There’s quite a
bunch of lovely places in Europe. Nevertheless we consider ourselves lucky to
call one of them our home: the beautiful Black Forest in southern Germany. Also
home to great stuff like cuckoo clocks, one of the world’s most popular smoked hams,
some weird traditions, and, of course, the famous Black Forest cake. We love it
so much that we want to share it with you! (And raise some money to pay for
quidditch stuff.) Most of our perks include the Black Forest spirit (Sorry, no
ham, but there’s cake!), the others burst of quove and the chance to beat
somebody in the face with your name.
Thank you for your contribution to the growth of quidditch in Germany! Danke schön!
Wait - quidditch?! That's right. We play quidditch in the real world (also called "muggle quidditch") and we are by far not the only team. You can find an explanatory section on this sport below our little "Black Forest dictionary."
Who are we?
We, that’s the
Black Forest Bowtruckles, one of the several new German quidditch teams. Based in the
university town of Freiburg we are mostly students, however, we started as
a community team open to everyone. (Trying to get anywhere close to just being mentioned in the
university’s clubs or sports program is a bureaucratic nightmare. I’d rather
get a Steffan-Danino-bludger right in my face.)
Why do we need money?
Right now all
the equipment has been paid for by our captain, but since she needs to eat from
time to time as well and there is still some stuff missing, we need money to
get our team off the ground (pun totally intended.) All the money that is left
after paying our captain her money back and buying all these little things like
cones and pinnies (about 300 € in total) will be saved to subsidize future travel
expenses and support the formation of the German national quidditch league.
Black
Forest dictionary*:
“Schauinsland”
(literally: Look-into-the-country): This 1,284 m mountain lies right outside of
Freiburg and offers a (surprise!) panoramic view of the Black Forest, Freiburg
and the Upper Rhine Plain. If the weather’s fine you can even spot the Vosges
in France and the Swiss Alps!
“Bollenhut”: A traditional hat that looks a
bit like you’ve got a cloud on your head. Worn by women in the Black Forest,
red “Bollen” (balls on top of the head) for the unmarried, black for the
married.
“Kuckucksuhr”: Centuries ago, farmers in the Black
Forest were bored during the winter (which can be pretty harsh in the higher
regions), so they started carving and ended up producing the clocks that have
long become a symbol of the Black Forest. The original cuckoo clocks make
cuckoo sounds on the hour, but those without sound effects are pretty cool,
too. (And affordable.)
“Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte”: Go ahead, read it
out loud! Can you taste the cherries? The Black Forest cake is the true taste
of our home. Don’t let anyone fool you, no Black Forest cake is complete
without cherries (and a good amount of kirsch!) Partly because cherries and
chocolate is the perfect match, partly because the red cherries resemble the
red “Bollen”. Secret correlations!
* You can find all these Black Forest originals in our perks!
Now tell me about that whole quidditch thing, please.
Quidditch entered the real world in 2005 when students in Middlebury, US, found a way to adapt the Harry Potter sport to a universe where brooms don't fly. Since then both the sport and the community has grown immensely. (Muggle) Quidditch is a co-ed full contact sport that combines elements of handball, rugby and dodgeball. Players have to keep a broom between their legs at all times. Each team consists of seven players: Three chasers who pass the quaffle (a volleyball) and try to score through one of opposing team's three goal hoops, winning 10 points per goal. The keeper guards their own hoops. Two beaters handle bludgers (dodgeballs) which they throw at opposing players to "knock them out." Any player hit by a bludger is out of the game until they touched their own hoops. The team's seeker tries to catch the snitch. The snitch is a neutral player dressed in yellow with a tennis ball attached to their waistband and the sole mission to avoid capture at any means. If the snitch is caught, the game ends and the sucessful seeker is awarded 30 points.
Apart from a most exciting sport, quidditch also means a worldwide community. With hundreds of teams all over the globe and the International Quidditch Association as governing body, quidditch brings people together.
Thank you for helping us to add the Black Forest to this community!