The normal Spreewald winter

What today is perceived as “catastrophic” winter weather used to accompany the lives of the people of the Spreewald. The winter was full of privation and was inevitably accepted. Nevertheless, people longed for the end of winter. The traditional custom of winter driving is still celebrated today, such as Zampern and Fastnacht (Zapust).

The remote location of many Spreewald farmsteads may seem idyllic at first glance and from today’s perspective, but those who lived there had to reckon with restrictions all year round. The people of the Spreewald were largely self-sufficient and learned to manage their supplies and survive long winters. Nobody drove to work in the town; it was only later, from 1900, that the Spreewald Railway provided the first transport link that enabled Spreewald residents to work outside the town.

Neighborly help was omnipresent, after all, anyone could find themselves in a situation where they needed help. The short days and long evenings were dedicated to what had been left lying around: Repairing tools, knitting nets, weaving baskets and brooms. The women met to spin, to spin together and to do handicrafts. Every year, a man from the Spreewald kept his living room heated in return for help with the harvest in the fall. On the one hand, this saved heating material and served to maintain social structures within the village community.

Until the middle of the last century, drought and flooding determined the rhythm of life, and winters could be an enormous burden for humans and animals. The haystacks in the meadows were fodder stores that were difficult to reach in frosty weather, but easier when there was a thick layer of ice: hay was reloaded onto sledges and usually transported to the farms in weekly rations.
Prolonged frost also made the inner Spreewald more accessible, so that firewood could be procured. Over the centuries, the people of the Spreewald have learned to live with these conditions, to deal with them and to use them to their advantage.
There were extremely difficult phases of life, such as the transitional periods in winter: When ice formed, barge travel was no longer possible, and sledges could not yet be used, sometimes for days on end. This is why clever and long-term food storage was vital for humans and animals. The same thing happened again – sometimes several times – when the thaw set in. There was no weather forecast with accompanying severe weather warnings, only the experiences of the older people in particular were taken into account when planning supplies. Until the 1960s, children were still unable to get to school in such weather, and visits to the doctor were not possible in either direction at short notice. Even funerals had to be postponed, as there were no cemeteries in the inner Spreewald anyway.

Unlike today, the people of the Spreewald used to be less or hardly dependent on external food supplies: Flour was available in the Spreewald mills, sugar not at all or only as honey. What was to be eaten was usually available on the farms or was produced, and in times of plenty was shared with the neighbors, for example during home slaughtering. This saved extensive stockpiling with the associated risks, and freshly slaughtered meat came back from the neighbors to the same extent.

A meagre but orderly life, not entirely free from the whims of nature, but always as far as possible in harmony. And there were also Sunday pleasures, such as the occasional fair-weather outing at coffee time in a boat or a sleigh ride: well wrapped up in blankets and furs and equipped with a hot water bottle, the father of the family pushed his wife or children across the ice.

Spreewälder remembered

Anna Jedro (Leipe): “We girls spent one evening a week in the Spinnte in winter. We often rented a room from the farmer Koalick and met there to knit. As thanks for the warm room, we later helped him with the potato harvest. It became very problematic when the snow and ice prevented us from taking a boat trip on the due date, either because it was starting to freeze or the ice was already melting but no longer supported a sledge. The push sledge was used in the depths of winter in safe ice conditions and was even faster than a barge in Lübbenau thanks to strong men taking turns. In January 1947, I was taken to Lübbenau in the pusher sledge to give birth to my son Manfred. During the transitional weather periods and when the due date was approaching, particularly caring and prospective fathers of the family fitted their barge with runners so that it could be pulled over the ice, but could also be pushed like a normal barge when there was no ice. However, I had to stay in the clinic for a week longer because they couldn’t pick me and my son up by barge or push sledge!”

Joachim Müller from Lübbenau once suggested offering guests more in winter too: “There are canoe rentals in summer – why shouldn’t there be a push sled rental in winter?” He obtained documents and took measurements from old push sledges in order to build sledges that were as true to the original as possible. He had already acquired his manual skills at a young age in the sawmill, so it was not particularly difficult for him to put such vehicles on the skids. Unlike the ordinary sled, the push sled is suitable for riding on ice and therefore has narrow metal runners. It is pushed along, usually by a strong man, while the wife, wrapped in blankets, takes a seat in the sleigh and usually determines the course. Joachim Müller set up such a rental shop at the cutting mill. Where there were usually barges bobbing in the barge shed, there were six sledges on the ice, ready to be rented out. “But before I do that, I test the ice extensively. I first walk a long way myself and then chop a hole in the ice to check the thickness. After all, I don’t want my guests and sledges to disappear into the water. However, I can’t give any guarantees, because the Spreewald has its own laws: Where there is thick ice, the ice can be very thin at the next bend. Ideally, there is sometimes no ice at all, which is at least noticed often enough and in good time. If it’s up to us, winter can’t be harsh enough. Then the ice is safe and our sledges are used – much to the delight of our loyal Berlin regulars.”

Recreation of Spreewald winter life at a photo workshop in Raddusch in January 2026:

The historical photographs, some of which are over 100 years old, come from the archives of dedicated, tradition-conscious Spreewälder.

Peter Becker, 16.01.2026