The Richtfest in Review!

June 11, 2011, the day that Joern and I will now always remember as one of the most incredible days ever. 
Our Richtfest was so wonderful.  It was such an incredible lot of work in preparation, but I am so glad that we worked so hard, because it really paid off.  I like to think of our Richtfest as highly personal, which seems to fit our personalities.  Before the party, I read a lot about Richtfests on the internet, and having had experience attending one, they tend to be very rote.  Man stands up on the roof, says something, drinks a glass of wine, throws the glass down, people eat.  Joern and I worked really hard to make the party a little more reflective of our personalities, homey and comfortable.  I hope all of our guests would agree with my assessment of the party. 
I will write another post about the preparation involved, but for now, I just want to focus on the party itself. 
The day started for Joern around 7:00, when he arrived at the house, with his longtime friends Marcel and Fabio who helped Joern to set up.  I stayed home to print out and prepare the remainder of decorations for the party.  I picked up my friend Iris, who so very kindly offered us to help set up, at 11:00 from the train station.  Once we arrived at the house, it was prepare, prepare, prepare. 
For the most part, preparations ran smoothly, until it came time to put out the 300 chocolate chip, peanut butter M&M, and Snickerdoodle cookies I had made last weekend.  The chookies vanished.  It was upsetting. Joern and I looked in his car, my car, and we both went back to the apartment to search.  Sadly, we didn't find the cookies until Sunday morning, the day after the party, when my mother-in-law found them in her car. 

My friend Mandy, her husband, and their dog, Abbey, were among the first guests to arrive, around 2:30 to set up for Mandy's song. As a surprise for Joern, we did not tell him that "Bug," (or Elizabeth,) who completed her student teaching at the same high school where Mandy and I worked, had come in for a visit, and Mandy brought her along!  Joern was so excited and surprised to see Bug!  Mandy got to work setting up her sound equipment, and I handed the camera over to Bug, who so kindly agreed to take pictures of the event.    We had a little problem around 3:00 when the electricity stopped working, which meant that Mandy's sound board and amplifier would not work.

 After a lot of fiddling around with Joern's parents' electrical panel, and the sound equipment, we finally got things working again!  Just in time for the guests to start arriving:

Because some guests arrived exactly on time, there was a little time to spare, my friend Iris started offering house tours:



While Joern and I greeted guests in our foyer:

The guests made themselves comfortable at our tables:



My friend Julie checked out the food:

And Bug found our "Neckartailfingen Beer":

And our guests greeted each other, while I juggled our presents:

And there were lots of hugs:

At 3:55, Joern got a phone call from the Dachdecker, the roofer, saying that they were running a few minutes late, and that they would be arriving at 4:05, about 5 minutes after the Richtspruch was supposed to begin.  Fortunately, our guests seemed okay chatting, catching up, and looking around the house, so it didn't seem to be such a big deal. 
Then, the roofers arrived, with the Richtbaum, the Richtfest tree, in hand.  Andy, the roofer who was to deliver the Richtspruch, was dressed in traditonal clothes of Zimmermänner (roofers) here.  Roofers still wear very traditional clothing, and the profession is one held in high esteem here.  First, he climbed out on our front terrace, navigating along about the 8 inches of concrete rim around the terrace, with a tree in one hand!  Obviously, roofers have very good balace, and little fear of heights

Once we agreed on a place to secure the tree, it came back in for some quick decoration.  The Richtbaum is a traditional part of the Richtfest.  The tree is a major symbol of the Richtfest, symbolizing the pride in the completion of the roof (since this is normally attached atop the untiled roof, ours was just a lot later,) from both the roofers and the future homeowners.  The Richtbaum is traditionally decorated with ribbons, so the tree came back inside, and my friends Iris, Prisca, Prisca's husband Godwill, and myself attached the ribbons.

It isn't so easy to tell from the picture, but I chose red, white, blue, red, black, gold as the ribbons.  Some people were very good at guessing the purpose of my color decision:  the US and German flag colors, which is a running theme our lives.

While we prepared, the guests started to gather in the driveway:

The Richtbaum was then cleverly attached to a beer table bench, and the builders and roofers gathered on the roof:

And then, the roofers hopped up on the edge of the foyer, for Andy, the guy in black delivered the Richtspruch. The Richtspruch is a little speech about how the roof is a symbol of pride, that the builders worked hard to create a home that will protect the owners, and a request that God help protect the house as well. 

Following the Richtspruch, Mr. K, the family from whom we purchased the land, yelled something (I need to figure out what he said,) from the back of the crowd, followed by "Hoch, Hoch, Hoch," a German expression that is the form of a toast.  Then Andy drank down his glass of wine, and turned to throw the empty glass behind us all (as there was a little danger of hitting someone in the crowd with the breaking glass,) which promptly shattered, and is meant to bring good luck to us in our new home. 

Once the clapping and Richtspruch were complete, the attention turned to my friend Mandy, who we asked to sing a song.  When we attened our neighbors' Richtfest, Mr. Builder, who delivered the Richtspruch, also sang a song.  But, Joern and I did not want a very religious song, and we both love the way Mandy sings, so we decided on having Mandy sing a song instead of something chosen by people who don't know us so well. 

It turns out that Mandy had a difficult time finding a song that would be good for this purpose.  So, she and Bug, worked together to compose a song!  The inspiration from the song came from Bug's haiku that she wrote for Mandy and Doug's wedding last year.  The song was incredibly beautiful and so very touching.  And rather emotional:

Following Mandy's song, Joern took the opportunity to thank the Mr. B, the builders,the  roofers, and the plumbers.  He also announced that it was my birthday, and then the crowd broke out into Happy Birthday, in English and German!



Once the clapping died down, Joern announced that it was time to party, to enjoy some good food and lotsa drinks.  And we made our way into the house.  Bug met me in the house with another surprise, she and Mandy made me a birthday cake! 

And the boys fired up the grill:

And we mingled with the guests:

The party went well into the night.  It was a fantastic time to gather with our friends, and share with them our excitement and happiness.  It was such an incredible day, with so many happy memories.  The house feels more like a home already, with the memories of our first party!