Traditional onion market in Weimar

The onion is the star of this annual show held on the second weekend of October. No mere vegetable are these beauties; plaited together in the traditonal ways and decorated with dried flowers. More than 500 market stands have already been set up in the town center. And a variety of musicians will provide music on several open-air stages. The market was first recorded in 1653, when it was known as the "Beasts and Onions Market." The townsfolk regularly bought their winter provisions at the market. Germany's national poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the market right in front of his house on the Frauenplan. He liked to attach ropes of onions to his writing desk, as well as hanging them elsewhere as decoration. Onions are good for you, the poet liked to say.

ks/ec/jt (weimar.de)