The Castle Mead­ow is nev­er quiet or still; here, there is jug­gling and merriment

Heureka Guild Mar­ket and Merriment

At the foot of the Castle Church lies the Castle Mead­ow, a place teem­ing with life, bon­fires, and bois­ter­ous enter­tain­ment. Here, artis­ans, min­strels, jug­glers, and his­tor­ic­al soci­et­ies from Wit­ten­berg and the sur­round­ing area set up camp. Amid mar­ket stalls, tav­erns, and trav­el­ing camps, hag­gling, laughter, and music fill the air, echo­ing far and wide.

A spe­cial con­test awaits the crowd at the his­tor­ic wag­on wheel tour­na­ment. With strength, skill, and team spir­it, the groups com­pete to pull the massive wheel. The grand finale takes place on Sunday after­noon and prom­ises cheers and excite­ment right up to the last pull.

With down­right com­mend­able imper­tin­ence, vag­a­bonds, buf­foons, jour­ney­men, mer­chants, and trav­el­ing folk arrive to attend the fest­iv­al. Min­strels and comedi­ans play pranks on the audi­ence, dan­cers whirl across the square, and jug­glers eli­cit amazement and laughter. Amid the hul­laba­loo and enter­tain­ment, they occa­sion­ally hold up a mir­ror of folly to the people.

As dusk falls, fire and music fill the castle grounds. The Kien­berg Schwar­ze Haufen sets the stage ablaze with its fire show, while fan­fares and drums echo far and wide across the fest­iv­al grounds. On Fri­day, Tan­zwut deliv­ers a rous­ing con­cert with thun­der­ous bag­pipes and power­ful sounds, before Cradem Aven­ture fills the stage on Sat­urday with music­al adven­tur­ous­ness and the mighty sounds of the Middle Ages.

The Heureka Guild Mar­ket has been a guest at the Luth­er Fest­iv­al since 2002, show­cas­ing the nearly for­got­ten crafts­man­ship of ancient trades. Print­ers, rope makers, coopers, wood­work­ers, bag makers, leath­er cut­ters, per­fumers, for­tune tell­ers, black­smiths, pot­ters, stone­ma­sons, felt makers, tail­ors, bas­ket weavers, and many oth­er mas­ters of their craft bring the trades of bygone days back to life.