Museum

Experience history and get a feel for how people in the Sorbian/Wendish settlement area of Lusatia once lived. How did they cope with everyday life? How were the fields farmed? Why are there so many legends about Lusatia? What is a Spinnte? You are guaranteed to get an answer to all these questions on a guided tour through our house. Let yourself be enchanted by our unique Wendish traditional costumes. Learn what the Zapust is and why winter is driven out. Have you ever heard of the Kokot?  Let yourself be enchanted by the diversity of Sorbian customs and traditions.

• duration: about 45 - 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 24 persons
• period: all year round

Church

Many Protestant churches are relatively unadorned in their interior decoration. Let the half-timbered church in Dissen surprise you. We guarantee that it will give your neck muscles a workout. Admire more than a hundred different plants, animals and symbols and the unique Sorbian/Wendish and German inscriptions next to the pictorial life story of Jesus. Walk with us through Dissen's church history. Get to know the well-known Sorbian pastors of Dissen who shaped the place.

• duration: about 45 - 60 minutes 
• number of persons: up to 24 persons
• period: all year round

Fastnacht

Everyone knows the pictures of young girls in their elaborately embroidered festive costumes. In many places in Lower Lusatia it is the time of Zapust – when the Sorbian Fastnacht is celebrated. Why do the young people parade through the village with brass bands and partners at the beginning of the year? What other winter customs are celebrated? Find out everything about the traditions of the Sorbs/Wends in winter, during a guided tour through our lovingly run house and a mulled wine to beat the cold or coffee and cake (by arrangement for a donation). Afterwards, watch the Zapustum procession. Get a feel for what it means when traditions are alive.

• duration: about 45 minutes 
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• period: in Dissen normally at the third weekend in February

Hahnrupfen

The grain harvest is brought in and it is time for the farmers to celebrate the grain harvest. The end of the grain harvest was celebrated in the Wendish villages with the Kokot, the plucking of the rooster. Find out which harvest customs still exist, what cornflowers and a man called Johann is are all about. Afterwards, you can watch the rooster plucking in the village and see for yourself what it means when traditions are alive.

• duration: about 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• period: in Dissen normally at the third weekend in August 

Churning butter

Who doesn't recognise the wonderful, warm smell of freshly baked bread? What goes better with that than fresh, homemade butter? However, how difficult was it to make back then? Do you think it was impossible or too complicated? We give you the opportunity to make your own butter.

• duration: about 45 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: July - Oktober, on Thursdays, 11 am and 2 pm

Easter

Who doesn't recognise the beautifully and lavishly decorated Sorbian/Wendish Easter eggs? Do you want to discover the secrets of the techniques? Then the local history museum in Dissen is the right place for you. Here you will learn how the elaborate patterns are applied to the egg and what meaning the individual symbols have for the Sorbs/Wends. Each egg is unique. Just try out the wax-reserve technique yourself and create your very own Wendish Easter eggs.

• duration: 90 minutes 
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 6 years
• period: March / April

Anleitung sorbische Wachsmaltechnik Heimatmuseum Dissen DEUTSCH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glYznzA2qIw

Anleitung sorbische Wachsmaltechnik Heimatmuseum Dissen Sorbisch/Wendisch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sBuTmWtEM8

Baked apple

Outside, it's wet and cold. The smell from the kitchen is delicious and inviting. It's baked apple time! With us, you can fill baked apples yourself, which are then roasted in the oven. Experience the wonderful aroma throughout the house. In the meantime, you can listen to Sorbian and other fairy tales or take a discovery tour through our museum. Afterwards, you can enjoy the baked apples.

• duration: about 60 minutes 
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period:   November - February

Sweet porridge

Sweet and sticky – that's a real tasty porridge. Find out why millet porridge was so important for the people. You will be amazed! Experience how a meal for several people is made from a small bowl of millet. While the millet swells and simmers, you can listen to the fairy tale about the "sweet porridge" or go on a discovery tour through our museum. Afterwards, the sweet porridge is finally served!

• duration: about 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: November - February

Potato king

A project day all about the potato. You will learn a lot about this special plant and its history. You can complete a quiz with the help of our timeline, cook some potato soup or curd cheese (quark), potatoes and linseed oil. As a souvenir, the children can create greeting cards with a potato print.

• duration: about 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: August - October

From the lucky dragon and the industrious “Lutki”

Why does the dragon bring luck in Sorbian/Wendish villages? What is it about Lady Midday? Are snakes good animals? Why is it not allowed to swear at night in the Spreewald? The visitors get answers to these questions in our museum and get to know the Sorbian figures from legends. They learn what a saga is and what a fairy tale is and how the two differ. At the same time, they get to help the Lutken and bake little Lutken breads and eat them with homemade butter. Those who want to and have time may make a will-o'-the-wisp, a lutk or a plon.

• duration: about 60 minutes 
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: all year round

Sorbian House – the hospitable table

From food and drink in the Middle Ages to the present day. The visitors are greeted with bread and salt. They learn why this gift was so precious. We go on a journey back in time to the Middle Ages and visit the open-air Stary lud. There, the visitors will learn a lot of new things about eating habits in the Middle Ages. Back in the museum, we look at agriculture over the last 200 years. Here, the visitors can make their own butter and eat it with fresh country bread or curd cheese (quark), potatoes and linseed oil. As a sweet conclusion, everyone can try white bread with linseed oil and sugar.

• duration: about 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: all year round

The Light of the Will-o'-the-Wisp

Find the will-o'-the-wisp on our timeline and complete a quiz. How do we get light into the darkness? With a candle, that we draw out of wax.

• duration: 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 15 persons
• age: from 8 years
• period: May - September

Neujährchen

Who doesn't recognise the imaginatively designed New Year's gifts or as we say here: "Nowolětka"? What were they once used for and who got them? Would you like to hear and experience more about this Sorbian/Wendish custom? Then visit us in the museum and we'll make these figures together. Everyone can then take their “Nowolětka” home with them or give them to family members or friends.

• duration: about 60 minutes
• number of persons: up to 29 persons
• age: from 4 years
• period: November - February

Storchenführung
www.Spreeaue.eu (Naturkundeverein)

Führung in die Spreeaue
www.Spreeaue.eu (Naturkundeverein)