Regensburg Dult - RegensburgNow

Regensburger Dult as an offshoot of the spring and fall fairs of the Middle Ages.

The Regensburger Herbstdult is still on until September 9th. As I’m not a Regensburg native, I was interested to know where the DULT actually comes from. According to the Duden dictionary, the word DULT simply means fair. The Gothic word ‘dulps’ means something like “exuberant festival”. Makes sense. In the early Middle Ages, fairs were held over several days to exchange goods, traders flocked to the city to offer their wares and crops and visitors stocked up on supplies. Almost all social classes were represented and haggled over all sorts of things. The markets were not just for the exchange of goods: there was food and drink, music and dancing, quacks and jugglers – visitors needed entertainment and the fairs were also a news exchange plus marriage market. Those who were granted market rights were lucky: markets were very lucrative and the place designated for them was also subject to the so-called market peace and was protected by the market lord (king, prince, count or bishop). Stadtamhof was granted the right to hold a weekly market and two annual markets by the Bavarian duke in 1389. Regensburg had its own autumn and spring fairs (Stadtamhof was only incorporated in 1924…) In the Middle Ages, market days were often based on the name days of saints or church consecrations. In Regensburg, for example, after the pilgrimages to the tombs of St. Erhard and St. Emmeram. If visitors were already coming to the pilgrimage anyway, it was possible to kill two birds with one stone and hold a market. Later on, after 1800, fun stalls and carousels were set up for visitors and children. This is how the fairs slowly developed into the Regensburg May and Autumn Fairs as we know them today.

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