The 1st edition of the Rummelbooze carving in Neunkirchen attracted great interest. Around 30 children and adults gathered on Saturday, October 29th, at the invitation of the Freie Wähler Neunkirchen e.V. association, in beautiful autumn weather in the courtyard of the Alt Backstubb. There, they revived the Saarland tradition. Almost 40 Rummelbooze in various shapes and sizes were carved into spooky faces.
With their own spoons and knives, the turnips from Marienhof in Winterbach were eagerly hollowed out and given faces. However, since the fodder beets were quite tough inside, Steven Posse and Tobias Naumann had already supported the effort in advance by using their cordless screwdrivers to hollow out the hard inner beet flesh. Some adults and especially the children carved a Rummelbooz for the first time and were enthusiastic about this tradition. Childhood memories were especially awakened among the parents and adult participants. Not only were the club members overwhelmed by the great interest, but the participants were also visibly excited about the Rummel carving. Even the Saarland influencer Captain Maggi, aka Manuel Neu, stopped by and enthusiastically joined in the carving.
The 1st Chairman of the Free Voters Neunkirchen e.V., Brandon-Lee Posse, commented with satisfaction:
“Thanks to all participants, customs and tradition are very important to us, and it is close to our hearts to revive them. Today, we succeeded in doing so with great enthusiasm.” For this reason, the Rummel carving is intended to become a permanent fixture in the calendar and will take place again next year.
The association had been planning the campaign for many years, but the COVID-19 pandemic and finding farmers who still cultivate mangel beets complicated the planning. The search for the beets was not easy, as many farmers now only grow corn as animal feed instead of mangel beets.
