Useful Links to other sites
Internet search-engines are able to find about 240,000 websites or items relating to “Wends” which are available for viewing. The following small selection of items relate to the Wends or Sorbs in Lusatia Germany; in Texas and Ohio in the United States of America and in Australia.
Click on the links to view the websites.
Customs in the Cottbus area in Lower Lusatia, Germany
The site labelled “Cottbus.de: traditions and customs of the Sorbs/Wends in Lower Lusatia” and dealing with “Stadt Cottbus/Chosebuz”, is introduced by Heike Konzack. The site presents information about customs relating to the birds’ wedding, Shrove Tuesday, Easter eggs, the Maypole, Harvest, the Spinning Room and Blueprint.
The web link is Customs in the Cottbus area in Lower Lusatia
Some Sorbian/Wendish Institutions in Lusatia, Germany
Under the heading “Luzicki Srbi/Lausitzer Sorben (Wendi/Wends)” can be found some Sorbian Associations and Institutions, as well as local regions. Included are Sorbs in the Catholic region north-west of Bautzen, in the Schleife/Slepo region, in the Hoyerswerda/Wojerecy region and in Lower Lausistz/Dolna Luzyca. Also included are extracts from the Constitutions of The Free State of Saxony and of the State of Brandenburg, relating to Sorbian/Wendish rights.
The web link is Some Sorbian/Wendish Institutions in Lusatia, Germany
About the Wends of Texas by Ron Lammert
This short article addresses “Who are the Wends?”. Some information about Wendish history in northern Europe is followed by the story of the departure in September 1854 from Lusatia of Pastor Jan Kilian and about 500 emigrants on the ship “Ben Nevis”. About 56 emigrants died from cholera on the voyage and many of the rest finally settled at Serbin near Giddings in Lee County Texas. Included is a recipe for wendish noodles as well as Easter Egg decorating using various methods such as wax batik, acid, scratching and embossing.
The web link is About the Wends of Texas
Texan Towns with Wendish Descendants
The website “The Handbook of Texas Online” features an article by Sylvia Grider on the background to the Wendish settlement of Texas, as well as listing towns which many of these Wendish descendants now call home. These towns or cities include Serbin, Warda, Giddings, Fedor, Manheim, Loebau, Lincoln, Winchester, La Grange, Thorndale, Walburg, Copperas Cove, The Grove, Vernon, Swiss Alp, New Ulm, Industry, Noack , Aleman, Houston, Austin and Port Arthur. This article concludes with a useful bibliography of Wendish literature and history.
The web link is Texan Towns with Wendish Descendants
The Iowa Wends
Some Lusatian Wends emigrated from Drachhausen in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg already in 1847 and settled in the south-eastern corner of the state of Iowa, near Fort Madison and in the central region at Zearing, St Anthony and State Centre. On 19 Sep 2009, a Program to explore Wendish migration to Iowa was held at the German American Heritage Centre. Cathryn Petersen spoke about these Iowa Wends andmentioned the Kruegermann Company which produces Spreewald Gurkens.
The web link is The Iowa Wends
The Werplon
“Witches, Wends and Werplons” provides the Google heading for an interview with the University of Newcastle’s Archivist Gionni Di Gravio, held in September 2009 about Rosaleen Norton’s imaginative painting “The Werplon”. The “Wer” as in werewolf indicates the male gender and a “Plon” in Wendish folk-lore was a winged dragon demon which supplied corn but could also transform into people or animals and was prone to stealing children. He was covered in hair and liked millet gruel. The archivist Gionni Di Gravio obtained some of her information about this wendish creature from Mr Hans Dieter-Senff.
The link for this exploration into Wendish folk-lore is The Werplon
Other useful sites include:
Weekly Wendish Newsletter of the Lower Sorb area
Westgarthtown – German heritage area in Victoria, Australia
South Australian Family History Directory
South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc.
Texan Towns with Wendish Descendants
18th Century German Naming Customs
Ronald Schatte’s “Texas Wendish” website
Wayne Knoll’s German Australian Jackel family history site
Link to an interesting podcast about a “Huf haus”
Link to “The Local – Germany’s News in English” – Germany’s Sorbs celebrate Zapust festival