Restaurant

Excursion to German-American Sites in Cincinnati and Covington

Sunday, July 29 the Indiana German Heritage Society will sponsor a visit to Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine, and Covington, MainStrasse Village, and the German Heritage Museum. The tour is arranged and guided by Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Director of the German-American Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati and President of the Society for German-American Studies. We will meet at St. Mary's Church in Over-the-Rhine. Note that the times given are Cincinnati time.

Cincinnati is 1 hour ahead of Indiana! Please, be there at 10 a.m. Indiana time.

11 a.m.: Old St. Mary's Church:

http://www.oldstmarys.org/introduction/index.html

German mass with English-language sermon, followed by tour of the church (with Rita Vosseberg) and historic sites in Over-the-Rhine area.

1 p.m.: Lunch at Wertheim's Restaurant in MainStrasse German Village, Covington, KY, followed by walk through the Village.

4 p.m. German Heritage Museum http://www.gacl.org/museum.html (with Regina &

Manfred Schnetzer)

5:30 p.m. Supper at the Bier Haus in Miamitown, off of I-74

To get to Old St. Mary's take I-74 to I-75, then drive south and take the 7th St. exit into downtown. From there drive to Main St., turn left and go north to 13th St., and turn left and the church is there at 13th and Clay St.

Over-the-Rhine: As Germans arrived in large numbers in the 1850s, the Miami and Erie Canal received the nickname "Rhine" and the area on the other side of the Canal, where most of the Germans had settled, was called Over-the-Rhine. In 1850 there lived app. 43,000 of the 115,436 inhabitants of Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine, bounded west and south by the Canal (today Central Parkway) and north and east by McMicken Avenue, Liberty Street and Hunt Street (today Reading Road). Besides St. Mary's (Marienkirche) we will view the August von Willich home at 1419 Main St., the Germania Building on Walnut St. and the Hecker Monument in Washington Park. See "Over-the-Rhine --- Ueber'm Rhein"

http://ucaswww.mcm.uc.edu/german/otr/otrde.htm

For a map and tour of Over-the Rhine see

http://ucaswww.mcm.uc.edu/german/otr/project.htm

MainStrasse German Village in Covington: Centered around Covington's old German area, it is not only a historic district, but a community where people live and raise their families. It is also a collection of unique shops and restaurants set in a neighborhood of parks and homes of the mid to late 1800s. See

http://www.mainstrasse.org/History_and_Monument_Information.htm

German Heritage Museum: The Feist Log House was originally built, app. 1840, by German immigrants that farmed on the Ohio River. It was donated to the German-American Citizens League (Buerger Liga) by descendants of the Feist family, was disassembled and brought to West Fork Park in Monfort Heights. It has been rebuilt and restored and focuses especially on representing the long history of German-Americans in the Greater Cincinnati area. In addition, displays showcase the activities of the twenty German-American Societies in the Greater Cincinnati area, currently under the umbrella of The Buerger Liga (Citizens League).

For more information contact Ruth Reichmann at 812 988-2866 or reichman@indiana.edu

German Recipe of the Month

Rum and Fruit Crock (Rumtopf)

At the beginning of June place one pound of strawberries into a ceramic crock, add one cup of sugar, and then add rum to cover the berries.

Cover crock and place in a cool place

.Each month add a new fruit or berry in season, following the same formula as for the strawberries.  (The fruits must be covered by rum at all times.)

By Erntedankfest (early October) the Rumtopf is ready and is perfect as a topping for ice cream after the Thanksgiving meal.

Summer Solstice (Sonnewende)

In Germany the date of the summer solstice (an approximation everywhere) coincides with Johannistag (St. John’s Day), June 24, when it is the custom to light a solstice fire.  Gathering of wood for the Johannisfeuer (St. John’s fire) takes place following morning church services on the Sunday prior to Johannistag when young men gather in the town or village square for a march from house to house.  The leader of the march carries a small tree brightly decorated with ribbons and fresh flowers; others play musical instruments; some pull small wagons to transport collected wood.  Young children run after them, excited, and the townspeople look out of windows as this merry little parade winds its way through the streets.

Of course, the Johannissangers (St. John’s singing group) always receive a gift of wood, although fun-loving inhabitants might make them wait, thus requiring them to go on singing and begging until given some.  When they finally receive their wood, they reply with a song of thanks.

When the fire is lit in the evening, the townspeople sit around it singing songs; later, when the fire has died down, boys select their favorite girls and together they jump over the hot embers.  Over the centuries, Johannistag has taken on an aura of mystique and spawned several superstitions.  In the old days, the town’s elders acted as judges to determine who jumped the highest, the significance being that the parents of the highest jumper would be blessed with the tallest grain crop.  It was also believed that whoever gathered the healing herb of Johanniskraut (St. John’s Wort) and dried it for use as tea leaves would stay healthy the whole year.  From Bad Reichenall at the foothills of the Alps, an old cookbook gives a recipe for Neunkrauterkuchlein (nine-herb cake).  The number nine was regarded in folklore as being holy, capable of warding off the devil, witches, bad weather, and the evil eye.  Fresh greenery such as nettle leaves, elderberry leaves, dandelion leaves, or sorrel leaves are dipped into a pancake batter and fried. June is also the time to start a Rumtopf (rum and fruit crock), and it was believed that if a person’s Rumtopf was not one quarter full by Johannistag, they would be blighted with bad harvests of summer and fall fruits.

Want to Know what your German Documents and Letters Are?

Saturday, August 18th and 25th: IGHS and Palatines to America, Indiana Chapter, are sponsoring a free session for the public to bring in old script German documents or letters for identification.  Drs. Hoyt, Grossman, Dillon and Reichmann, who read German Handschrift, will be on hand in the Max Kade Room of the Athenaeum, Indianapolis.  Exact translations will not be provided, but a general understanding of the document will be given.

Information: E. Dillon (317-861-5831; office (317-464-9004

German Birthday Songs

Hoch soll er leben,
Hoch soll er leben,
drei al hoch,
Hoch, Hoch, Hoch

Veil Glueck und viel Segen
Auf all Deinen Wegen,
Gesundheit und Frohsinn
Sei auch mit dabei.

Membership Dues

It’s that time of year again!  Please submit your dues as soon as possible by completing and sending in the following form.  Thanks!

SEND TO:  Jasper Deutscher Verein, ATTN:  Rita Egler, P.O. Box 15, Jasper, IN  47546

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