Hof’s Schlappentag – a gala day with tradition

The origins of the Schlappentag, Hof’s “national holiday”, are rooted way back in the town’s history. The general opinion is that it is named after the slippers (“Schlappen”) which the workmen wore. Not feeling inclined to take part in the required yearly target practice, the local worksmen are said to have appeared at the firing range in their slippers, keen to get back home to their work as soon as possible. Nowadays Schlappentag begins with a procession through the streets of the town and ends up with a convivial get-together with everybody drinking the specially brewed “Schlappenbier”.

Historical facts present a slightly different view. As there were no professional armies in the Middle Ages, townspeople had to defend themselves. Some had their own weapons, others were provided with weapons by the municipal authorities, who stored the weapons in a special armoury. Where Hof’s armoury was situated is a matter of speculation; it could have been in the town hall or the former castle. Practising how to handle weapons was left up to each individual, as the authorities were sure that everybody had a personal interest in their proper use. The attack by the Hussites in 1430 proved this assumption to be wrong: in spite of its strong town walls, Hof could not defend itself adequately. The margrave who was territorial lord over Hof guaranteed the town exemption from taxes for ten years to enable the rebuilding of the town’s defences on condition that the citizens took part in regular target practice to be able to defend themselves better in future. Whether such practices began in 1431 or 1432 is unknown, however the Hussites certainly failed to take the town by storm after a long siege in 1432.

Hof’s annalist Enoch Widman mentions a large “Schützenfest”, a fair featuring shooting matches, in 1540, however the regular shooting practice seems to have had an expedient rather than a festive character. This also explains the name “Schlappentag”, because people went to the firing range in “Schlappen” – not slippers, which is the meaning of the word in the local dialect nowadays, but cheap and durable wooden clogs which were worn at work and at home in the Middle Ages. It was only the wealthier citizens who could afford to buy proper slippers.

In the course of time, and especially as a result of the Thirty Years’ War, it became obvious that an unpaid militia was not sufficient to defend a town, which is why professional armies were introduced. However militias continued to exist as a sort of military reserve, so that annual shooting practice was still a necessity. In Hof it became a tradition to begin such practice with a ceremonial procession on the Monday after Whitsun. The event gradually lost all its military value and acquired a purely social character. When such militias were disbanded in 1869, membership in shooting clubs became completely voluntary and there was no compulsion to take part in regular practice. Hof’s “Scheibenschützengesellschaft” laid down in its statutes that an annual shooting fair was still to be held after Whitsun and that it was to begin with a procession from the town hall to the shooting range. So the unpopular duty to practise shooting turned into a traditional gala day, which has become a beer festival with a particularly strong brew.

The festival takes place at the “Schießhäuschen”, the former clubhouse of the Scheibenschützengesellschaft, after the procession of riflemen, artisans and local dignitaries. But the special brew is also available in many beer gardens and pubs. According to tradition, “Schlappenbier”, whose name and recipe are both protected by law, cannot be sold before Schlappentag.