1914 Alsace WWI French Bronze Patriotic Medal
The 1 and 3/16th inch medal was produced early in World War I in anticipation of the reincorporation of Alsace into the French Republic and used for a variety of different purposes, including award by the Red Cross for relief work in Alsace and to military such as the First and Seventh Territorial Battalions of the Chasseurs Alpins who were prominent in the liberation of Alsace.
Alsace borders Germany and has been fought over by France and Germany for a long time, being in a strategic location on the west bank of the Rhine. It has been an integral part of France since the treaty of Versailles, but the ethnic origin of the majority of the people is German.
On the obverse is a woman shown in traditional folk costume from the Strasbourg region.
She is wearing a
Schlupfkapp, a cap with the giant bow which has become a symbol of Alsace. The bow over time became progressivly larger.
A black bow is always worn by Protestants and a red bow is worn by Catholic unmarried girls. In some regions Catholic girls may wear a very colorful Schlupfkapp.
On the reverse are
White Storks. They nest atop houses and on man made perches.
They migrate to Alsace every year and raise the young during summer. When the young are ready in early fall they fly for the winter.
If a stork should choose your house, local legend says it will bring luck to your family. Today there are over 600 stork couples in Alsace, at least 50 on the rooftops of Strasbourg alone.
According to European folklore, the stork is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. The legend is very ancient, but was popularized by a 19th-century
Hans Christian Andersen story called
The Storks.
German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs or held in their beaks in sheets.
The babies would then be given to the mother or dropped down the chimney. Households would notify when they wanted children by placing sweets for the stork on the window sill.
Birthmarks on the back of the head of newborn baby, are sometimes referred to as stork-bite.
Since Easter is coming soon, I will mention in 1682, Georg Franck von Franckenau's writing,
De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) the Easter Bunny was originally referred to in Alsace tradition as an "Easter Hare" bringing Easter Eggs.
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Posted 04/02/2019 2:30 pm
