The Dülkener Schöppenmarkt (i. e. „Shovel Fair“) in

Dülken Dülken is a town located in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany. It has a population of about 20,000. It is a borough of the municipality of Viersen. It received its town charter in 1364 thus being the oldest part of the municipality of Vi ...

is one of the largest and oldest country-fairs or Krammärkte in Western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Date, Place, numbers of visitors

The ''Schöppenmarkt'' takes place on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

following

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

from 8.00 in the morning until 8.00 in the evening in the center of the once independent City of Dülken – today forming part of the city of

Viersen Viersen (; ) is the capital of the Viersen (district), district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km ...

. Depending on the weather conditions it was visited during the last years by an estimated 100.000 to 120.000 visitors from the surrounding

Lower Rhine region The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein () is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the West ...

, the Ruhr district and the neighbouring provinces of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

History, size and present product range

This all-day fair, has been a meeting place for travelling retailers, since Ash Wednesday in 1847. It bears the name “Schöppenmarkt” i.e. Shovel Fair, because in olden times the farmers, workmen and housewives from the surrounding area came into town to the market to buy new tools and equipment normally not available in town, among others „Schöppen“, that is the expression for “Schaufel” (

shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made ...

) in the

regional dialect A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

. Today the retailers come from the whole of Germany, and some even from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and the

, and offer a wide variety of goods alongside 4 kilometres of street front, for instance kitchen tools,

spices In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

, fan-articles, textiles,

garden gnomes Garden gnomes () are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known as gnomes. They also draw on the German folklore of the dwarf. ...

horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Europe and Asia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early ...

, windscreen wipers, pottery, fruit or smoked fish. In a special area fairground barkers compete with ringing voices to sell their goods. All this complemented by drink stalls and snack-booths, who offer the traditional „fish-diet“ of Ash-Wednesday, the first day of

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

in the Christian tradition.Helena Siemes, Gerd Philips: ''Durch das Jahr. Feste und Bräuche am Niederrhein'' The number of retailers who apply for participation is much higher, than the about 410 lots available. Due to the many visitors part of the Dülken city has to be closed down for car traffic during the day.

Secondary literature

* Helena Siemes, Gerd Philips: ''Durch das Jahr. Feste und Bräuche am Niederrhein''. Mercator: Duisburg, 2005. . * ''Der Propaganda-Markt. Sehen, hören, kaufen''. In: „Daheim und unterwegs“. WDR Television program of 9 February 2005. * Newspaper articles in the

Rheinische Post ''Rheinische Post'' () is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhi ...

and

Westdeutsche Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Zeitung'' (''WZ'') () is one of the largest regional newspapers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its headquarters is in Wuppertal with additional offices in Düsseldorf and Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld ...

from 1998–2007.

Notes

External links

The ''Schöppenmarkt'' on the website of Viersen (1)

The ''Schöppenmarkt'' on the website of Viersen (2)

Photo of a typical stand of the ''Schöppenmarkt''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dulkener Schoppenmarkt Wholesale markets Fairs in Germany Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia Tourist attractions in North Rhine-Westphalia