Bleiburg celebrates – after plague and Corona: Wiesenmarkt returns

The first Bleiburg meadow market was held in 1393, 99 years before the discovery of America. “A lot has changed in the following centuries, but it was always a place of peaceful coexistence,” says store manager Arthur Ottowitz.

Craftsman brought plague to the region
The popular folk festival has been banned four times over the years. “In 1715, a drama took place after a craftsman brought the plague to the Völkermarkt,” says amateur historian Gottfried Glawar.

The people of Bleiburg did not take the authorities seriously
The Black Death also stopped in Bleiburg! The city gate was closed and trade was prohibited. Glawar: “The dealers did not take seriously the then plague commissioner, who acted according to the instructions of the governor, Count Johann Peter von Goess.”

They sneaked in front of the city gate at night and traded outside the center. It is written: “The situation was hopeless … mainly because the people had nothing on their mind but their trade and behavior.”

Nearly 40 percent of the population died from the disease
Glawar: “Almost 40 percent of the population in Bleiburg died of the disease at the time.” It only got going again when another sickness commissioner was appointed.

“The people were poor, they had nothing. They took the mantle of the dead. Only later, when the clothes of the plague victims were burned, was the plague brought under control. At the end of March 1716, Bleiburg was released from isolation. Glawar: “For the safety of the citizens, the pasture market was also banned this year.”

The festival returns next week
The next cancellation was not until some 300 years later, when the coronavirus paralyzed everything in 2020 and 2021. Ottowitz: “Unlike then, everyone adhered to the guidelines.” Next week we will finally celebrate again and everything will be made up for it – traditionally from Friday to Monday.