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<\/a>These horrible and noisy Zamper figures thus perform a kind of “service” for the entire village community and are rewarded with food, money or schnapps. In the evening, we meet up to eat pancakes together.<\/p>\n In many villages there was and still is a children’s village fair, because it was a good opportunity for them to make a lot of noise, dress up in scary costumes and even be rewarded for it. Paul Piesker (1927 – 2002) from Lehde in his childhood memories: “I had already worked out a barge route through the village in my head so that I could get to every house without making any detours. That’s not easy in Lehde with its many rivers. I couldn’t even imagine if there was thin ice on Zampertag – no barge, no sledge would have been possible. And I wouldn’t have been able to reach all the houses on foot. After the Zampern, my trousers hung tightly on the straps and my pockets were full of sweets and small change. I was a good Zamperer, I knew who preferred to listen to a song or a Zamper poem. And I could be so polite …!”<\/p>\n After the Zampern, the Zampergesellschaft thanks the donors in the form of a Sunday carnival procession. With music leading the way, the women in their festive costumes, the men in black suits and hats, the procession moves through the village. Today, deserving residents are honored with a bouquet of flowers, who in turn often thank them with coffee and pancakes. This carnival procession, also known as Zapust in Wendish\/Sorbian, is one of the highlights, if not the highlight, in the life of the village community. Fastnacht has long been a festival for everyone, not just the Sorbs\/Wends. Those who identify with the ancestral tradition are proud to take part in it. Newcomers and locals alike celebrate it; it no longer makes any difference which roots the individual has.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>