Donauschwaben "NAMEN" Kalender
Social Life
By Oskar Feldtänzer (Extracted from the Palanka translation)
The Danube Swabians are a very sociable people, and they understand how to make feasts. As to that the Palanka people are no exception. They proved it in their old home country and still prove it today everywhere they find themselves. "Surely many Palanka people like to think back of many cheerful meetings in the old home country – at a time when they slaughtered pigs or at the celebration of the namen/names-day. Because in Palanka the "Namen" or names day was held very high whereas the birthday was hardly ever celebrated".
By Eva Giesswein of Gajdobra (The following Kalander pages were sent to us from Eva and her daughter Lilly so that the reader might have a better understanding of the "NAMEN/NAMES" day.
Donauschwaben celebrated namen or name days instead of birthdays.
A namen or names day is a day that is celebrated by all persons sharing your name. People did not need to remember birthdays because you wished anyone who had a certain name a "happy namen day" on their day. For example, my namen day is on December 24. It is the namen day for Adam and Eve. I was born on December 10 and was baptized on December 11. However, all persons named Adam or Eve celebrated their namen day on December 24. The old "Kalender books" or year books as they were called listed all the names on the day of the namen day. Namen days also correspond to Saint days in the church. Some names, such as Johann have more than one day. In this case you celebrate on the day closet to your birthday. Therefore, on each day you knew what namen day it was and wished everyone with that name a happy namen day. According to tradition, gifts were hardly ever given on namen days. Older people in our village often gave change (coins) to youngsters who remembered to wish them a "happy namen day". We usually had dinner with my grandparents on their namen days. Birthdays were not celebrated at all, except for mentioning that now you are a year older. Your mother might say "Today you are 5 years old" but otherwise it would be an ordinary day.