Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage by William W. Donner (review)

The heritage that the Versammlinge (gatherings) and groundhog lodges celebrate was developed by descendants of eighteenth-century German and Swiss immigrants during their over three hundred years in this colony and state. Their normal port of entry was Philadelphia, where a significant number remained; however, most settled in the rural interior. The vast majority were Protestant, mostly Lutheran and Reformed. A small minority was Mennonite, Amish, and Pietistic German Baptists. Even fewer were Catholic. They spoke Pennsifawnisch Deitsch, which Donner considers a language, not a dialect. It resembles what is spoken in the Rhenish Palatinate. Donner explains that most academicians call them Pennsylvania Germans, though many of the "farmers and working-class people" (10) call themselves Pennsylvania Dutch. Whatever they are called or call themselves, they are different from nineteenth-century German immigrants, and they have preserved their culture longer.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Pennsylvania Germans confronted "a rapidly changing and modernizing world" (iii). When they, especially William Troxell and Thomas Brendle, realized the need to preserve their heritage and language, they organized Versammlinge. They first met in 1933. Donner notes that in 1934, seventeen groups organized formally into lodges, located primarily in southeastern Pennsylvania. The lodges adopted the groundhog as their mascot and claimed that it had the ability to predict the weather, a tradition carried over from Europe. Members were required to speak Deitsch and were fined if they spoke in English. Donner describes the lodges' organizational pattern and specifies their officers in Deitsch with accompanying translations.

Although the lodge members were serious about preserving their culture, their meetings included much that was "nonsensical." Donner reports that meetings begin with a procession led by a replica of a groundhog held high for all to see. It is placed under the speaker's podium, followed by a prayer, the pledge of allegiance to the United States, and the singing of "My Country 'Tis of Thee," all in Deitsch. There is always a meal, which in early years included buffalo and even groundhog. Recently, the menu usually consists of chicken, ham, sausage, potatoes, beans, corn, and filling. Among the many songs that they sing, "Snitzelbank" is the favorite.

Normally one or more speakers provide entertainment. Their talks might have serious points, but almost always include humor that sometimes is earthy. It often pokes fun at themselves and their ancestors. Donner considers Rev. Clarence Rahn the most popular and effective speaker. Rahn was a Reformed pastor who served a five-church rural charge for fifty years despite opportunities to move on to larger, more prestigious congregations. He died in 1976. Donner was told that Rahn avoided philosophical and theological complexities, but drew from his own experiences while growing up on a farm, working in his grandfather's blacksmith shop, on a road crew, running a chicken farm, and listening to his parishioners. He would select a point that he wanted to get across and use stories to illustrate it. Of course, he spoke in Deitsch. He believed that Deitsch "made direct expression possible" (88). According to Rahn, "Pennsylvania German words show a disregard for frills, as did the people who created them" (88). Rahn was called the "Will Rogers or Mark Twain of the Pennsylvania Germans because his messages appealed to the common people" (81).

Also on the program are skits. Donner states that he is "fascinated" (63) by what he calls the Pennsylvania Germans' "theatricality" (63). It proceeds from a nineteenth-century tradition of Pennsylvania German writers translating English plays into German. During the 1920s and 1930s, Pennsylvania German writers wrote original plays. For the lodge meetings, scriptwriters cooperate with the players, who often spontaneously insert their own lines during the performances. Serious plays emphasize the past, but do not advocate a return to it. They sometimes compare the unsophisticated past to the overly complex present. Lighter plays revolve around the activities of the groundhog or current events. Donner...