Ratcatchers Day

Okay, here's one that really should be on Damien's blog ...

Ratcatcher's Day, Rat-catcher's Day or Rat Catcher's Day is celebrated on June 26 or July 22, commemorating the myth of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. According to legend, as you know, the piper charmed away the rats and mice that had overrun the town of Hamelin, and when the town refused to pay his fee, he charmed away their children in revenge. Today the people of Hamelin in Germany remember the story on the June date. The confusion of dates is because the Brothers Grimm cite June 26, 1284 as the date the Pied Piper led the children out of the town, while the poem by Robert Browning gives it as July 22, 1376. Today it is a holiday remembering rat-catchers.

The giant Glockenspiel pictured above is located in a Bavarian-motif square off the main street in Wisconsin Dells. Periodically it re-enacts the Pied Piper legend with figures popping out of doors in the manner of an over-sized cuckoo clock.

the giant Glockenspiel with a musical re-enactment of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin every half-hour, on the hour. The legend goes that the Pied Piper rid the town of Hamelin of its rats and mice by charming them away with his flute playing. When the citizens of Hamelin refused to pay the piper the price they had agreed upon, he charmed away their children in revenge. The German Glockenspiel with its fairy tale re-enactment is FREE. - See more at: http://www.wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attractions/glockenspiel/#sthash.39BxkgqP.dpuf

the giant Glockenspiel with a musical re-enactment of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin every half-hour, on the hour. The legend goes that the Pied Piper rid the town of Hamelin of its rats and mice by charming them away with his flute playing. When the citizens of Hamelin refused to pay the piper the price they had agreed upon, he charmed away their children in revenge. The German Glockenspiel with its fairy tale re-enactment is FREE. - See more at: http://www.wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attractions/glockenspiel/#sthash.39BxkgqP.dpuf

the giant Glockenspiel with a musical re-enactment of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin every half-hour, on the hour. The legend goes that the Pied Piper rid the town of Hamelin of its rats and mice by charming them away with his flute playing. When the citizens of Hamelin refused to pay the piper the price they had agreed upon, he charmed away their children in revenge. The German Glockenspiel with its fairy tale re-enactment is FREE. - See more at: http://www.wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attractions/glockenspiel/#sthash.39BxkgqP.dpuf