
Every year on the night of 5 to 6 December, the Klaasohm is celebrated on the northern island of Borkum. But unlike many other St Nicholas traditions, this East Frisian festival doesn’t involve gingerbread, apples or nuts. Instead, costumed young men armed with cow horns go on the hunt for women. Outsiders are not welcome on this evening – and camera crews even less so. It’s an event that seems to be for the locals only. But what is behind this tradition?
What is Klaasohm anyway?
The Klaasohm festival has a long tradition on the northern island of Borkum and takes place every year on the evening of 5 December. For around 200 years, six young men dressed as ‘Klaasohm’ and a man dressed as a ‘Wiefke’ (‘female’) have been parading through the streets of the island on this evening.
The selection of the men who are allowed to perform as Klaasohms remains a well-kept secret and is only revealed to them shortly before the start. The Klaasohms are dressed separately at different locations before they set off with their companions amidst a loud clamour.
Their destination is the large depot of the Borkumer Kleinbahn railway, where a central part of the ritual takes place: On a stage, to the exclusion of women and strangers (only native male islanders are allowed to participate), the roles and leadership for the year are determined in a symbolic battle.
The Klaasohms then parade through the island, accompanied by a great deal of public interest.
But what is the problem?
In November last year, however, a report by the ARD magazine Panorama and the NDR programme STRG_F caused quite a stir. They published secretly filmed video footage of Klaasohms carrying cow horns to hit young women repeatedly and with full force on the behind. Whether the women want this or not is irrelevant. If they resist, they are held down by other men.
The report also shows interviews with women from Borkum who anonymously reported considerable pain, bruising and a feeling of humiliation. ‘It’s oppressive, shameful, overwhelming,’ describes one victim. Although you get a small piece of ‘Moppe’, a kind of gingerbread, after the repeated beatings, nobody cares whether you are really well or whether you have been injured. A former Klaasohm was also asked about the controversial tradition: ‘It was like being intoxicated. You run around, you’re the biggest person that night’. He also says that you were ‘proud’ the next day ‘when you saw the girls and they were limping’. He also wishes to remain anonymous. Nobody dares to speak openly; a ‘climate of fear’ is said to prevail on the island: Those affected fear social ostracism if they publicly criticise the tradition.
The police, mayor and the equal opportunities officer on Borkum initially refused to comment to the press. However, the violence, which was seen as a custom, had been known for a long time. As early as 1990, the Tagesthemen programme reported on this tradition – at the time, a female reporter was even the victim of a beating.
‘A distorted picture’
Following massive criticism, the Borkumer Jungens association, which has been organising the festival since 1830, announced that it would do away with the custom of beating in future. Maxi Rau, chairman of the association, assured: ‘What I can assure you in any case is that we will no longer tolerate violence against women from now on’.
Despite the apparent understanding, the website of the town of Borkum emphasises that beating has never been the core of the festival and has only rarely occurred in recent years. The images shown in the report are ‘isolated exceptional cases’. In addition, the report was said to paint ‘a distorted picture of the festival’ and contain ‘numerous journalistic inaccuracies’. In addition, the intention was never to cover up anything, but merely to protect the festival ‘from commercialisation’.
According to several sources, the custom dates back to the time of the whalers on the island. The men traditionally came back to the island at the end of the year after several months at sea and used the custom to make it clear who was now the ‘man’ in the house again.
Festivities go peacefully – what now?
Reporters were once again present at the Klaasohm Festival in December 2024, but this time everything is said to have been calm: ‘We were unable to identify any offences of bodily harm or physical assaults connected to this year’s Klaasohm Festival,’ said Malte Hagspihl, spokesperson for the Osnabrück police department.
Around 500 to 600 people took part, and Mayor Jürgen Akkerman expressed his satisfaction: ‘The people of Borkum have sent a signal today about how much they love this festival. There was a great turnout’.
It remains to be seen whether this positive development will continue in the long term.