The Großauer Treffen in Denkendorf in September 2014 was a day full of impressions, experiences, encounters with old friends and an entertainment program that was well worth seeing. On stage, a group of young people and children performed the traditional star polka and a modern, lively dance. The aim of the performance was to get young people with Großau roots excited about the first Großau youth meeting and, as it turned out, it was a complete success!
Our organization team, with Dagi Baatz, Tanja Vogelhuber, Rainer Krauss, Mathias Krauss and Harald Krauss, quickly found suitable accommodation for the weekend from 10-12 April 2015. On Friday afternoon, the 44 participants aged between 14 and 33 arrived at the Protestant youth hostel in Zaberfeld.
Under the well-known motto “Food connects”, the evening opened with a delicious, freshly cooked dinner. Then it was time to get to know each other. During the get-together, each participant was asked to say a few words about themselves. An important feature of the evening was an aerial view of the streets of Großau. Each young person was asked to try to mark their parents’ house on the map, and one or the other quickly realized that the person opposite them in the circle would have been their neighbor today. This immediately broke the ice and we were able to start the eventful weekend together. We wanted to end the Friday evening with a cozy get-together and what better place to do this than around a big campfire. Equipped with guitars and songbooks, we sang everything from “Red Roses” and “Country Roads” to the Großau anthem “Un bīden Åwern des Zabeng”.
Saturday morning was to begin with a large, sumptuous breakfast buffet, naturally with everything your heart desires. The morning was largely free to choose your own program. Whether it was a small football tournament, a volleyball match or a walk through the vineyards of Zaberfeld, the young people clearly had a lot of fun. At lunchtime, as usual for Transylvanians, there were freshly grilled mici and, for fans of American cuisine, homemade burgers from our grill master Mathias Baatz. Sated by the fabulous food, a big surprise followed. To pass on a piece of home to the young people, everyone was given a small copy of the almost 200-year-old roof battens from the south tower of the historic Großau fortified church, with the saying “The only thing lost is what you give up” branded on it with an iron. In order to try out for themselves how to burn such lettering into a piece of wood, everyone could mark their own copy with the original branding iron, on a slightly younger piece of wood of course.
Sport was on the agenda for the majority of the group in the afternoon. A few rounds of dodgeball kept everyone amused. Regardless of the situation, the young people created a great atmosphere in the team and everyone was sociable, respectful and self-reflective!
The big party on Saturday evening was coming up soon, so we restyled our hair, touched up our make-up and unpacked our party clothes – the evening could begin! With our Großauer band “Schlager-Taxi”, we danced to the most popular songs from the pop scene as well as new, modern songs until the early hours of the morning.
But even the most beautiful and fun evening comes to an end at some point and, as everyone knows, “the early bird catches the worm”. So everyone gathered around the large dining table one last time in the morning to fortify themselves for their departure and review the weekend.
An exciting weekend full of joy, many experiences, new friendships and the realization that a community like this cannot fall apart even after many decades.
Dirk Vogelhuber